Girls’ Basketball: WACO Pulls off Signature Win, Upsets No. 15 (2A) Van Buren

By: Nathan Bloechl — sports@kilj.com 

KILJ — An upset was in the air in Wayland last night.

Just days after pushing Van Buren to the brink, the WACO girls’ basketball team jumped out to a 16-0 lead this time cruising to a monster, 25-point upset over No. 15 (2A) Van Buren County 68-43 last night in Wayland.

WACO led by 13 at recess and grew their lead to 50-26 at the end of the third quarter on the back of a 20-9 run to put the game on ice.

Sophomore guard Ellah Kissell poured in 21 points to lead WACO, while Aubri Garsney chipped in with 18 points.

Morgan Graber added 15 points and nine rebounds for WACO who stopped an 11-game losing skid to Van Buren, which dated all the way back to 2009.

The last time WACO defeated Van Buren was January 26th of 2008, 34-27.

Van Buren’s Isabel Manning — the state’s leading scorer (31.6 ppg) — had 25 points to lead all scorers, despite the loss.

WACO upped their ledger to 6-11, they’re now 5-7 in the SEISC-South.

They’ll take on Danville tonight at home, tip is set for 6:00 p.m.

Van Buren dipped to 13-4 and 11-3 in conference play.

They’ve got no time to sulk, hooking up with No. 8 (3A) West Burlington (16-1) on Thursday night in Burlington.

Tip is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.