Aubrey Lamberti leads Oswego East past Oswego

Every senior night is special, no matter the team, but in Oswego East’s Aubrey Lamberti’s case, she realized it was something that was going to have extra meaning.

The 5-foot-9 senior forward recently became the all-time leading scorer in school history, and Thursday night against Yorkville would be her final home game.

A four-year college journey led Lamberti to this point.

“It happened so quickly,” she said. “It was so exciting to feel the love and support from teammates and fans. It was really fun.”

Lamberti showed his usual grit, scoring 10 points with five rebounds, two assists and two steals to help the host Wolves escape with a 45-37 Southwest Prairie West victory over Yorkville.

Senior point guard Desiree Merritt, who ranks third all-time in scoring for the Wolves, ended up leading all scorers with 14 points for Oswego East (14-10, 9-4).

Sydney McCabe led Yorkville (11-13, 4-7) with eight points. Hayden Hodges and Ashlyn Peterson added seven points each for the Foxes, who finished the game with only six active players due to injuries.

Oswego East coach Abe Carretto has been on board for all four of Lamberti’s seasons. This made his recognition even more special.

“It’s nice to see this for four years,” Carretto said.

Carretto also understood the importance of recognizing how Lamberti won the majority of these record points.

“She’s always giving updates in the press,” Carretto said. “She puts in a lot of mileage. She got a lot of points running the floor and rebounding well and then going to the free throw line.

“She really worked for it. Her outside game got better. She helped herself in that regard. She really liked getting inside more and getting buckets to keep her average high.”

That’s what made the record-breaking basket so special for Lamberti.

On January 16, in a thrilling 71-67 victory over Minooka, Lamberti scored the record basket on a rebound of a Merritt miss. Lamberti then made the decisive free throws.

“It was a left-handed rebound and layup, that’s it,” she said. “I think it was pretty fitting.”

After surpassing 1,000 career points as a junior, she knew this record was a possibility. She just didn’t know when it would happen.

“I didn’t try to pay too much attention to it,” Lamberti said. “I knew it was kind of close but I didn’t know how far it was. It means a lot and I was really excited.

“I was a little bit in shock because I didn’t know it was happening. You feel love and support. It was such a good feeling.”

Lamberti breaking the previous record of 1,304 points set by Christine Corpuz was a welcome sight for Carretto. Lamberti is the leading scorer – boy or girl – in school history.

“It’s nice to see someone break another record,” Carretto said. “That’s what they’re there for, not to sit still forever. I hope these things continue to happen.”

Oswego East needed all of Lamberti’s efforts to fend off feisty Yorkville.

The Foxes lost by 39 points to Wolves in their last match. They were also down to seven players and lost Aubrey Spychalski to injury four minutes into the match.

Still, the Foxes cut the deficit to 37-33 in the fourth quarter.

“They have so much heart,” Yorkville coach Kim Wensits said. “You hate to see kids go down, you really do, and we’re down to four (injuries) right now. It’s interesting what that brings out in kids.

“They realize, ‘I have no choice. I have to play.'”

Lamberti, meanwhile, is about to make a college decision, where she hopes to one day become an optometrist. Maybe then she’ll think more about the legacy she left in Oswego East.

“It’s something I’m very proud of,” Lamberti said.

Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.