West Aurora ushers in Waldinger era with a win
To virtually every female athlete at West Aurora she is known simply as "Cinnamon."
"It's because of my complexion when I was born," Dajour Miles said of the genesis of her nickname.
One of the most gifted girls in the entire western suburbs, Naperville North discovered the hard way Miles does not only excel in her bread and butter, track and field.
In roughly a 40-second sequence Saturday morning at Waubonsie Valley in Aurora, Miles turned on her signature afterburners to score 6 straight points in transition in the schools' girls basketball season opener.
The Blackhawks soon had a halftime lead never to be relinquished in a 48-35 victory at the Warhawk Thanksgiving Tournament.
The two-time defending Class 3A 400-meter sprint champion who will ply her track trade at Kentucky, Miles was the difference in ushering in the Teresa Waldinger era at West Aurora with a victory.
"(Miles') quickness exposed us, big time," Naperville North coach Jason Dycus said.
"(Miles) can blow by defenders," said Naperville North sophomore star Greta Kampschroeder, who led both teams with 21 points. "It was really difficult to contain her. She is a really good athlete. Kudos to her."
"I just felt like we needed a boost," said Miles, who led the Blackhawks with 18 points, on her personal run to close out the second quarter that gave West Aurora (1-0) a 22-18 lead at the break. "I am good at running. That's what I wanted to do was push, push, push."
But Miles' explosiveness off the dribble and in the open court was not only registered in her point total.
Keva Tomas' perimeter shooting spelled the doom of the Huskies in the second half.
The senior West Aurora sharpshooter hit three of her four 3-pointers after halftime in ably complementing Miles with 16 points.
"We know what (Tomas) is capable of," Miles said. "That's what we were doing: feeding the hot hand."
"Cinnamon opens up a lot of opportunities for me as a shooter," Tomas said. "She was giving me wide-open shots. It was a great team effort."
West Aurora junior post Olivia Vanerwoude scored in transition to give the Blackhawks their first double-digit lead of the game at 33-23 midway through the third quarter.
Tomas' final 3-pointer to open the fourth quarter extended the West Aurora cushion to 40-25.
Naperville North (0-1) never saw a single-figure deficit again as no player other than Kampschroeder had more than a lone field goal.
"That's not even (Kampschroeder) playing her best," Dykus said.
Waldinger has coached for 19 years at West Aurora - four with the freshmen, 14 as the sophomore coach and this is her first season as varsity coach.
"Their play made me so proud," Waldinger said. "I almost had tears in my eyes. It means a lot to see how much they wanted that win today. We just went out there and said we were going to be the hardest-working team on the floor. That's what we did today."