Waubonsie Valley rolls past West Chicago

Led by four starters scoring in double figures and a punishing full-court press, Waubonsie Valley defeated West Chicago 73-23 in a nonconference girls basketball game Saturday afternoon in West Chicago.

The Warriors (5-5) started strongly and never looked back. They scored the first 14 points of the contest and held West Chicago (2-8) without a basket until the two-minute mark of the first quarter.

Senior forward Ahniya Melton tallied 6 points in the opening quarter. She finished with 18 on 8-of-15 shooting.

"I thought we hustled hard and I thought we played hard the entire game," Melton said. "One of our main focuses was to make sure we hustled hard and that we executed what we talked about in the locker room."

Waubonsie Valley extended its lead to 48-11 at halftime as the Warriors' press forced 21 first-half turnovers.

"We wanted to execute our press and work on some of those things and I think they followed directions pretty well," Waubonsie Valley coach Brett Love said. "We call it 'chaos' - we want to create confusion for the offense and make sure we're in the right spots at the right times to get steals."

The Warriors kept the pressure on in the second half en route to a 50-point victory, aided by a running clock in the fourth quarter.

West Chicago was without regular point guard Shailee Patel, and the hole left by the junior's absence was apparent.

"We're down on the roster right now," West Chicago coach Mark Fitzgerald said. "Our point guard (Patel) didn't play and that hurts.

"But our players didn't quit. We knew we were up against a good team. All I asked them to do was to not worry about the scoreboard and to focus on little victories and leaving it all on the floor."

Junior Sadie Obenauer paced the Wildcats with 10 points, while Morgan Nesemeier and Emily Toran combined for 13 more for West Chicago.

All but one starter for Waubonsie Valley finished with double-digit points. Mykah Berkompas poured in 15, including a trio of 3-pointers.

Seniors Grace Setter and Lauren McKnight scored 13 and 12, respectively.

The Warriors' defense caused 27 total turnovers and held West Chicago to 9-of-35 shooting in the game.

"It's all about the execution and the anticipation," Melton said. "Our main focus throughout practice all week was making sure we anticipated and that we came out for this game and executed it."