SYRACUSE - Kem Zolman sat on the bench, watching his players cut down the basketball net while Katina and The Wave's "Walking On Sunshine" blared through speakers hanging in the gym.
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
Wawasee's varsity girls basketball team, led by freshmen and sophomores, beat Angola 45-39 in Saturday's Wawasee 3A Sectional championship. More than 2,000 fans watched the Warriors win their first sectional title since 1986.
Early last week, Zolman thought his Warriors needed "divine intervention" to win the sectional. But here they were, and he may have been as surprised as anyone that the title came in 2000.
"I think it was after the NorthWood game (in December), after we played well in the second half," Zolman said. "Our coaches - Dale Brannock, Phil Mishler and Jim Schmidt - sat down and said, 'We have to get a game plan. We think we can go quite a ways with this team.'
"At first I thought they were nuts. I thought we were a year away. They believed and got me starting to believe. I don't know how far these girls can go. While we're riding a train that's going pretty fast, we better just keep on it."
No one can ever accuse Wawasee of taking the easy road. The 15-7 Warriors won the sectional by beating a 20-4 Angola team with a 12-game win streak 24 hours after beating NorthWood, the defending state champion, 48-44. They won despite playing no seniors. One junior saw limited playing time.
Said sophomore forward Shanna Zolman, Kem's daughter and state's leading scorer at 32.9 points per game: "We wanted to prove to ourselves that beating NorthWood wasn't a fluke last night."
Angola finished the season 20-5, and out of five losses, two came to Wawasee. Zolman scored 45 as Wawasee drummed Angola 79-57 in the regular season. Angola tried to press Wawasee then; this time, the Hornets double-teamed Zolman with or without the ball.
"They have the best player in the state," Angola coach Doug Curtis said. "We weren't going to let her beat us with 45 again. It was a matter if the others would beat us."
Zolman led Wawasee with 24 points on 5-of-14 shooting from the field and 12-of-14 shooting from the free throw line. Sophomore point guard Dusty Krull added 11 points and three steals.
"It was good defense, but I never thought anybody would put two people just on me, because it makes it like three on four for them the entire night," Shanna said.
Angola entered the game with no girl averaging 10 points per game, but eight players averaged between 5.0 and 9.1 ppg. Junior center Kristi Miller, who averaged 7.7, led Angola with 18 points and nine rebounds.
"What hurt us was having no go-to player," Curtis said. "But we have a couple of candidates for next year's team."
Wawasee finished the game 17 of 22 from the free throw line, while Angola was 8 of 17.
Against NorthWood, freshman frontcourt players Meagan Wallen and Jessica Leach complemented Zolman. Against Angola, it was sophomore point guard Dusty Krull's turn.
Krull delivered six points and two steals in the second quarter as she helped Wawasee turn a 11-10 deficit into a 19-13 lead with 1:39 left before halftime. The Warriors led 19-15 at halftime, but Angola blew its chances for the lead by hitting just 1 of 7 first-half free throws.
"He said somebody needed to step in," Krull said. "I said, 'Sure, I'll do it, no problem.' Before, I didn't want to, because I was scared."
Wawasee held a 33-31 lead entering the fourth quarter. Zolman, kept in check with 14 points through the first three quarters, scored 10 points on 10 of 12 free throws. Wawasee outscored Angola 8-1 in the final 4:31 of the game; all eight came on Zolman free throws.
The Warriors sealed their win when Zolman, at the line with 29 seconds left, made her first free throw but missed the second. Wallen grabbed the offensive rebound. Wawasee owned the 43-39 lead and the ball. Zolman tacked on two more free throws with nine seconds left, sending them on to the Columbia City Regional. The Warriors play No. 10 (3A) Columbia City (17-5) at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
WAWASEE 45, ANGOLA 39
Wawasee (15-7) 8 11 14 12 - 45
Angola (20-5) 9 6 16 8 - 39
Wawasee FG FT A S R Pts.
Zolman (F) 5-14 12-14 3 0 8 24
Krull (G) 4-7 3-4 2 3 2 11
Leach (C) 2-5 2-4 0 2 11 6
Wallen (F) 2-6 0-0 0 1 6 4
Fawley (G) 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 0
Henderson 0-5 0-0 1 0 1 0
Higginbotham 0-1 0-0 0 0 1 0
Sawyer 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Totals 13-40 17-22 6 6 29 45
Angola FG FT A S R Pts.
Miller (C) 6-10 6-11 0 1 9 18
Fultz (G) 2-8 1-3 1 3 3 5
Gainey (F) 0-3 1-2 0 0 2 1
Leininger (F) 0-0 0-0 0 1 2 0
Gangloff (G) 0-0 0-0 2 0 1 0
Dunham 2-7 0-0 1 0 1 5
Seevers 2-10 0-0 1 0 4 4
Grant 2-3 0-1 1 1 1 4
Shoup 1-2 0-0 0 0 3 2
Totals 15-43 8-17 6 6 26 39
Three-point goals - Wawasee 2-10 (Zolman 2-4, Henderson 0-5, Krull 0-1), Angola 1-8 (Dunham 1-4, Fultz 0-2, Seevers 0-1, Gainey 0-1). Turnovers - Wawasee 10, Angola 10. Fouled out - Seevers. Total fouls - Wawasee 15, Angola 16.
