Wawasee Sinks Lakers In Overtime
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Mark [email protected]
With Wawasee’s season on the line, however, Rostochak did come through.
After Lakeland came back from a 13-point, second-half deficit to force overtime, Rostochak scored all five Wawasee points in the extra period to give her team a 40-36 win and the opportunity to play again.
“It’s been happening all year, when we get near the end and we need a play, you see (Rostochak) all over the floor,” Wawasee coach Kem Zolman said. “That’s huge for us. In fact, we probably overuse her at times, and she gets so tired she does some uncharacteristic things. That’s partially our fault for not giving her more breaks during the game. We need her.
“And I thought the other kids helped us stay together when things were falling apart, a lot better than I’ve seen in the past.”
Lakeland had more turnovers in the second quarter (11) than first-half points (8), but handled the ball better in the second half. The Lady Lakers turned the ball over only four times in the second half, but then had four more in the final two minutes of overtime.
Still, Wawasee was up five with 50 seconds to go. Taylor Yerington’s rebound and stick-back brought the Lakers within two within 30 seconds to go, and on the ensuing possession the Lady Warriors turned the ball over. Abigail Thompson’s three-point heave from the left side of the key tied the game at 35 with 11 seconds remaining. It was the last of Thompson’s game-high 22 points.
Zolman credits Lakeland with making the comeback, but thought his team kept its poise and played well defensively once the game went past regulation.
“Hey, they hit a shot,” Zolman said. “It seems like every team we’ve played this year; who hasn’t hit a shot on us? And they hit it. Give them credit.
“We come out in the third quarter and they hit all kinds of shots. We held them to eight points in the first half, and we didn’t come out after halftime with the same intensity. For some reason that’s been very difficult for us to do this year.
“But I thought tonight I saw them collectively get together and say ‘we’re going to do this.’ I saw it in their eyes tonight. Before it’s been a deer-in-the-headlights look, ‘oh no, here we go again’ look. We handled things better. We came up with some huge stops at the end. Kylee steps up, Elizabeth (Jackson) steps up, all of our kids did a good job defensively towards the end.
“I thought Hannah-Marie (Lamle) was on a trampoline or something. She got up, kept the ball alive, she did an outstanding job defensively. We’ve had a lot better balance in the last few games. We had the one game (at Northridge) where we only had two players score, but overall in our last three or four games we’ve played better as a team.”
Rostochak finished with 19 points and seven rebounds, with Seaquinn Bright adding eight points and six rebounds. Lamle had six points and six boards.
The win gives Wawasee a 7-16 record and pits the Lady Warriors against Whitko in Friday’s second semifinal game.
Tippecanoe Valley and NorthWood will meet in the first semifinal at 6 p.m.
Zolman said there will be no surprises from his team on Friday.
“We are who we are at this point, and we’ll go with what we’ve got,” Zolman said. “Hopefully the ball goes in the hoop, and it’s not so difficult (Friday).”
WAWASEE 40, LAKELAND 36, OT
W 8 11 9 7 5 – 40
L 7 1 15 12 1 – 36
Wawasee – Elizabeth Jackson 0-6 0-0 0, Hannah-Marie Lamle 1-2 4-10 6, Hannah Haines 1-7 0-1 3, Aubrey Kuhn 0-2 0-0 0, Kylee Rostochak 7-13 4-7 19, Allissa Flores 2-4 0-1 4, Seaquinn Bright 3-6 2-2 8, Aubrey Schmeltz 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 14-42 10-21 40.
Lakeland – Rebecca Levitz 0-4 1-2 1, Elexus Holmes 0-0 1-2 1, Nicole McKibben 0-0 0-0 0, Christin Hoover 1-3 1-1 3, Jaden Conrad 1-1 1-3 3, Taylor Yerington 3-6 0-0 6, Abigail Thompson 6-11 8-10 22. Totals 11-15 12-21 36.
Three-pointers – Wawasee 1 (Rostochak), Lakeland 2 (Thompson 2); Rebounds – Wawasee 25 (Rostochak 7), Lakeland 27 (Thompson 6); Turnovers – Wawasee 19, Lakeland 23; Fouls – Wawasee 14, Lakeland 21; Fouled out – McKibben, Yerington; Records – Wawasee 7-16, Lakeland 9-14
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With Wawasee’s season on the line, however, Rostochak did come through.
