Waubonsie Valley’s opponents know they have to stop Danyella Mporokoso, but coach Brett Love focuses his planning on maximizing Hannah Laub’s talents.
The senior forward’s ability to score in multiple ways is just as important for the Warriors.
“It’s very key,” Love said. “I always try to get Hannah going early. We try to draw up a play where we can get penetration with a kick-out and see if she can get her shot going.
“She does a good job of playing inside and out, but we just wanted to feed her as much as we could and see what we could do.”
Laub scored on just such a play Tuesday night, taking a kick-out from Mporokoso and hitting a 3-pointer during the Warriors’ opening 10-1 run against Downers Grove North in the Class 4A Oswego Sectional semifinals.
But as good as that start was, Waubonsie Valley’s finish was better, and Laub was an even bigger part of it. The Army commit scored nine of her 12 points in the second half as the second-seeded Warriors rallied to beat the third-seeded Trojans 44-37.
Waubonsie Valley (30-3), which tied the team record for wins, advances to play fourth-seeded Benet (24-6), which upset top-seeded Bolingbrook 55-52, in the sectional final at 6 p.m. Thursday.
Mporokoso, a sophomore guard who had a game-high 21 points to go with seven rebounds, and Laub combined to score 22 of their team’s 28 points in the second half, including 18 straight at one point.
“It wasn’t just us two,” Laub said humbly. “We had the one play where we kept swinging the ball around and got an open shot. Dani does a great job starting that for us. When it comes down to it, we know what we’ve got to do.”
Downers Grove North (30-4) had won 16 consecutive games since losing to Waubonsie Valley in the semifinals of the Wheaton North Falcon Classic on Dec. 28. The Trojans used a 13-1 run to take their first lead in the third quarter and, after Laub scored on two drives to give Waubonsie Valley a 24-19 edge, went on an 11-2 run to go up 30-26 after three quarters.
A 3-pointer by Laub tied the game at 30-30, and Mporokoso followed with a pair of go-ahead layups. After a timeout, Mporokoso lobbed an inbounds pass from in front of Waubonsie Valley’s bench across the lane to Laub, who scored inside.
Laub then blocked a shot. Mporokoso grabbed the rebound and went coast to coast for a layup to cap an 18-4 run and put Waubonsie Valley up 40-32 with 1:47 left.
“I think the both of us, we kind of have that mentality where we hate losing more than anything,” Laub said. “But that inbounds play from the sidelines, we always work well on that together because we know one of us is going to be able to score off of it.”
Mporokoso wasn’t surprised to see Laub succeed.
“She can always score for us, and we always need that,” Mporokoso said. “She’s been a dependable player, and she always brings energy. She’s always trying to hype us up.”
Laub is hyped about her recent decision to commit to Army.
“Two weekends ago, I went for my visit, and I loved it,” Laub said. “I was talking to Navy for a little bit, and that kind of fell off when someone filled the last spot.
“Army said they were full but if anything pops up or anything changes, they will let us know, and I got a text one day right before one of our games, so I started talking to them again. It kind of came up last minute, but I’m glad I did it.”
Laub must serve five years of active duty upon graduating from Army, but she’s willing to make the commitment.
“I didn’t really know what I wanted to do after college, and this just set me up for life,” she said. “So being able to use basketball to get me somewhere like this, I can’t really pass it up.”
In the meantime, Laub won’t pass up a chance to beat Benet, which has eliminated the Warriors in each of the past three postseasons, including the sectional final last year.
“For me personally, it’s the third year in a row we’re playing them,” Laub said. “We were preparing quite a bit for Bolingbrook, but we knew that we were going to have to prepare for Benet too. They’re still a good team.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter.
