Whitko Girls Beat Triton
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Anthony [email protected]
Hosting the Whitko Lady Wildcats (5-15) Wednesday, the Triton Lady Trojans (6-13) stumbled out of the blocks, leading to a 48-39 loss on the basketball court.[[In-content Ad]]"They played well at the beginning, and we were not mentally ready," Triton coach Adam Heckaman said of his team, which committed six turnovers on its first eight possessions. "You could read it on a lot of their faces. Whether they were sick, I don't know, but they weren't ready to start the game. (Whitko) put us away early."
Playing without junior point guard Savannah Stutzman, who was out with an illness, and senior forward Bethany Lemler, who suffered a knee injury Saturday, Heckaman's girls found themselves down 8-0 before senior Taryn Cooper scored the Trojans' first points at the 3:07 mark, cutting the Whitko lead to 8-2.
"We came out real good with our defensive intensity," Whitko coach Rob Bell said. "We put on a lot of pressure, and I'm real proud of the girls for that. We really attacked the passing lanes, and that's what we've tried to build this program on."
By getting into those passing lanes, the Wildcats recorded 12 steals in the game, led by three each from freshmen Micaela Sylvester and Katee Reiff.
While the defensive pressure was causing turnovers, 6-foot-1 Whitko senior Emily Bidwell was converting those turnovers into points, scoring six of her team's first eight points on her way to a 15-point, 13-rebound game.
"She's been a leader all year for us," Bell said of Bidwell. "She's gotten a double-double almost every game, and she's a huge part of our offense."
On top of Bidwell's production, Whitko also got nine points a piece out of senior Ashley Hoopingarner and Sylvester, while sophomore Rachelle Kessie netted eight.
Following a 12-point first half, which resulted in Triton falling behind 22-12 at intermission, the Trojans offense picked up a bit in the second half, scoring 12 in the third and 15 in the fourth, but by that time, the deficit was too large.
"Once we decided to play a little bit, we drove around them and got the ball into the paint," Heckaman said. "It was just a matter of us not being aggressive early, and they were."
A bright spot for the Trojans was freshman Megan Howdeshell, who despite not being on the varsity roster, got the start and scored 11 points, grabbed five rebounds and posted two steals.
"She's practiced hard and played hard on the (junior varsity) all year," Heckaman said about Howdeshell. "As a freshman, we tried to bring her up slowly, to make sure she wasn't overwhelmed. This was her week to give it a try, because we've had a lot of girls sick and out with injuries. She was able to step in and do a really nice job for us."
The loss was Triton's sixth in a row, as the Trojans look to end that streak in their final regular season game at LaVille Friday, where the junior varsity gets things started at 6:30 p.m.
Following that game, Triton hopes to get healthy going into its sectional game against the winner of the Michigan City Marquette-Westville Friday in the Oregon-Davis Sectional semifinal.
"We came to practice Monday, and only had four varsity girls because the flu is going around," Heckaman said. "Bethany (Lemler) will, hopefully, only be out a week. She goes back (to the doctor) to get (her knee) re-evaluated Monday. We'll find out if she's ready for sectionals."
The victory was Whitko's final regular-season game, as the Wildcats now prepare for their Wednesday matchup with the Class 3A, sixth-ranked Wawasee Warriors at the Wawasee Sectional.
So going into a tough sectional game, Bell wanted to see his girls fair well against the Trojans in the regular-season finale.
"We are fairly evenly matched," he said about the matchup with Triton. "If you look at our records, they were 6-12 coming in and we were 4-15. This is a big one, because our kids are so fragile right now. Everybody keeps telling us we've played a tough schedule. I guess that's some consolation, but you just have to win. This was big to pull this out."
WHITKO 48, TRITON 39
W 13 9 15 11 - 48
T 6 6 12 15 - 39
Whitko - Hoopingarner 3 2-4 9, Sylvester 4 1-2 9, Allender 0 2-2 2, Kessie 1 6-9 8, Bidwell 5 5-6 15, Reiff 2 0-0 5, Jones 0 0-0 0, VanHoozen 0 0-0 0, Olinske 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 16-23 48.
Triton - Davis 0 4-6 4, Bessinger 4 0-0 10, Tutorow 0 0-0 0, Miller 0 1-4 1, Howdeshell 3 5-6 11, Boardman 0 0-0 0, Cooper 3 0-2 6, Wallace 3 1-1 7, Downing 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 11-19 39.
Three-point goals - Whitko 2 (Hoopingarner, Reiff), Triton 2 (Bessinger 2); Team Fouls (fouled out) - Whitko 19 (Reiff), Triton 15; Turnovers - Whitko 19, Triton 19; Rebounds - Whitko 26 (Bidwell 13), Triton 31 (Cooper 5, Howdeshell 5); Assists - Whitko 6 (Bidwell 4), Triton 8 (Davis 4); Steals - Whitko 12 (Sylvester 3, Reiff 3), Triton 8 (Wallace 2, Howdeshell 2); Blocks - Whitko 2, Triton 1; Records: Whitko 5-15, Triton 6-13
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Hosting the Whitko Lady Wildcats (5-15) Wednesday, the Triton Lady Trojans (6-13) stumbled out of the blocks, leading to a 48-39 loss on the basketball court.[[In-content Ad]]"They played well at the beginning, and we were not mentally ready," Triton coach Adam Heckaman said of his team, which committed six turnovers on its first eight possessions. "You could read it on a lot of their faces. Whether they were sick, I don't know, but they weren't ready to start the game. (Whitko) put us away early."
