Girls Basketball: Waubonsie Valley ends Bartlett’s undefeated season
Updated: January 27, 2012 11:45PM
All good things must come to an end.
Bartlett’s perfect season ended with 6:43 remaining in the fourth quarter of its game Friday at Waubonsie Valley. That’s when Haley Videckis buried a three-pointer from left of the key to pull the Hawks even at 45.
Those were also the last points scored by Bartlett.
No. 9 Waubonsie Valley ran off the final 13 points of the Upstate Eight Valley Conference showdown in Aurora to defeat Bartlett 58-45, snapping the Hawks’ 22-game winning streak.
Bartlett also saw its 26-game conference winning streak come to an end. However, it was not the Hawks’ long win streaks that impressed the Warriors.
“We knew that they’d come out ready to play,” Waubonsie Valley senior guard Becky Williford said. “They always start off with a bunch of intensity. We were talking before the game and said in order to beat a good team, you need to play to their intensity, if not top it.”
Erica Jordan led Waubonsie Valley (18-2, 8-1) with 17 points, Tia Brooks added 13 points and 12 rebounds, Rachel Ross had 12 points and eight rebounds and Williford added eight points.
But it was Waubonsie Valley’s defense over the final six minutes, not its offense, that denied Bartlett its 23rd win of the season.
“Tonight was our best game of the season, our best four quarters both defensively and being a little smarter offensively,” Waubonsie Valley coach Kim Connell said. “Defense is one of our strengths. It’s a matter of keeping the starters out of foul trouble and just locking down.
“I give our team all the credit for the last six minutes,” Connell said. “They played their guts out.”
Bartlett (22-1, 8-1) led 16-10 early and 29-28 at the half, thanks in part to its 13 of 14 effort from the free-throw line. The Hawks trailed 41-35 in the third quarter before Videckis got the Hawks early in the fourth quarter.
However, Ross’s conventional three-point play at the 4:33 mark and Brooks’ two free throws 32 seconds later to give the Warriors a 50-45 lead seemed to take some of the bite out of Bartlett.
“We told the kids that we wanted them to continue to attack the basket, but for some reason we kind of backed off a little bit,” Bartlett coach Denise Sarna said. “I don’t know what the reason is for it because the way the game was being called tonight, it was inviting people to drive to the basket.”
Bartlett also found itself trailing late, a circumstance it has rarely faced in previous games.
“That’s something we’ve been trying to simulate in practices,” Sarna said. “You do the best you can in practice, but it’s not the same as it is in a game situation. We learned some things today. You don’t want to lose, but if we get better from this, that’s a good thing.”
Videckis led Bartlett with 23 points, but Kristin Conniff, who battled foul trouble all night, finished with just seven points. Lisa Palmer and Ashley Jordan each had six.
“This is the greatest feeling right now, especially for our seniors,” Waubonsie Valley senior forward Erica Jordan said. “We really wanted this so bad. We just dug deep. We knew we had to work hard because Bartlett is a great team.”
© 2013 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.
Comments Click here to view or make a comment