When she arrived as a freshman at Waubonsie Valley, Danyella Mporokoso remembered looking at the trophy case outside of the gym.
Mporokoso, now a 5-foot-8 senior guard, kept seeing the name of Ashley Luke, the 1999 graduate who scored a program-record 2,885 points in her career as a three-time All-American.
“I always looked at it and I would think to myself, ‘How is it possible to score that many points?’” Mporokoso said with a smile. “I didn’t even think it was possible to me.”
As it turns out, one player could possibly top that record — and it was Mporokoso.
The Illinois State recruit entered Thursday night tied with Luke and then went out and scored a game-high 31 points to lead the host Warriors to a 71-49 victory over Plainfield North in the Class 4A Waubonsie Valley Regional championship game in Aurora.
A 3-pointer in the first quarter gave the record to Mporokoso, who also finished with eight rebounds, four steals, four assists and two blocked shots for Waubonsie (30-3).
Maya Pereda scored 14 points, while Syncere Williams added nine and Arie Garcia-Evans had eight for the Warriors. Isabella Koldoff led Plainfield North (20-12) with 16 points.
Waubonsie coach Brett Love couldn’t have predicted a record like this for Mporokoso when she was younger, but he did know he was looking at a unique player.
“I always believed in Dany,” Love said. “She never thought she would reach this point and be as good as she is right now. I told her as soon as I met her in fifth grade.
“I already knew she was something special.”
To make the occasion even more special, Love tracked down the previous record holder.
Ashley Luke Clanton, a former Penn State and DePaul player, is the head coach at Norcross in Georgia, winning a state title after serving as the head coach at Mother McAuley in Chicago.
Love set up a video call before Thursday’s game.
“If she ever got close, I wanted to really just give her some inspiration and make her part of this special part of history,” Love said. “A lot of people just break a record and go about their business.
“I thought she was a special player. She’s a special coach. I wanted some of that to transfer to Dany.”
Mporokoso was glad to spend time with Luke Clanton and gain perspective on a life in basketball.
“We were just talking about what it meant to me, looking up to her, knowing she held the record,” Mporokoso said. “She just gave me a lot of wisdom on what it takes to get far.
“It was really cool to just get a face to a name that I already knew.”
Mporokoso scored the first seven points of the second quarter Thursday night, part of a 14-point effort in those eight minutes for her that helped build a 35-14 halftime lead.
“It worked out,” Love said. “There are things that you don’t necessarily focus on, but you’re aware of. We talked about the last home game and making sure we won.”
Mporokoso’s wingman the past four seasons has been Garcia-Evans, who was thrilled to watch her close friend accomplish such a feat.
“It was amazing,” Garcia-Evans said. “Just like her, I looked at that thing and never thought anyone would get it. When senior year came, we knew she was going to get it.”
The win sets up a third showdown with Naperville Central (25-6) at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in an East Aurora Sectional semifinal. The Redhawks have handed Waubonsie two of its three losses.
“That’s what we want,” Mporokoso said. “Every time we played them, we just overall as a team didn’t shoot well. We didn’t perform. I think we’re waiting to have our team game against them.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
