Yorkville Christian’s Payton Wallin, playing her second game since scoring her 1,000th career point, knew that Wednesday night was going to be a struggle.
Under the weather all day, Wallin had to gut it out at Plano.
“Unfortunately, I was a little sick,” Wallin said afterward. “At the end of the game, I wasn’t feeling my best. They had a good defense on me. I trusted my teammates. We’re a young team.
“But I know my team this year has put in more work than any other team I’ve been on.”
Wallin’s teammates gave her a boost, but she was still her active self, even if her shot wasn’t falling. The senior guard helped lead the Mustangs to a 38-30 nonconference victory.
Wallin only shot 4 of 15 for Yorkville Christian (8-7), but she still managed a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds. She added four assists, four steals and a blocked shot.
Freshman forward Kiana Ogulei led all scorers with 13 points for the Mustangs. Jadyn Long paced Plano (6-8) with 11 points, while Jailyn Brown picked up eight points.
Wallin’s intestinal fortitude Wednesday, meanwhile, came as no surprise to Yorkville Christian coach John McAdams.
“It’s tough to watch her out there struggling,” McAdams said. “She still had a double-double and she was sick. They keyed on her. We knew coming in that they would play hard defense on her.
“We practiced this week for a box-and-one because she’s such a dominant player.”
Plano coach Tristan Spivey confirmed that, indeed, was the plan.
“I thought we frustrated her and made some other girls on that team beat us,” Spivey said. “That was an emphasis. Cami Nunez, I can stick her on anyone.
“We had to leave some other girls open and they hit their shots, so kudos to those girls.”
The game was tied at 23-23 going into the fourth quarter when Ogulei came alive.
Ogulei hit a 3-pointer to open the fourth before Wallin converted a layup and a pair of free throws to build a 30-26 lead. Ogulei then hit two more 3-pointers and a pair of free throws to ice the win.
Even though Yorkville Christian went 0-4 at the Montini Tournament over the holidays, McAdams pointed out that Ogulei flipped the switch.
“She’s a different player from when we started that tournament to now,” McAdams said. “She’s taking steps. She’s very coachable. She works very hard. She does whatever we tell her to do.
“She’s just a great kid.”
Despite her struggles Wednesday, Wallin has had a big week. The Hope recruit recorded her 1,000th career point Saturday against Kaneland.
Her parents and coaches decided to not tell her how close she was to the milestone.
“It couldn’t have been more perfect,” Wallin said. “My family decided early. They saw that I was going to get it and they decided not to get into my head. All my family was there, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins. It was an amazing experience. My brother was there.”
Wallin did it in fitting fashion, making one of her patented 3-pointers. McAdams called a timeout after she hit the shot and she started to realize what had just happened.
“I ended up making it on a deep three,” Wallin said. “It was crazy because I didn’t know that was going to be my 1,000th point. I thought everybody was cheering for my three.
“I looked in the stands and there were posters everywhere for me. It was incredible.”
Considering everything that Wallin has meant to the program, McAdams was happy to let her have her moment.
“She’s one of the hardest working girls I’ve ever coached,” McAdams said. “She has such a high basketball IQ. I was very proud of her for getting to 1,000 points.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tronc/RQGPJHL4ASBV7F32JP3AWSZMWY.jpg)
