Kewanee jumps on Bureau Valley early and often

MANLIUS - Jon Henegar coached basketball in Kewanee for 10 years.

On Thursday, he gained a new perspective from the other bench of the gym, leading his new Bureau Valley girls team up against Kewanee at the Storm Cellar.

The visiting Boilermakers did not take it easy on the old Kewanee coach and former Three Rivers Conference rivals in a 57-31 runaway nonconference victory, jumping out to a 24-5 first-quarter lead and 42-9 at the half.

Henegar said it was an interesting experience to face his old school.

“I’m glad I didn’t have to play them the first game of the year,” he said. “I’ve been here now at Bureau Valley (this semester). It’s been really good for me teaching and coaching here. It was interesting. I saw a couple I knew and I know a lot of the girls on the team and taught a lot of them. It was fun to see them.”

But it may not have been fun playing them.

The Boilermakers took their lead to 55-20 after three quarters. The Storm began to warm up in the fourth quarter with Ashlyn Maupin hitting back-to-back 3-pointers with Maddie Wetzel adding one of her own to draw the Storm as close as 57-31.

First-year Kewanee coach David Wallace, who formerly coached at Blackhawk College and Stark County High School, said it was nice to see his Boilermakers shoot so well.

“We haven’t shot the ball that well this year. We shot really well and ... it snowballed on them,” he said.

Wallace said the score surprised him because he thought it would be a tight game.

“I knew Kewanee’s a good team,” he said. “The Dearing girl (Mya) is a senior. She’s played varsity basketball for four years. She’s a good player. And they got the Diaz girl (Damaris) playing really well. I knew they were going to be a challenge. We got into a big hole to start the game and against good teams it’s hard to come back.”

Maupin and Wetzell each finished with six points for the Storm (5-6) all on 3-pointers and Libby Endress also chipped in six. Emily Wright and Abbi Jamison added five points each.

Diaz poured in 21 points, all in the first three quarters to lead Kewanee (7-4) while Dearing (11) and Bailey VanWinkle (10) combined for 21 more.

Notes: Kewanee also won the JV game 41-19. Sierra Taylor had 11 points for BV. ... The Storm play a makeup game with Fulton on Friday, play at Mendota on Saturday and then return to action in the Warkins Classic at Prophetstown on Friday, Dec. 27 with games against Rockridge and Hall.