Lady Warriors Come Up Short
November 9, 2016 at 5:55 p.m.
Lady Warriors Come Up Short
By Mark Adkins-
After holding a one-point lead after three quarters, Fairfield scored the first seven points of the final period and appeared to be headed to a cruise-in win with a three-possession lead with 1:51 left. With 1:22 left, Hannah Haines drained a three-pointer, and 15 seconds later Hannah-Marie Lamle scored off a Lady Falcon turnover to cut the lead to 40-38.
Wawasee got the ball back, and first-year coach Matt Carpenter called timeout with 29.6 seconds left. After the inbound pass, Aubrey Kuhn had her dribble picked by Erica Zook, and Kuhn immediately fouled. It was the Lady Warriors’ fifth team foul, and Kuhn picked up the sixth team foul on the next inbound play.
Kabrea Rostochak stole an inbound pass from Zook, and the Lady Warriors worked the ball in to Schmeltz, who missed a shot, grabbed the rebound and was fouled on the way back up. She calmly swished two free throws, with a Fairfield timeout between shots, to tie the game.
Zook hurried the ball down the left side of the floor, and when the Wawasee defense collapsed on her, she found Kintigh wide open in the paint. Kintigh’s shot bounced off the glass and went through the net as the buzzer sounded.
Carpenter was pleased that his team had the grit to come back, but wasn’t happy that the dramatic ending was necessary.
“I’m proud of my girls for battling. But we shouldn’t be in a scenario where we’re down seven with a minute-and-a-half to go and have to play catch-up,” he said. “I thought the sense of urgency we showed at the beginning of the game, and again at the end, we need to have through the whole game.
“We didn’t execute that last five seconds, and I don’t think they understood what I was asking them to do. But give credit to Fairfield, too. They played a heck of a basketball game, and it was a pretty even matchup throughout.”
Kuhn, the shortest player on the floor, was the Lady Warriors’ leading scorer and rebounder. She hit a pair of threes on her way to 11 points and pulled down six rebounds in a gritty performance.
“Aubrey Kuhn’s battling through a lot right now. She just had surgery on her jaw last week, so physically she’s hurting, but she’s got incredible heart and incredible toughness,” Carpenter said. “We sat and talked with her for a little while (Monday) after practice, and that’s exactly what she showed; that she wants to be out there, she wants to play and she gives 100 percent all the time.
“And really, I thought all my girls in the last couple of minutes down the stretch played that way. We just had some lapses earlier in the game that put us in that position.”
The biggest culprit was shooting from the floor, notably from inside the arc. The Lady Warriors went 6 of 12 from three-point land, and hit 14 of 16 free throw attempts to stay in the game. They hit just four two-point shots in 32 tries, or 12.5 percent. Hannah Haines hit a trio of threes on her way to 10 points, and Casey Schroeder’s three accounted for all her points in the game. Schmeltz scored all seven of her points at the line.
“Right now, it’s a willingness to shoot. I think sometimes the passiveness comes out when they’re looking for someone else to create. We know we’ve got Aubrey Schmeltz in the paint, and we know we can get the ball in there. But when teams pack it in, we’ve got to be able to take those outside shots, and to play inside-out of the post,” Carpenter said. “That’s what we started to do in the second half. Girls were looking for their shots, getting their feet set, and when we do that, we’ll show off the shooting ability we worked on all summer long.
“We have some girls who can shoot, but now we need to transfer that into a game-like setting and be able to take advantage of the skills that we have.”
Fairfield was led by Alexis Thaxton with 11 points, and Jenean Schwartz had seven for the Lady Falcons.
Wawasee hits the road to take on Westview (0-1) Friday night.
FAIRFIELD 42, WAWASEE 40
F 9 8 12 13 – 42
W 6 10 12 12 – 40
Fairfield – Morgan Sanchez 0-0 0-0 0, Erica Zook 1-2 0-0 2, Kenzie Bobeck 0-0 0-0 0, Drea Lockwood 1-1 0-0 2, Katie Lashely 3-3 3-4 9, Jordan Kintigh 3-7 0-0 6, Felicity Bontrager 2-7 1-3 5, Jenean Schwartz 3-5 1-2 7, Alexis Thaxton 3-8 3-5 11. Totals 16-33 6-9 42.
Wawasee – Kayla White 0-0 0-0 0, Hannah-Marie Lamle 2-8 2-2 6, Casey Schroeder 1-7 0-0 3, Hannah Haines 3-7 1-1 10, Aubrey Kuhn 3-10 3-3 11, Kabrea Rostochak 1-8 1-2 3, Madison Beaman 0-0 0-0 0, Aubrey Schmeltz 0-4 7-8 7, Seaquinn Bright 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 10-44 14-16 40.
Three-pointers – Fairfield 4 (Thaxton 2, Bontrager, Schwartz), Wawasee 6 (Haines 3, Kuhn 2, Schroeder); Rebounds – Fairfield 24 (Bontrager 6), Wawasee 29 (Kuhn 6); Turnovers – Fairfield 17, Wawasee 17; Fouls – Fairfield 14, Wawasee 12; Fouled out – none; Records: Fairfield 2-0, Wawasee 0-2.
JV – Wawasee 35, Fairfield 28 (OT)
Fairfield – Kara Kitson 8, Gabri Armstrong 6, Chloe Dell 5, Riley Miller 3, Morgan Sanchez 2, Kristin Miller 2, Kylie Miller 2.
Wawasee – Sara Pritchard 13, Morgan Adkins 7, Shelby Bolt 4, Kiersten Beckner 3, Hannah Lancaster 3, Caitlin Wortinger 3, McKenzie Smith 2.