After Lakeland came back from a 13-point, second-half deficit to force overtime, Rostochak scored all five Wawasee points in the extra period to give her team a 40-36 win and the opportunity to play again.
“It’s been happening all year, when we get near the end and we need a play, you see (Rostochak) all over the floor,” Wawasee coach Kem Zolman said. “That’s huge for us. In fact, we probably overuse her at times, and she gets so tired she does some uncharacteristic things. That’s partially our fault for not giving her more breaks during the game. We need her.
“And I thought the other kids helped us stay together when things were falling apart, a lot better than I’ve seen in the past.”
Lakeland had more turnovers in the second quarter (11) than first-half points (8), but handled the ball better in the second half. The Lady Lakers turned the ball over only four times in the second half, but then had four more in the final two minutes of overtime.
Still, Wawasee was up five with 50 seconds to go. Taylor Yerington’s rebound and stick-back brought the Lakers within two within 30 seconds to go, and on the ensuing possession the Lady Warriors turned the ball over. Abigail Thompson’s three-point heave from the left side of the key tied the game at 35 with 11 seconds remaining. It was the last of Thompson’s game-high 22 points.
Zolman credits Lakeland with making the comeback, but thought his team kept its poise and played well defensively once the game went past regulation.
“Hey, they hit a shot,” Zolman said. “It seems like every team we’ve played this year; who hasn’t hit a shot on us? And they hit it. Give them credit.
“We come out in the third quarter and they hit all kinds of shots. We held them to eight points in the first half, and we didn’t come out after halftime with the same intensity. For some reason that’s been very difficult for us to do this year.
“But I thought tonight I saw them collectively get together and say ‘we’re going to do this.’ I saw it in their eyes tonight. Before it’s been a deer-in-the-headlights look, ‘oh no, here we go again’ look. We handled things better. We came up with some huge stops at the end. Kylee steps up, Elizabeth (Jackson) steps up, all of our kids did a good job defensively towards the end.
“I thought Hannah-Marie (Lamle) was on a trampoline or something. She got up, kept the ball alive, she did an outstanding job defensively. We’ve had a lot better balance in the last few games. We had the one game (at Northridge) where we only had two players score, but overall in our last three or four games we’ve played better as a team.”
Rostochak finished with 19 points and seven rebounds, with Seaquinn Bright adding eight points and six rebounds. Lamle had six points and six boards.
The win gives Wawasee a 7-16 record and pits the Lady Warriors against Whitko in Friday’s second semifinal game.
Tippecanoe Valley and NorthWood will meet in the first semifinal at 6 p.m.
Zolman said there will be no surprises from his team on Friday.
“We are who we are at this point, and we’ll go with what we’ve got,” Zolman said. “Hopefully the ball goes in the hoop, and it’s not so difficult (Friday).”
WAWASEE 40, LAKELAND 36, OT
W 8 11 9 7 5 – 40
L 7 1 15 12 1 – 36
Wawasee – Elizabeth Jackson 0-6 0-0 0, Hannah-Marie Lamle 1-2 4-10 6, Hannah Haines 1-7 0-1 3, Aubrey Kuhn 0-2 0-0 0, Kylee Rostochak 7-13 4-7 19, Allissa Flores 2-4 0-1 4, Seaquinn Bright 3-6 2-2 8, Aubrey Schmeltz 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 14-42 10-21 40.
Lakeland – Rebecca Levitz 0-4 1-2 1, Elexus Holmes 0-0 1-2 1, Nicole McKibben 0-0 0-0 0, Christin Hoover 1-3 1-1 3, Jaden Conrad 1-1 1-3 3, Taylor Yerington 3-6 0-0 6, Abigail Thompson 6-11 8-10 22. Totals 11-15 12-21 36.
Three-pointers – Wawasee 1 (Rostochak), Lakeland 2 (Thompson 2); Rebounds – Wawasee 25 (Rostochak 7), Lakeland 27 (Thompson 6); Turnovers – Wawasee 19, Lakeland 23; Fouls – Wawasee 14, Lakeland 21; Fouled out – McKibben, Yerington; Records – Wawasee 7-16, Lakeland 9-14
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