Zeitz does it all in West Aurora’s win
Waubonsie Valley never did solve Abriya Zeitz on Monday night in Lemont.
The West Aurora junior forward more or less personally closed out the Warriors’ girls basketball season by scoring a game-high 16 points, grabbing 6 rebounds, stealing 4 passes and adding a trio of assists in the Blackhawks’ 42-31 victory in a Class 4A Lemont regional quarterfinal.
“We pretty much let (Zeitz) do whatever she wanted out there,” Waubonsie Valley coach Dave Owles said, whose No. 21-seeded squad ended its season 4-22.
West Aurora (10-16), the No. 12 seed of the Oswego sectional complex, advances to meet fifth-seeded Plainfield East Wednesday night.
“We made a team effort to get ahead earlier,” Zeitz said, noting the Blackhawks did not pull away until late in the schools’ first meeting at Thanksgiving. “We have a bigger game Wednesday night. (The first time we played, also at Thanksgiving) It was a high-scoring game (73-62 Plainfield East) for both of us, and they beat us by a lot.”
Offensive fireworks were never in the equation for the two Aurora schools Monday night.
West Aurora limited Waubonsie Valley to single-digit outputs the opening three quarters.
The Warriors scored 6 of the first 7 points — all on putbacks — but failed to score the remainder of the opening quarter.
Erin Jacobsen snapped the second and last tie of the game early in the second quarter with a 3-pointer for West Aurora, and the Blackhawks took a 17-12 lead into halftime.
Zeitz scored 5 quick points in the third quarter, at one juncture matching the Warriors’ 12 total points; the Blackhawks doubled the cushion to 24-12 in the process.
“The start of the third quarter really hurt us,” Owles said.
With Ryaen Johnson sidelined with foul trouble for Waubonsie Valley, West Aurora attacked with abandon on the inside.
“(Zeitz) was really attacking the basket, which is good for us,” West Aurora coach Connie Siljendahl said.
Johnson scored to close out the third quarter for Waubonsie Valley, and the Warriors’ Tyler Everett nailed a 3-pointer for Waubonsie Valley to open the fourth quarter.
But Taylor Jacobsen had the remedy for West Aurora.
The Blackhawks’ 6-point lead was soon back to double digits after the guard scored on consecutive possessions to counter the Everett bomb.
“I knew they were coming up against us (that is, reducing the lead),” Taylor Jacobsen said. “I had to do it for the team.”
West Aurora closed out the Warriors with 9-for-13 free-throw shooting.
Emily Dickens’ 7 points led Waubonsie Valley.