Waubonsie Valley senior forward Elliana Morris never thought she would get a lot of playing time on the basketball court.
Morris is a standout center midfielder in soccer, the sport she will play at Lewis. Basketball is her second sport. She played on the junior varsity team during her first two seasons and then mostly rode the varsity bench as a junior.
Morris figured she’d reprise that role this season, but that didn’t lessen her dedication to the Warriors.
“Even though basketball is not her first sport, she’s been putting in the work so she can be a better teammate and she can help out,” Waubonsie Valley girls basketball coach Brett Love said. “She actually played in the spring and summer to kind of help out with the team even though she’s going to college for soccer.”
Morris’ extra work unexpectedly came in handy when senior guard Maya Cobb suffered a torn ACL in the fourth game of the season. Love turned to the 5-foot-6 Morris, inserting her into the starting lineup for the first time.
“She had to pick up the slack,” Love said. “She’s the opposite of (Cobb), who is very aggressive attacking the basket.”
Morris is much more defensive-minded, which is fine considering the Warriors have three other solid scorers with Illinois State-bound senior guard Danyella Mporokoso, senior guard Arie Garcia-Evans and junior guard Maya Pereda.
Losing Cobb, a Southwestern Illinois commit, was a big loss, but Morris’ play has eased it.
“(Morris) knocks down shots when she has them but is being less aggressive in taking them,” Love said. “But she doesn’t turn the ball over, she plays great defense, turns the defenders and gets a lot of tips and deflections.
“She’s a very smart player as well.”
Morris demonstrated that against Naperville North on Thursday. She had one of her best offensive games, scoring 12 points on four 3-pointers, and added five rebounds, four assists and two steals as the host Warriors rolled to a 64-25 DuPage Valley Conference victory in Aurora.
Mporokoso finished with a game-high 28 points and five assists, Pereda had eight points and three steals, and Garcia-Evans had seven points, five rebounds and three assists for the Warriors (17-0, 4-0), who appreciate what Morris is doing.
“She’s a great player,” Garcia-Evans said. “She’s a great addition. She always practices hard, even when she wasn’t playing that much. She’s fast, she’s smart, she talks a lot, she helps with defense, so she definitely deserves that spot.”
Morris, who is averaging 4.6 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.2 steals, had mixed emotions about becoming a starter.
“Maya Cobb is my best friend, so it was also really hard seeing her go through that,” she said. “But she was like, ‘You got this.’
“She’s been so helpful, and I feel like with my role I just play defense and just work hard and feed the ball to my shooters and then sometimes when I’m wide open hit my shots. That’s what my role is, and I think I’ve adapted to that.”
That was evident against Naperville North (13-5, 1-3), which couldn’t get past Morris’ defense. She made an inside steal and then fed Mporokoso for a breakaway layup for the game’s first points. Two minutes later, Mporokoso returned the favor, and Morris hit a 3-pointer.
After being knocked to the floor and missing several minutes, Morris returned and did a little bit of everything. She had a handoff assist to set up another 3-pointer by Mporokoso that gave Waubonsie Valley a 32-10 lead at the 1:34 mark of the second quarter.
Morris made a trio of 3-pointers in the second half. On the last one, she grabbed an offensive rebound, dribbled into the right corner, turned around and swished the shot.
The Warriors have been making a lot of shots, so much so that they believe they have a shot to do something they’ve never done.
“We want to win state, and that’s our goal,” said Morris, an aspiring teacher and coach who credits her success to her teammates. “We deserve it so much.
“We work hard every day. In the summer, we practice three hours a day. It’s really cool to see this. We have six seniors, and we’re all like best friends.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter.
