On guard: Plainfield South backcourt powers win over Oswego

PLAINFIELD – Last season, Plainfield South’s girls basketball team notched a 20-win season behind the play of posts Jazlynn Foster and Destiny Magruder.

Both graduated, and the Cougars have had to switch gears to a more guard-oriented game. The Plainfield South backcourt trio of La’Niya Willis, Tierra Abner and Zaharia Davis took care of a bulk of the scoring Friday night in a 64-50 Southwest Prairie Conference win over Oswego.

Abner led South (9-11, 5-4) with 18 points, including 4-of-4 shooting from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter to help preserve the lead. Willis finished with 16 points and directed the offense from the point, while Davis scored seven.

The trio was also instrumental in the defensive pressure that forced Oswego (9-11, 3-6) into 20 turnovers and harassed the Panthers into 18-of-49 (36.7%) shooting.

“It’s been a big adjustment from last year,” Willis said, “but we are getting used to it. We are starting to get our confidence back.

“The guards work a lot together, and there’s a connection. We feed off each other’s energy, and it just flows.”

Oswego got a big first quarter out of Ashley Cook, who scored 10 of her team-high 16 points in the period and helped the Panthers hold a 17-15 lead. Unfortunately for Oswego, it was able to score just 33 points the rest of the way.

A 6-for-22 showing at the free-throw line didn’t help matters.

“This wasn’t our best shooting night,” Oswego coach Dave Lay said. “You can’t give up 64 points and shoot the way we did tonight and expect to win.

“We knew they wanted to get out and run, and we didn’t do a very good job of stopping the ball when they did. But it was just one of those nights that we didn’t shoot well. We put ourselves in a big hole and couldn’t get out of it.”

The Cougars exploded for 17 points in the second quarter, getting five points from Davis and four each from Abner and Layla Lesure, who finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds, to take a 32-25 lead into halftime.

Oswego was able to cut the lead to 35-33 early in the third quarter on a basket by Peyton Johnson (10 points) and a 3-pointer each by Cook and Kendall Grant (10 points). South got a pair of baskets by Willis and a basket and free throw by Abner to build the lead back up to 42-37 entering the fourth.

With the score at 45-40 early in the fourth, South’s Carly McDonald hit back-to-back 3-pointers to push the Cougars out to a 51-40 lead. Oswego answered with a free throw each by Alexis Fomby and Ahlivia East to get the deficit back into single digits, but South went on a quick 7-0 run to take control at 58-42 and cruised the rest of the way.

Besides the pressure forcing turnovers and limiting the Oswego shooting percentage, the Cougars were also dominant on the boards. Fathia Olagunju had a game-high 16 rebounds, with Lesure adding 12 and Abner five.

“This is a huge win for us,” South coach Alana Warren said. “We are trying to get ourselves ready for the postseason.

“We are very guard-heavy this year, which is a lot different than last year. La’Niya and Tiffany were with me last year, and Zaharia played on the JV. She came to all the varsity workouts over the summer, so this has been building since the summer.

“Layla and Fathia know that their job is to go out there and rebound, and they do it. The girls know that not everyone is going to be a scorer, but they have other jobs like rebounding or playing defense. This group knows their roles, and they play them well.”