Waubonsie Valley upsets Glenbard South
Glenbard South junior guard Rocky LaPonte landed the last shot but Waubonsie Valley did the celebrating.
With her team trailing by 3, LaPonte sank a long shot from the right corner as time expired Wednesday in an opening-round game of the Wheaton North's Bill Neibch Falcon Classic.
The Raiders started celebrating, thinking they had forced overtime. But the officials ruled LaPonte's foot was on the 3-point line, meaning unseeded Waubonsie Valley hung on for a 36-35 victory over the defending tournament champions.
"We would have liked it to go a little bit smoother," Waubonsie Valley coach Brett Love said. "But I think it's a good win against a good team."
The fifth-seeded Raiders (8-5) nearly overcame a horrific shooting performance and had a chance to tie after the Warriors (7-7) missed a pair of 1-and-1s in the final minute. After calling time out with 17.9 seconds left, Glenbard South tried to move the ball quickly to get an open 3, but the Warriors aggressively guarded the perimeter.
Waubonsie's Ahniya Melton charged at LaPonte, which was enough to distract LaPonte from where she needed to be.
"Ahniya closed out on her, just enough to get her to lean back and put her foot on the line," Love said. "(The Warriors) understood the situation, understanding what couldn't hurt us and what could hurt us and they went out and executed that."
Waubonsie sophomore point guard Lauren McKnight executed at the offensive end, scoring 9 of her 11 points in the second half, including her team's final 5. At the other end junior center Grace Setter helped harass Glenbard South star Maggie Bair into a 5-for-24 shooting performance.
McKnight and Mykah Berkompas tallied 11 points to lead Waubonsie. McKnight missed four straight shots before drilling the go-ahead 3-pointer with 3:03 remaining.
After the Raiders missed their next three attempts, the 5-foot-3 McKnight drove to the basket, got fouled and completed a three-point play for a 36-31 lead with 1:18 to go.
"I don't think I was trying to take over," McKnight said. "I know I was missing a lot of shots, but I thought that I was still open, so I'm still going to take the shot.
"I tried to fix my form and it went in. Then for the layup, I saw (the lane open) and I went in to go up and get the contact and get the and-1."
McKnight, a second-year starter, already is a team captain and just about indispensable to the improving Warriors.
"She is more confident, she is more aggressive," Love said. "It's tough on her to play the whole game.
"She never gets a sub unless it's a timeout, so her missed shots are kind of indicative of her being tired. When she does get it together, she can take big shots and knock them down."
That's something the Raiders were unable to do. They shot 13 for 54, including 4 for 23 on 3-pointers. Bair missed 15 straight attempts before her inside basket pulled Glenbard South within 36-33.
Bair, who had 19 rebounds, and Lauren Cohen each scored 11 points for the Raiders but shot a combined 9 for 39. Setter blocked three of Bair's shots and Keesha Bellows another.
"We had talked about what we wanted to do and how we wanted to guard Maggie," McKnight said. "She's the center of their team so if we kind of take her away, other players are forced to do other things.
"They kind of run with Maggie and she's the engine, so playing tough defense on her kind of closed them down."
Indeed, the Raiders, who led by as many as 6 points, began the fourth quarter with a 3-point lead but scored only 4 points after that.
"They outplayed us," Glenbard South coach Morgan Kasperek said. "They outhustled us and they got to the rim and we didn't do any of that, so it was disappointing."