On every successful team, each player has a role to perform. Junior guard Maya Pereda understands that concept completely for Waubonsie Valley.
For this season’s version of the Warriors, Pereda operates as the team’s sharpshooter.
And she’s excelling in that role.
“I’m catch and shoot,” Pereda said. “If the girls are going to get downhill and attack, it will cause their defense to collapse, so I’ll have opportunities to hit shots. I have so much trust in them.”
Pereda went out and rewarded her teammates for their trust Monday night, putting up 12 points on four 3-pointers in a 68-40 victory over Carmel in the Coach Kipp Hoopsfest at Benet in Lisle.
Illinois State-bound senior guard Danyella Mporokoso led all scorers with 29 points for Waubonsie (20-1). Pereda shot 4 of 6 on 3 pointers, while Arie Garcia-Evans had 22 points and 11 rebounds.
Josie Hartman and Liv Johnson paced Carmel (17-7) with 14 points apiece.
Waubonsie coach Brett Love, meanwhile, knows there’s more to Pereda’s game, but as far as the makeup of this team, she’s doing the job that’s required.
“What she brings is what we need,” Love said of Pereda. “There is definitely more to unlock, her downhill drives and finishes around the basket, things like that.
“But if we can find her open and give her just a little bit of breathing room it’s going in.”
Garcia-Evans and Mporokoso combined to score 33 of Waubonsie’s 36 points in Monday’s first half. The other points came on a three from Pereda, who started getting more involved offensively in the third quarter as the Warriors really started to pull away.
Pereda’s final 3-pointer in the fourth quarter, followed by a Garcia-Evans pull-up jumper, pushed the advantage to a game-high 29 points.
“We’ve had games where we’ve all scored 20 and there’s really not much you can do to defend that,” Pereda said. “If one of us isn’t hitting, then the other two have the opportunity to attack.
“It’s really hard to guard. I think that’s great, especially for us to get to our goal.”
Following Monday’s win, Mporokoso is within 325 points of breaking the program record for career scoring set by Ashley Luke. Mporokoso sits at 2,561.
Pereda’s contributions have helped Mporokoso put up those huge numbers.
“It’s really good, especially in those games where she’s confident and she’s in that mode, she’s locked in,” Mporokoso said of Pereda. “You have to get to her in transition. She’ll set a screen for me. I’ll set a screen for her. One of us is going to get the shot. It’s super helpful.”
Pereda pointed out that, even before Maya Cobb was lost for the season with a knee injury suffered in the fourth game, she had discussions with Love about being more aggressive.
“Someone else had to step up and take her place,” Pereda said of Cobb. “I knew that for me, that was my role this year for us to be successful. Coach and I talked and he said that I have to be shooting more.
“There were some games where I had four shots, and that’s not going to help us win. He has those expectations for me.”
Even though Pereda is a different kind of scorer than the downhill Cobb, Love still knew he had somehow to replace 11 points a game.
“I looked to her to increase her points,” Love said of Pereda. “I need her around that 15-point mark every game.”
Every program also keeps an eye toward the future. While Pereda fits in perfectly this winter, the Warriors will lose Garcia-Evans and Mporokoso to graduation. Mporokoso sees a bright future.
“I think next year she’s going to hit a whole other level,” Mporokoso said of Pereda. “I think she’ll be a three-level scorer and a good leader and communicator.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