Playing without junior point guard Savannah Stutzman, who was out with an illness, and senior forward Bethany Lemler, who suffered a knee injury Saturday, Heckaman's girls found themselves down 8-0 before senior Taryn Cooper scored the Trojans' first points at the 3:07 mark, cutting the Whitko lead to 8-2.
"We came out real good with our defensive intensity," Whitko coach Rob Bell said. "We put on a lot of pressure, and I'm real proud of the girls for that. We really attacked the passing lanes, and that's what we've tried to build this program on."
By getting into those passing lanes, the Wildcats recorded 12 steals in the game, led by three each from freshmen Micaela Sylvester and Katee Reiff.
While the defensive pressure was causing turnovers, 6-foot-1 Whitko senior Emily Bidwell was converting those turnovers into points, scoring six of her team's first eight points on her way to a 15-point, 13-rebound game.
"She's been a leader all year for us," Bell said of Bidwell. "She's gotten a double-double almost every game, and she's a huge part of our offense."
On top of Bidwell's production, Whitko also got nine points a piece out of senior Ashley Hoopingarner and Sylvester, while sophomore Rachelle Kessie netted eight.
Following a 12-point first half, which resulted in Triton falling behind 22-12 at intermission, the Trojans offense picked up a bit in the second half, scoring 12 in the third and 15 in the fourth, but by that time, the deficit was too large.
"Once we decided to play a little bit, we drove around them and got the ball into the paint," Heckaman said. "It was just a matter of us not being aggressive early, and they were."
A bright spot for the Trojans was freshman Megan Howdeshell, who despite not being on the varsity roster, got the start and scored 11 points, grabbed five rebounds and posted two steals.
"She's practiced hard and played hard on the (junior varsity) all year," Heckaman said about Howdeshell. "As a freshman, we tried to bring her up slowly, to make sure she wasn't overwhelmed. This was her week to give it a try, because we've had a lot of girls sick and out with injuries. She was able to step in and do a really nice job for us."
The loss was Triton's sixth in a row, as the Trojans look to end that streak in their final regular season game at LaVille Friday, where the junior varsity gets things started at 6:30 p.m.
Following that game, Triton hopes to get healthy going into its sectional game against the winner of the Michigan City Marquette-Westville Friday in the Oregon-Davis Sectional semifinal.
"We came to practice Monday, and only had four varsity girls because the flu is going around," Heckaman said. "Bethany (Lemler) will, hopefully, only be out a week. She goes back (to the doctor) to get (her knee) re-evaluated Monday. We'll find out if she's ready for sectionals."
The victory was Whitko's final regular-season game, as the Wildcats now prepare for their Wednesday matchup with the Class 3A, sixth-ranked Wawasee Warriors at the Wawasee Sectional.
So going into a tough sectional game, Bell wanted to see his girls fair well against the Trojans in the regular-season finale.
"We are fairly evenly matched," he said about the matchup with Triton. "If you look at our records, they were 6-12 coming in and we were 4-15. This is a big one, because our kids are so fragile right now. Everybody keeps telling us we've played a tough schedule. I guess that's some consolation, but you just have to win. This was big to pull this out."
WHITKO 48, TRITON 39
W 13 9 15 11 - 48
T 6 6 12 15 - 39
Whitko - Hoopingarner 3 2-4 9, Sylvester 4 1-2 9, Allender 0 2-2 2, Kessie 1 6-9 8, Bidwell 5 5-6 15, Reiff 2 0-0 5, Jones 0 0-0 0, VanHoozen 0 0-0 0, Olinske 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 16-23 48.
Triton - Davis 0 4-6 4, Bessinger 4 0-0 10, Tutorow 0 0-0 0, Miller 0 1-4 1, Howdeshell 3 5-6 11, Boardman 0 0-0 0, Cooper 3 0-2 6, Wallace 3 1-1 7, Downing 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 11-19 39.
Three-point goals - Whitko 2 (Hoopingarner, Reiff), Triton 2 (Bessinger 2); Team Fouls (fouled out) - Whitko 19 (Reiff), Triton 15; Turnovers - Whitko 19, Triton 19; Rebounds - Whitko 26 (Bidwell 13), Triton 31 (Cooper 5, Howdeshell 5); Assists - Whitko 6 (Bidwell 4), Triton 8 (Davis 4); Steals - Whitko 12 (Sylvester 3, Reiff 3), Triton 8 (Wallace 2, Howdeshell 2); Blocks - Whitko 2, Triton 1; Records: Whitko 5-15, Triton 6-13
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