According to Woodland boys basketball coach Connor Kaminke, his team shoots the ball well coming into Wednesday’s game against Somonauk at the Warrior Dome in South Streator.

That streak continued and in a big way.

Woodland (9-6), which sank 15-of-27 (56%) shots from beyond the arc, used a big second quarter to take control and eventually posted a 69-52 victory over Somonauk (5-11).

Warriors senior Nolan Price (five assists, five steals) led the attack, swishing eight 3s, part of his game-high 26 points, while sophomore Nate Berry nailed four triples and finished with 16 points and four steals.

“We’ve been shooting the ball well our last few games and Nolan and Nate have kind of led that charge,” Woodland coach Connor Kaminke said. “But tonight, everyone was getting into it. I feel like we always have five guys on the floor that can hurt you offensively, but when we move the ball and cut like we did in the first half, it’s fun to watch.”

The Warriors extended a 21-15 lead after one quarter to a 42-22 halftime cushion as Price hit four treys and Berry put in five points.

“I thought we also defended pretty well, especially in the first half holding them to just 22 points,” Kaminke said. “We were a little stagnant in stretches in the third quarter on both ends of the floor, but we had built a 20-point lead, so we were able to withstand that and made a couple shots when we needed to keep things a four-possession game.”

Woodland - which shot 23-of-50 (46%) overall and recorded 17 assists - also received solid games from seniors Jaron Follmer (12 points, seven rebounds, four assists, two steals) and Noah Decker (10 points, four assists, two steals).

“Coach Kaminke said before the game tonight, the biggest thing for us was to be ready to go right from the start,” Follmer said. “We’ve had a few games this season where we’ve started slow and then had to come back. Tonight we wanted to play like we can right from the tip. I felt like we did that.

“For me, getting the ball in the post and knowing when I kick the ball out to a teammate, that more often than not the shot is going in, is so fun. When we can play inside and out like we did tonight, I think we can be a pretty tough team to guard.

“When we play like we did tonight it’s just so much fun.”

Somonauk, with senior Landin Stillwell netting 12 of his team-high 17 points in the third, cut a 24-point deficit to 54-39 heading to the fourth. The Bobcats then closed to within 59-47 with just under five minutes to go, but the hosts closed out the contest scoring 10 of the final 15 points.

After Stillwell for Somonauk, juniors Luke Hartsell (eight rebounds and five steals) and Owen Hopkins each had eight points, while Landon Johnson added seven points and four rebounds.

Somonauk shot 20-of-42 (48%) for the game, held a 29-20 rebound margin but lost the turnover battle 22-9.

“Woodland shot probably close to 50% from the 3-point line in the first half, maybe for the game and a lot of those makes were with us having a hand in their face,” Somonauk coach Curt Alsvig said. “They just shot lights out, so you just have to tip your cap to that.

“I thought we rebounded the ball pretty well and did a pretty good job offensively when we didn’t turn it over. We’re averaging right around what we had for turnovers tonight (22). Some of that is a little inexperience still and some of it is letting ourselves get sped up or just trying to make the hard pass instead of the simple one.

“We’ll just get back (Thursday) at practice and work on getting better.”

Both squads are back in action on Friday with Woodland hosting St. Bede in the Tri-County Conference and Somonauk entertaining Hinckley-Big Rock in the Little Ten Conference.