Kiana Ogulei is part of a young Yorkville Christian starting lineup surrounding Hope College commit Payton Wallin.

Ogulei is one of two freshmen who start. So do two sophomores, one of whom – Avery Herron – is back playing basketball after focusing on volleyball the last three years.

A freshman, sure, but Ogulei has no fear, which she demonstrated Wednesday.

Ogulei missed her first four 3-point attempts, part of a cold shooting night across the board for both Yorkville Christian and Plano.

But she stuck three 3s in the fourth quarter, and those big shots boosted the visiting Mustangs to a 38-30 nonconference win at Plano.

“When I went into the locker room at halftime I just had the mindset that I needed to lock in,” Ogulei said. “My shots weren’t falling and at halftime I reset. I was like OK, I’m just going to play my hardest. If they don’t fall, they don’t fall. But I’m going to give it my all.”

They indeed fell at an opportune time for Ogulei, who scored 11 of her game-high 13 points in the fourth quarter.

Her first 3-pointer, with 7:18 left, broke a 23-23 tie to give Yorkville Christian (8-7) the lead for good. She followed with back-to-back threes to give the Mustangs a commanding 36-28 lead with 3:46 left, particularly in a game where points were hard to come by.

The teams, which were also tied 16-16 at halftime, shot a combined 24-for-98 from the floor.

“I try to think that the next shot will go down,” Ogulei said. “I’m almost waiting for the first shot. Once the first shot goes down, it kind of lifts me up. And then all my other shots go in.”

Ogulei’s late offense was a lift for a Yorkville Christian team on a night when its star was not at her best physically.

Wallin, battling the flu, shot just 4-for-17 but still managed 11 points, 11 rebounds and five steals in her second game since score her 1,000th career point.

“We didn’t know until the middle of the game, she said I feel like I’m going to throw up – she’d been sick all day and still had a double-double," Yorkville Christian coach John McAdams said. “She is probably going to be upset with herself but we’re not. The thing about Plano is they’re well-coached. They scouted us, they played us in the summer and they keyed on her. They put their best defender on Payton.

“We know anytime you come to Plano you’re going to play a tough team. We’re lucky to come out of here with a win.”

Plano itself was short-handed.

Its own freshman point guard, Le’Niya Viser, turned an ankle late in the second half of a loss to Kaneland on Tuesday.

“We’re hoping to get her back by Monday,” Plano coach Tristan Spivey said. “It’s tough to not have her. We play again Thursday, and again Friday, four games in four nights. We got some different girls in there.”

Despite its offensive struggles, which included 4-for-22 shooting from beyond the arc and 21 turnovers, Spivey was pleased with the effort.

Jadyn Long scored 11 points, Jailyn Brown eight points and Chloe Rowe had six points and 11 rebounds for the Reapers (7-9).

“Proud of my girls,” Spivey said. “I thought it was one of our more complete performances in a while. Yorkville Christian is a good team, they’re probably going to win another regional title. Payton Wallin is one of the best players in the area and I thought we did a good job defensively on her.”

Yorkville Christian’s win is its second straight after going 0-4 as the smallest school at the Montini Christmas Tournament, and following that up with a competitive 57-50 loss to Kaneland.

And McAdams was not surprised to see Ogulei having a big hand in it.

“After the Montini tournament, she’s been a different player,” McAdams said. “That was a tough tournament for us, the only 1A school there. I think Kiana grew leaps and bounds from before we started the tournament to the end. She’s getting a little more aggressive, a little more confident.

“She has the confidence to shoot and we do too. The coaching staff tells her all the time that even though she’s a freshman and we have a 1,000-point scorer, we’re looking for you to shoot.”