(Sugar Grove, IL) – Waubonsee Community College women's basketball team opened post-season play on Monday evening in Erickson Hall Gymnasium. The seventh-seeded Chiefs (14-17) started out slow before eventually running away with a 113-62 win over 10th seeded Illinois Valley Community College (5-26) in a Region 4 Division II District A Tournament play-in game. After topping the Eagles 101-66 on November 10 in Oglesby, the Chiefs more than duplicated the feat as the teams met again three and half months later. The 113 points scored are the second most in a single game in program history, trailing only the 118 points the Chiefs scored against Illinois Valley on December 15, 2021. Waubonsee moves on to the quarterfinals of the tournament and will play this coming Wednesday, March 1 at second-seeded Oakton Community College (26-4) with a 5:30 p.m. tip-off in north suburban Des Plaines.
A minute into the game Brooke Heiman scored on an inside basket to start the scoring and to give her 629 points on the season, breaking Julianna Wadsworth's single-season program mark of 628 set during the 2015-2016 season. The underdog Eagles grabbed a 9-5 lead before Lily Fernandez drilled a three-pointer and Heiman tallied a put back basket to give the Chiefs a 10-9 lead. A long triple from the right corner by Alexis Trousdale with three minutes left in the first quarter helped Waubonsee grab a 23-19 lead at the end of the period.
After ending the first quarter with a 5-0 run, Waubonsee began the second period with a 6-0 run to take a 29-19 lead. A fast break lay-in by Annika Bielskis off a feed from Heiman extended the Chiefs' lead to 37-23 midway through the second quarter. A high arching trey by Angelina Schlinger and another one by Fernandez moments later pushed the lead to 44-27. Waubonsee eventually carried a 52-39 lead into the locker room after leading by as many as 19 points.
The second half started with Ashleigh Wackerlin snagging an offensive rebound and scoring in traffic as the Chiefs looked to pull away. Just as they did in the second quarter, Waubonsee began the third quarter with a 6-0 run to build their lead back up to 19 points. Another put back basket, this time by Heiman, increased the lead to 70-46 with three minutes remaining in the third quarter. A steal and breakaway lay-up by Trousdale a minute later staked Waubonsee to a 75-46 lead as they poured it on. A three-pointer by Kaila Schlinger from the right wing in the final seconds helped Waubonsee close out the period with an 81-50 advantage.
Waubonsee then started the fourth quarter with a 15-1 run to grab a 44-point lead. The Chiefs hit the century mark with five minutes to go in the game when Bielskis drilled a three-pointer from the right wing. Waubonsee continued to hit on all cylinders as they extended their big advantage in the fourth quarter with everyone getting involved in the offensive outburst.
Heiman booked 23 points, grabbed nine rebounds and made four steals. The sophomore now has scored 650 points on the season in 30 games she has played in, averaging 21.7 points-per-game to go along with average 9.4 rebounds per contest. The Indian Creek High School product leads all NJCAA Division II players with a school-record 159 made free throws, is second nationally in total points scored, and third in field goals made with 230. Heiman is also currently fifth in free throw percentage at 86.9 percent and sixth nationally in scoring per game. The 5'9" guard now has 1,140 career points and counting. Wadsworth, a two-time NJCAA All-American, finished with a program record of 1,211 points in a Chiefs uniform.
Bielskis also finished with 23 points to go along with five assists as six Chiefs reached double figures. Trousdale tallied 15 points, Fernandez added 14 points and handed out six assists, and Emily Hurst chipped in with 13 points, nine boards, four steals and three assists. Angelina Schlinger ended the game with 10 points, registered eight assists and made three steals. Kaila Schilinger contributed eight points, and Wackerlin came off the bench to score seven points, hail down six rebounds and make three steals. For the game Waubonsee scored 45 points directly off 30 Illinois Valley turnovers. The Chiefs also corralled 20 offensive rebounds and Waubonsee's bench outscored the Eagles' reserves 46-17.