The third time was the charm for the Waubonsie Valley girls basketball team.
After suffering a pair of losses to eventual DuPage Valley Conference champion Naperville Central, the Warriors (31-3) earned the victory that mattered most.
Senior guard Danyella Mporokoso scored a game-high 35 points to lead the second-seeded Warriors to a 62-50 victory over the third-seeded Redhawks in Tuesday’s Class 4A East Aurora Sectional semifinal.
With the win, Waubonsie Valley will face top-seeded Benet in Thursday’s sectional championship for the fourth consecutive season. Benet (27-4) rallied for a 49-48 victory over fourth-seeded Bolingbrook (25-5).
Trailing 48-45 after Skylar Wakefield’s layup for the Raiders with three minutes remaining, the Redwings turned to their defense and experience down the stretch.
Bridget Rifenburg’s left-handed layup cut the deficit to 48-47 with 1:28 remaining before Bolingbrook misfired on the other end. Senior Emma Briggs’ up-and-under move led to an inside bucket, giving Benet a 49-48 lead with 54 seconds left.
“It all starts on defense,” said Briggs, who scored a game-high 20 points. “Everything on offense starts with our defense. We knew we had to get stops.”
That included an all-out hustle play from junior guard Ava Mersinger, who dove for a loose ball and called a quick timeout with 27 seconds left.
“We’re a gritty team,” Briggs said. “We want those 50-50 balls.”
After Benet missed a pair of free throws with 10 seconds left, Bolingbrook had one more chance to win but turned the ball over in the final seconds.
“We had a foul to give,” Benet coach Joe Kilbride said. “Emma [Briggs] said afterward that she was trying to foul, but the refs didn’t call it.
“I was very proud of their composure because they stayed with it. It’s a perfect example of what it takes to win a game like this.”
Rifenburg had 15 points, while Lucy Tierney added seven points for Benet.
Kennedy Williams paced the Raiders with 16 points, and Sydney Dodd added 10 points.
“I think the difference was just turnovers,” Williams said of her team’s six miscues in the fourth quarter. “They rushed us, and we didn’t finish.
“Coach [Christopher Smith] told us in the locker room that we had a good season, and it goes to show you how good of a team we are, to lose by one to the top-ranked team in the state.”
In the first game, Waubonsie used a fast start to its advantage.
Ahead 5-3, the Warriors went on a 16-4 run to open a double-digit lead.
Mporokoso, who missed her first 3 shots, found the hot hand, making seven straight field-goal attempts, including a pair of 3-pointers, to give the Warriors a 21-7 lead midway through the second quarter.
Mporokoso scored 13 of her 22 first-half points during the Warriors’ 21-9 second-quarter surge that ended with an assist on Maya Pereda’s 3-pointer in the final seconds to make it 33-14.
“Getting off to a great start was very important,” Warriors coach Brett Love said. “We wanted to come out and strike early. We couldn’t hold on the last time [against Naperville Central], so we wanted to tighten up a few things and follow the plan.”
That plan included stingy, hard-nosed defense, fueled by senior guard Arianna Garcia and junior Syncere Williams, who helped limit Redhawks standouts Trinity Jones and Erin Hackett to five combined first-half points.
“We came out as hard as we’ve ever played,” said Garcia, who added 12 points. “I don’t think they [Redhawks] were expecting that as much.”
Led by Jones, who finished with a team-high 19 points, Naperville Central pulled within seven at 40-33 with 1:57 left in the third quarter.
Williams (nine points, five rebounds) finished the quarter with a layup in the final seconds to push Waubonsie’s lead back to 45-35.
Garcia’s three-point play and Mporokoso’s 3-pointer helped extend the lead to 51-35 early in the fourth quarter, and the Warriors maintained their double-digit advantage the rest of the way.
“If we’re open, we’re open,” Mporokoso said. “On defense, we had two good defenders [Garcia and Williams] against two good offensive players. I’m happy it worked out in our favor.”
Annabelle Kritzer added nine points and 10 rebounds for the Redhawks.
“We dug a hole too big,” Redhawks coach Andy Nussbaum said. “We had a great season, winning conference and beating them [Warriors] twice. They just outplayed us tonight. We got beat by a good team.”
https://www.dailyherald.com/20260224/girls-basketball/girls-basketball-waubonsie-valley-benet-advance-to-east-aurora-sectional-final-in-opposite-fashion/