WAWASEE 3A SECTIONAL
All-Tournament Team
MVP - Shanna Zolman (Wawasee)
Meagan Wallen (Wawasee)
Dusty Krull (Wawasee)
Jessica Leach (Wawasee)
Kristi Miller (Angola) [[In-content Ad]]
Wawasee's varsity girls basketball team, led by freshmen and sophomores, beat Angola 45-39 in Saturday's Wawasee 3A Sectional championship. More than 2,000 fans watched the Warriors win their first sectional title since 1986.
Early last week, Zolman thought his Warriors needed "divine intervention" to win the sectional. But here they were, and he may have been as surprised as anyone that the title came in 2000.
"I think it was after the NorthWood game (in December), after we played well in the second half," Zolman said. "Our coaches - Dale Brannock, Phil Mishler and Jim Schmidt - sat down and said, 'We have to get a game plan. We think we can go quite a ways with this team.'
"At first I thought they were nuts. I thought we were a year away. They believed and got me starting to believe. I don't know how far these girls can go. While we're riding a train that's going pretty fast, we better just keep on it."
No one can ever accuse Wawasee of taking the easy road. The 15-7 Warriors won the sectional by beating a 20-4 Angola team with a 12-game win streak 24 hours after beating NorthWood, the defending state champion, 48-44. They won despite playing no seniors. One junior saw limited playing time.
Said sophomore forward Shanna Zolman, Kem's daughter and state's leading scorer at 32.9 points per game: "We wanted to prove to ourselves that beating NorthWood wasn't a fluke last night."
Angola finished the season 20-5, and out of five losses, two came to Wawasee. Zolman scored 45 as Wawasee drummed Angola 79-57 in the regular season. Angola tried to press Wawasee then; this time, the Hornets double-teamed Zolman with or without the ball.
"They have the best player in the state," Angola coach Doug Curtis said. "We weren't going to let her beat us with 45 again. It was a matter if the others would beat us."
Zolman led Wawasee with 24 points on 5-of-14 shooting from the field and 12-of-14 shooting from the free throw line. Sophomore point guard Dusty Krull added 11 points and three steals.
"It was good defense, but I never thought anybody would put two people just on me, because it makes it like three on four for them the entire night," Shanna said.
Angola entered the game with no girl averaging 10 points per game, but eight players averaged between 5.0 and 9.1 ppg. Junior center Kristi Miller, who averaged 7.7, led Angola with 18 points and nine rebounds.
"What hurt us was having no go-to player," Curtis said. "But we have a couple of candidates for next year's team."
Wawasee finished the game 17 of 22 from the free throw line, while Angola was 8 of 17.
Against NorthWood, freshman frontcourt players Meagan Wallen and Jessica Leach complemented Zolman. Against Angola, it was sophomore point guard Dusty Krull's turn.
Krull delivered six points and two steals in the second quarter as she helped Wawasee turn a 11-10 deficit into a 19-13 lead with 1:39 left before halftime. The Warriors led 19-15 at halftime, but Angola blew its chances for the lead by hitting just 1 of 7 first-half free throws.
"He said somebody needed to step in," Krull said. "I said, 'Sure, I'll do it, no problem.' Before, I didn't want to, because I was scared."
Wawasee held a 33-31 lead entering the fourth quarter. Zolman, kept in check with 14 points through the first three quarters, scored 10 points on 10 of 12 free throws. Wawasee outscored Angola 8-1 in the final 4:31 of the game; all eight came on Zolman free throws.
The Warriors sealed their win when Zolman, at the line with 29 seconds left, made her first free throw but missed the second. Wallen grabbed the offensive rebound. Wawasee owned the 43-39 lead and the ball. Zolman tacked on two more free throws with nine seconds left, sending them on to the Columbia City Regional. The Warriors play No. 10 (3A) Columbia City (17-5) at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
WAWASEE 45, ANGOLA 39
Wawasee (15-7) 8 11 14 12 - 45
Angola (20-5) 9 6 16 8 - 39
Wawasee FG FT A S R Pts.
Zolman (F) 5-14 12-14 3 0 8 24
Krull (G) 4-7 3-4 2 3 2 11
Leach (C) 2-5 2-4 0 2 11 6
Wallen (F) 2-6 0-0 0 1 6 4
Fawley (G) 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 0
Henderson 0-5 0-0 1 0 1 0
Higginbotham 0-1 0-0 0 0 1 0
Sawyer 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Totals 13-40 17-22 6 6 29 45
Angola FG FT A S R Pts.
Miller (C) 6-10 6-11 0 1 9 18
Fultz (G) 2-8 1-3 1 3 3 5
Gainey (F) 0-3 1-2 0 0 2 1
Leininger (F) 0-0 0-0 0 1 2 0
Gangloff (G) 0-0 0-0 2 0 1 0
Dunham 2-7 0-0 1 0 1 5
Seevers 2-10 0-0 1 0 4 4
Grant 2-3 0-1 1 1 1 4
Shoup 1-2 0-0 0 0 3 2
Totals 15-43 8-17 6 6 26 39
Three-point goals - Wawasee 2-10 (Zolman 2-4, Henderson 0-5, Krull 0-1), Angola 1-8 (Dunham 1-4, Fultz 0-2, Seevers 0-1, Gainey 0-1). Turnovers - Wawasee 10, Angola 10. Fouled out - Seevers. Total fouls - Wawasee 15, Angola 16.
WAWASEE 3A SECTIONAL
All-Tournament Team
MVP - Shanna Zolman (Wawasee)
Meagan Wallen (Wawasee)
Dusty Krull (Wawasee)
Jessica Leach (Wawasee)
Kristi Miller (Angola) [[In-content Ad]]