Whitko Hopes To Put It All Together
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Mark [email protected]
The Lady Wildcats are led in scoring by sophomores Brianna Cumberland and Aly Reiff, who are accounting for almost 32 of Whitko’s 47 points per game. With that workload, the team has witnessed a lot of methods designed to throw them off their game, such as box-and-one or triangle-and-two defenses.
“We’ve been in a lot of different scenarios from game-to-game,” head coach Brandon Bradley said, “When we’ve had stumbles it’s because we’ve had something new thrown at us. We’ve had to learn to make adjustments, either in the games or later in practices. Despite having four seniors, we really are limited on experience, as far as girls that have played a lot of minutes at the varsity level.”
At this point Bradley is looking to develop some continuity in the supporting cast, which has had several players in and out over the course of the season.
“We came in to the season without two girls who were expected to start, and throughout the season we lost two more players we were starting,” Bradley said. “We have one of those four back in Jennifer Reiff, and she’s just now starting to come back to form. She is just starting to get in the flow. She was trying too hard to fit in, instead of just being herself. In the Wabash game she had 13 (points) and she was as aggressive as she’s been. So she’s starting to get over that hump.
For the Class 3A sectional at Wawasee High School, Whitko drew a familiar foe in West Noble. There’s been some tight games in the recent past between the Lady Chargers and Wildcats.
“We lost by two at their place; we had a shot to tie and a shot to win in the last 10 seconds,” said Bradley. “That was early in the season, and I don’t think we played terribly well in that game. Credit them as well, but we also played without two players that we’ll have this time around. Hopefully that’ll make a little bit of difference.
“This will be the sixth time we’ve faced them in four years, and every single game seems like it’s been real close. We beat them twice last year; one of those was on a last-second shot and the other one was in overtime. The year before last they got us by two in overtime. So every single game seems like it’s been (close) with them.
“Wawasee and Lakeland are both scrappy teams. We got comfortable against Wawasee and they came back on us, and we were working hard at the end. Lakeland was a tough game after that hour and 15 minute bus ride, and we had to play well to put them away.
“And fortunately for us, Tippecanoe Valley, Fairfield and NorthWood are on the other side of the bracket, so they can beat up on each other.”
Sectional action gets underway Tuesday when Fairfield and Valley square off at 7 p.m.
Whitko and West Noble play Wednesday at 6 p.m., followed by Wawasee and Lakeland.
In Friday’s first semifinal game, NorthWood will play Tuesday’s winner in a semifinal game, followed by Wednesday’s winners.
The championship game is scheduled for Saturday at 7:30 p.m. The winner advances to the Bellmont Regional
So while Whitko has had some difficulties, Bradley said there’s success to draw from and good competition moving forward.
“I think to some degree we’re still young, and still trying to figure out how to cope with adversity. That’s been our biggest roadblock,” said Bradley. “But we came close to winning it last year, and we know we can compete. We’re looking forward to the challenge.”[[In-content Ad]]
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The Lady Wildcats are led in scoring by sophomores Brianna Cumberland and Aly Reiff, who are accounting for almost 32 of Whitko’s 47 points per game. With that workload, the team has witnessed a lot of methods designed to throw them off their game, such as box-and-one or triangle-and-two defenses.
“We’ve been in a lot of different scenarios from game-to-game,” head coach Brandon Bradley said, “When we’ve had stumbles it’s because we’ve had something new thrown at us. We’ve had to learn to make adjustments, either in the games or later in practices. Despite having four seniors, we really are limited on experience, as far as girls that have played a lot of minutes at the varsity level.”
At this point Bradley is looking to develop some continuity in the supporting cast, which has had several players in and out over the course of the season.
“We came in to the season without two girls who were expected to start, and throughout the season we lost two more players we were starting,” Bradley said. “We have one of those four back in Jennifer Reiff, and she’s just now starting to come back to form. She is just starting to get in the flow. She was trying too hard to fit in, instead of just being herself. In the Wabash game she had 13 (points) and she was as aggressive as she’s been. So she’s starting to get over that hump.
For the Class 3A sectional at Wawasee High School, Whitko drew a familiar foe in West Noble. There’s been some tight games in the recent past between the Lady Chargers and Wildcats.
“We lost by two at their place; we had a shot to tie and a shot to win in the last 10 seconds,” said Bradley. “That was early in the season, and I don’t think we played terribly well in that game. Credit them as well, but we also played without two players that we’ll have this time around. Hopefully that’ll make a little bit of difference.
“This will be the sixth time we’ve faced them in four years, and every single game seems like it’s been real close. We beat them twice last year; one of those was on a last-second shot and the other one was in overtime. The year before last they got us by two in overtime. So every single game seems like it’s been (close) with them.
“Wawasee and Lakeland are both scrappy teams. We got comfortable against Wawasee and they came back on us, and we were working hard at the end. Lakeland was a tough game after that hour and 15 minute bus ride, and we had to play well to put them away.
“And fortunately for us, Tippecanoe Valley, Fairfield and NorthWood are on the other side of the bracket, so they can beat up on each other.”
Sectional action gets underway Tuesday when Fairfield and Valley square off at 7 p.m.
Whitko and West Noble play Wednesday at 6 p.m., followed by Wawasee and Lakeland.
In Friday’s first semifinal game, NorthWood will play Tuesday’s winner in a semifinal game, followed by Wednesday’s winners.
The championship game is scheduled for Saturday at 7:30 p.m. The winner advances to the Bellmont Regional
So while Whitko has had some difficulties, Bradley said there’s success to draw from and good competition moving forward.
“I think to some degree we’re still young, and still trying to figure out how to cope with adversity. That’s been our biggest roadblock,” said Bradley. “But we came close to winning it last year, and we know we can compete. We’re looking forward to the challenge.”[[In-content Ad]]
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