(Sugar Grove, IL) – Waubonsee Community College's women's basketball team evened their Illinois Skyway Collegiate Conference (ISCC) record at 3-3 with a 92-61 win over visiting Elgin Community College on Thursday evening in Erickson Hall Gymnasium. The Chiefs (7-12, 3-3) gradually pulled away with a balanced attack as all eight players dented the scoring column. Waubonsee limited the Spartans (8-14, 2-4) to just 25 percent shooting from the field in the first half, while also out rebounding the Spartans 61-36 for the game.
Both teams struggled to get on track offensively the first three minutes of the contest. The Chiefs' Brooke Heiman then scored inside twice, Angelina Schlinger nailed a pair of free throws and Lily Fernandez buried a three-pointer to build a 9-0 lead. Elgin finally broke the shutout five minutes into the game. The teams played evenly after that as the quarter came to an end with Waubonsee leading 18-9.
The second quarter began in a similar fashion as the first period with the Chiefs outscoring Elgin just 2-1 over the initial four minutes of play. A minute later Annika Bielskis drove the lane, drew two defenders, and dished off to Alexis Trousdale who laid the ball in for a 25-13 Waubonsee advantage. The next Chiefs' possession Trousdale drilled a trey and then Ashleigh Wackerlin followed with a close-in basket to make it 30-15 as every Waubonsee player started to get involved offensively. In the waning seconds of the first half a deflection out of bounds gave the Chiefs the ball with only 0:01.8 left. Heiman then took the inbounds pass and quickly launched a long three-pointer from the left wing that swished through the net at the buzzer to send the teams to the locker room with Waubonsee in front 38-20.
Heiman scored again, this time from close range, to begin the second half and give the Chiefs a 20-point lead. Waubonsee maintained that comfortable advantage throughout much of the third period. Beilskis then scored her first points on a lay-up in transition midway through the third quarter as the final Chiefs' player to score. Elgin got as close as 14 points before Waubonsee built its lead back up once more. Emily Hurst scored down low twice in the final seconds of the quarter to extend the Chiefs' lead to 65-43, their biggest lead of the game to that point.
Waubonsee then opened the final quarter with three quick baskets to complete a 10-0 run and build their lead up to 28 points. The Spartans cut the deficit back down to 20 points before the Chiefs built it back up again. A rainbow three-pointer by Beilskis with a minute to go put Waubonsee in front by 32 points, their largest lead of the game.
Heiman led all scorers with 26 points and posted a double-double with 14 rebounds, to go along with handing out four assists. Hurst was right behind her with 25 points, eight boards, four assists and four steals. Wackerlin and Trousdale each booked collegiate career highs with 10 points each. Schlinger also dished out 11 assists as the Chiefs tallied 25 total as a team.
The Chiefs are in action again this coming Saturday, January 28, when they host Kankakee Community College beginning at 1:00 p.m. Coach Jim Williams' squad is on the road next Tuesday, January 31, as they head to Des Plaines to square off against Oakton Community College at 5:15 p.m. Waubonsee is home again next Thursday, February 2 when they take on the College of Lake County in another ISCC match-up starting at 5:15 p.m.