Waterloo girls basketball survives test, stays perfect in league play

ATWATER TWP. — The Vikings sailed through most of the first half.

Waterloo withstood choppy waters in the second.

The Vikings reached shore unscathed with Waterloo topping visiting Western Reserve, 39-34, to push its win streak to 11 and remain undefeated in league play.

"It's not going to be easy in our conference," Vikings coach Kevin Longanecker said. "Western Reserve is used to winning and so we fully expected a battle and we knew it would be a ballgame. We've talked about that the last three or four days."

Kaira English, Lilly Foster provide clutch buckets early in the fourth quarter

Coming off a third quarter in which they scored a single point, and leading just 28-26, the Vikings (11-1, 7-0 MVAC Scarlet) put their oars in the water to start the fourth.

"Coach L kind of just talked to us like, 'Play how we know how to play, get together,'" Waterloo sophomore Kaira English said. "We just connected after that."

English, who led Waterloo with 13 points Thursday, missed a pair of free throws seconds into the fourth quarter, but junior Rose Couts was able to tip the second into the air and English came down with the ricochet and steamrolled to the bucket for a layup to double the lead to 30-26.

"That's kind of been our M.O.," Longanecker said. "Hustle play. This group, we don't always do things pretty, but we're going to play hard."

A minute later, English passed out of the post to Couts, who sent the ball along to sophomore guard Lilly Foster, who drained her third trey to push the lead to 33-26.

Meanwhile, English and the Vikings played inspired defense, with English closing out hard on a pair of 3-pointers, blocking one and forcing an air ball on the other, and coming up with a key steal late in the game.

"Kaira is Kaira," Longanecker said. "She's special. She gets a spark in her eye and something is going to happen."

All told, Waterloo held Western Reserve without a bucket for the first 5:40 of the fourth quarter as it embarked on a game-changing 9-0 run.

"Our defense has improved a lot since the beginning of the season," English said. "Our experience really helped us. We gained a lot of trust with each other."

English capped the run by driving baseline and dishing to Abby Mazur for a layup, then cutting to the hoop for a layup of her own as the Vikings led by multiple possessions the rest of the way.

Western Reserve battles back all night

The Vikings never trailed Thursday, starting with an eight-point outburst in the opening two minutes.

Foster (9 points, 3-of-7 from deep) started the fun with an open 3-pointer on Waterloo's first possession.

Couts (6 points, 8 rebounds) added a jumper from just inside the arc, and Foster sent a cross-court pass to Kaylee Webb, who drained a three to push Waterloo's lead to 8-0.

Down eight, Lisa Eichert got the Blue Devils on the board with a putback, and they scored their next 10 points on 3-pointers, as Brooke Schantz (13 points, 5-of-10 from the field) drained two treys, and Eichert and Schantz were each fouled on a 3-pointer and combined to make 4-of-6 from the line as Western Reserve drew within 14-12 after a quarter.

The second stanza followed a similar story.

Waterloo surged early, with 3-pointers by Foster and Mazur sparking an 8-2 run to take a 22-14 lead, but Western Reserve managed to hang around.

The Vikings, who passed calmly around the Blue Devils' 2-3 zone for much of the first half en route to a 48 percent clip from the field and just four turnovers, suddenly went ice cold in the third quarter.

Waterloo still got good looks in the third quarter but couldn't hit a field goal, literally, as Western Reserve crept to within a single point of the home team.

Alyvia Hughes, in particular, who scored all nine of her points in the second half, provided a spark for the Blue Devils as she drove hard to the bucket.

With their lead down to two entering the final quarter and their perfect league mark on the line, the Vikings responded.

"I think we gained some confidence here tonight," Longanecker said. "That was a good spurt to start the fourth quarter."

This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Waterloo girls basketball survives test, stays perfect in league play