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Metea Valley's Konkle scores 31 in defeat

Cedric Williams likes to teach basketball, and so after Metea Valley's season-opening loss on Tuesday, he can't wait to get back to the basics with his players.

The Mustangs dropped an 84-67 contest to Plainfield East and their 31 turnovers were the biggest culprit. Sophomore Ashley Konkle scored a personal-high 31 points and Metea Valley shot a solid 28 for 43 as a team. But the visiting Bengals forced turnover after turnover and came away with a 17-point victory.

"We need to see the floor. Court vision," Williams said. "And then just learn from our mistakes. So there's going to be lot of film work tomorrow. And teaching. Coaches like teaching. We'll find what works and figure it out."

Plainfield East returns eight seniors from an 18-12 team, and the Bengals make up for a lack of height with plenty of speed and a tenacious defense.

"We know we want to try and create havoc and we want to keep the pace of the game up," said Plainfield East coach Tony Waznonis, who often had five players on the floor all 5-foot-8 or shorter. "We know we keep pace up when we play great defense. We're athletic and we're fast and we try and take advantage of that as much as we can."

Metea Valley made 7 of 9 shots in the first quarter but still trailed 18-15 after committing 8 turnovers. The visitors' lead grew to 41-33 at the half as Madelyn Sidman knocked down a pair of 3-pointers while tallying 13 points, and Lotanna Onua scored 10 of her 14 points in the first two quarters.

Konkle, who connected on 13 of 15 shots from the floor, opened the second half with a three-point play, but the Bengals countered with a 3-pointer from Jada Neal and then a flurry of steals and transition baskets that resulted in a 13-0 run for a 54-36 lead.

"Definitely they've got a quick team," Williams said of the Bengals. "I think some of the things we did offensively today we have to do more patiently. We had 31 turnovers. You can't win a ballgame with 31 turnovers."

Konkle said afterward that her huge night would have been more enjoyable with a different outcome. That said, she expects big things for this year's Mustangs.

"I'd rather win as a team than me having one of the best games of my career. I'd rather be winning and playing as a team and everyone else scoring along with me," the sophomore forward said. "I think our potential this year is extremely high it's just everyone has to come ready to play every day. Every single play has to be 100 percent. We can't take any plays off."

Five Plainfield East players scored in double figures led by Kennedy Collins' 20 points and 7 steals. For Metea Valley, sophomore Tess Thompson had 10 points and 6 rebounds off the bench and Jamairrah Woods had 5 assists.

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