Girls basketball: Bureau Valley gets final run against Princeton

Bureau Valley coach Matt Wasilewski noticed a quiet resolve with his Storm girls basketball team Monday at school.

“I didn’t see any emotions in any of them,” he said.

“You could definitely tell there were some nerves going around,” BV senior Lynzie Cady said

That proved to be only the calm before the Storm.

The Storm struck for a 55-45 victory over previously undefeated Princeton on Monday night at Prouty Gym, outscoring the Tigresses 24-14 over the final 12 minutes of the game in Three Rivers East play.

Cady and fellow senior Kate Salisbury knew it wasn’t going to come easy.

“That was the first time in a while [to beat Princeton]. Feels really good,” Salisbury said. “Took a lot of confidence. We had to really talk and give ourselves confidence to come out here. We knew it was going to be a very tough game. We had to mentally and physically prepare.”

“We knew that both teams were going to come out ready to play. It was all about who wanted it more,” Cady said. “So we had to come ready. Work in practice. We finally got what we wanted.”

The game was all about runs. The Storm (6-3, 2-1 TRAC East) had the last run to take the win.

Princeton sophomore Keighley Davis answered a 3-point basket by Cady to tie the score at 16 early in the second quarter.

The Storm then went on an 11-0 run to pull away at halftime. Izabella Birkey scored twice, Salisbury hit a 3, and Kate Stoller knocked down a step-in jumper to put the Storm up 27-16.

A 3-pointer by sophomore Makayla Hecht with 42 seconds left in the half drew the Tigresses (7-1, 1-1) within 27-19 at the half.

Then it was the Tigresses’ turn to run, racking up 12 straight points to take a 31-29 edge. Olivia Mattingly got the ball rolling with a 3-pointer and Miyah Fox capped the 12-0 run with a three-point play on an inbounds play and free throw.

The Tigresses’ momentum didn’t last long. The Storm raced off to a 10-0 run to go up 39-31, a lead they would not give up. Freshman Libby Endress led the Storm’s charge with seven points, scoring on a drive, a 3-pointer and a layup.

Endress finished with a team-high 15 points, and Cady added 13, giving the Storm a spark they needed.

“Libby needs to stop thinking she’s a freshman and thinking of herself as a varsity player,” Wasilewski said. “Confidence-wise, she can shoot the ball. She’s great from the line. She needs a little more seasoning handling the ball. Tonight, she was really good defensively. She was playing against some good players, Driscoll and Mattingly. They are some solid players.”

The Storm coach added that “Lynzie wasn’t even shooting the ball before, and I think she’s over 30 [points] the past three games.”

“It definitely feels better when you’re scoring out there,” Cady said with a smile.

Davis led Princeton with 14 points before fouling out in the fourth quarter, and Driscoll had 13.

“We made it a goal to not allow their offense to get started with their defense, which is what they do really well. Once we got the press off, we started to feel confident,” Wasilewski said. “They missed some shots they normally make. They’re a dangerous 3-point shooting team, and they didn’t hit those shots tonight. At the same time, we did hit some key shots.”

Wasilewski said BV’s sophomore come-from-behind 28-25 victory gave his team a boost.

“They saw the F/S come all the way back and win that game. There’s something about that that gets you going, ‘Hey, it’s going to be our night,’” he said.

Princeton coach Tiffany Gonigam said the Tigresses will use the game as a lesson. They won’t have much time to dwell on it with three more games this week, starting with Tuesday’s home game with Rock Falls.

“This game revealed a lot of things and gave us a wake-up call,” she said. “[BV] played hard. Right from the get-go, they were faster than us at times. They ran the floor well. They played great defense. They beat us in transition. They were just well prepared. Their hype level was perfect for this game.”

This marked Bureau Valley’s last scheduled game at Prouty Gym with the Storm leaving the Three Rivers and not being brought back to the Princeton Holiday Tournament.

Alivia Zemke led the BV sophomores in victory with 18 points. Josie Sierens had eight for Princeton.