Waubonsie Valley began its pursuit of another Upstate Eight title Friday night with a 50-45 home-court victory over Bartlett, but the Warriors will have to run part of this season’s conference race without their senior leader.
Center Rachel Bostick dislocated her right shoulder in a tangle under the basket midway through the second quarter and is expected to miss several weeks, coach Kris Kalivas said.
Bostick dislocated her left shoulder last December, too, and missed several weeks.
“As soon as it happened, we knew we needed to fulfill her role,” said senior guard Jessica Morice, who led the Warriors (7-0, 1-0) with 14 points and also grabbed seven rebounds, four in the fourth quarter.
No. 16 Waubonsie, which led 28-26 at halftime and 40-35 after three quarters, was unable to secure the victory until the last minute.
Tanysha Walls’ putback, giving the Warriors a 46-42 edge with 2 minutes 27 seconds to play, was their final field goal. Morice made two free throws to give the Warriors a 48-43 lead with 35 seconds left.
“I really focused on those,” Morice said of the free throws. “I knew I had to put those in.”
Freshman forward Tami Morice, Jessica’s sister, and Walls each had 10 points, and Jessica Morice pulled down nine rebounds in response to Bostick’s absence.
“It was really hard to see her go down,” Tami Morice said. “We knew we had to pull together.”
Jacki Gulczynski scored 19 points, and Ashley Santos had 15 for Bartlett (4-3, 0-1).