Wawasee record: 2-0
After holding a one-point lead after three quarters, Fairfield scored the first seven points of the final period and appeared to be headed to a cruise-in win with a three-possession lead with 1:51 left. With 1:22 left, Hannah Haines drained a three-pointer, and 15 seconds later Hannah-Marie Lamle scored off a Lady Falcon turnover to cut the lead to 40-38.
Wawasee got the ball back, and first-year coach Matt Carpenter called timeout with 29.6 seconds left. After the inbound pass, Aubrey Kuhn had her dribble picked by Erica Zook, and Kuhn immediately fouled. It was the Lady Warriors’ fifth team foul, and Kuhn picked up the sixth team foul on the next inbound play.
Kabrea Rostochak stole an inbound pass from Zook, and the Lady Warriors worked the ball in to Schmeltz, who missed a shot, grabbed the rebound and was fouled on the way back up. She calmly swished two free throws, with a Fairfield timeout between shots, to tie the game.
Zook hurried the ball down the left side of the floor, and when the Wawasee defense collapsed on her, she found Kintigh wide open in the paint. Kintigh’s shot bounced off the glass and went through the net as the buzzer sounded.
Carpenter was pleased that his team had the grit to come back, but wasn’t happy that the dramatic ending was necessary.
“I’m proud of my girls for battling. But we shouldn’t be in a scenario where we’re down seven with a minute-and-a-half to go and have to play catch-up,” he said. “I thought the sense of urgency we showed at the beginning of the game, and again at the end, we need to have through the whole game.
“We didn’t execute that last five seconds, and I don’t think they understood what I was asking them to do. But give credit to Fairfield, too. They played a heck of a basketball game, and it was a pretty even matchup throughout.”
Kuhn, the shortest player on the floor, was the Lady Warriors’ leading scorer and rebounder. She hit a pair of threes on her way to 11 points and pulled down six rebounds in a gritty performance.
“Aubrey Kuhn’s battling through a lot right now. She just had surgery on her jaw last week, so physically she’s hurting, but she’s got incredible heart and incredible toughness,” Carpenter said. “We sat and talked with her for a little while (Monday) after practice, and that’s exactly what she showed; that she wants to be out there, she wants to play and she gives 100 percent all the time.
“And really, I thought all my girls in the last couple of minutes down the stretch played that way. We just had some lapses earlier in the game that put us in that position.”
The biggest culprit was shooting from the floor, notably from inside the arc. The Lady Warriors went 6 of 12 from three-point land, and hit 14 of 16 free throw attempts to stay in the game. They hit just four two-point shots in 32 tries, or 12.5 percent. Hannah Haines hit a trio of threes on her way to 10 points, and Casey Schroeder’s three accounted for all her points in the game. Schmeltz scored all seven of her points at the line.
“Right now, it’s a willingness to shoot. I think sometimes the passiveness comes out when they’re looking for someone else to create. We know we’ve got Aubrey Schmeltz in the paint, and we know we can get the ball in there. But when teams pack it in, we’ve got to be able to take those outside shots, and to play inside-out of the post,” Carpenter said. “That’s what we started to do in the second half. Girls were looking for their shots, getting their feet set, and when we do that, we’ll show off the shooting ability we worked on all summer long.
“We have some girls who can shoot, but now we need to transfer that into a game-like setting and be able to take advantage of the skills that we have.”
Fairfield was led by Alexis Thaxton with 11 points, and Jenean Schwartz had seven for the Lady Falcons.
Wawasee hits the road to take on Westview (0-1) Friday night.
FAIRFIELD 42, WAWASEE 40
F 9 8 12 13 – 42
W 6 10 12 12 – 40
Fairfield – Morgan Sanchez 0-0 0-0 0, Erica Zook 1-2 0-0 2, Kenzie Bobeck 0-0 0-0 0, Drea Lockwood 1-1 0-0 2, Katie Lashely 3-3 3-4 9, Jordan Kintigh 3-7 0-0 6, Felicity Bontrager 2-7 1-3 5, Jenean Schwartz 3-5 1-2 7, Alexis Thaxton 3-8 3-5 11. Totals 16-33 6-9 42.
Wawasee – Kayla White 0-0 0-0 0, Hannah-Marie Lamle 2-8 2-2 6, Casey Schroeder 1-7 0-0 3, Hannah Haines 3-7 1-1 10, Aubrey Kuhn 3-10 3-3 11, Kabrea Rostochak 1-8 1-2 3, Madison Beaman 0-0 0-0 0, Aubrey Schmeltz 0-4 7-8 7, Seaquinn Bright 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 10-44 14-16 40.
Three-pointers – Fairfield 4 (Thaxton 2, Bontrager, Schwartz), Wawasee 6 (Haines 3, Kuhn 2, Schroeder); Rebounds – Fairfield 24 (Bontrager 6), Wawasee 29 (Kuhn 6); Turnovers – Fairfield 17, Wawasee 17; Fouls – Fairfield 14, Wawasee 12; Fouled out – none; Records: Fairfield 2-0, Wawasee 0-2.
JV – Wawasee 35, Fairfield 28 (OT)
Fairfield – Kara Kitson 8, Gabri Armstrong 6, Chloe Dell 5, Riley Miller 3, Morgan Sanchez 2, Kristin Miller 2, Kylie Miller 2.
Wawasee – Sara Pritchard 13, Morgan Adkins 7, Shelby Bolt 4, Kiersten Beckner 3, Hannah Lancaster 3, Caitlin Wortinger 3, McKenzie Smith 2.
Wawasee record: 2-0
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