No. 1 Whitko Holds Off Lady Tigers
November 26, 2016 at 6:10 a.m.
No. 1 Whitko Holds Off Lady Tigers
By Mark [email protected]
But the Lady Wildcat duo came up big when it mattered most, leading Class 2A’s top-ranked team to a 40-37 win over the visiting Lady Tigers Friday night.
With her team trailing most of the game, Warsaw’s Page Desenberg scored all the points in an 8-0 run and gave the Lady Tigers a 37-33 lead with about three minutes to play.
Reiff hit a jumper from the left side, was fouled and hit the free throw to cut the Lady Tiger lead to one. On the next trip down the court, Cumberland escaped an under-the-basket scrum with a rebound, dribbled down the left side of the floor and found Ellie Snep for a layup and the lead.
Cumberland then hit a pair of free throws with 22 seconds left to extend the lead, and after a timeout, all Warsaw could get was a shot in the lane that fell off the rim. The rebound went out of bounds as time expired.
Reiff finished with 11 points and Cumberland 10, but Whitko needed the support from senior Hanna Yohe, who tossed in 11 first-half points to keep Whitko in front until her classmates got untracked.
Whitko head coach Brandon Bradley said his team knows it has more weapons than just Reiff and Cumberland.
“We’ve always had that potential. It happened in a big game, finally,” he said. “Maybe a year ago we don’t win this game, or Columbia City or Huntington North (this season). They’ve been so much easier to coach in practice this year. The intensity is a little bit different, the focus is a little bit different.
“We made our fair share of mistakes. But when we needed to, we made plays.”
The win gives Whitko back-to-back wins for the first time since the series began during the 1975-76 season. Warsaw leads the overall series 30-5.
Warsaw used a full-court press most of the game, and made a point to keep the ball away from Whitko’s biggest guns.
“I’m as impressed with Warsaw as any team I’ve coached against in six years here,” Bradley said. “This is an incredible team that plays as a single unit, that shares the ball well, they run their offense well, they execute on defense and they do a good job of working together. I anticipate they’ll be a top-10 team in 4A most of the season. I’m impressed. That’s a good team.”
As the clock wound down, Bradley used but one timeout, and none when Whitko trailed.
“This year more than most, we’ve tried not to over-coach in those situations, and not call a ton of timeouts to see how they react.” he said. “As we go, we’re going to have to be more judicial with our timeouts. But we wanted to see if they could make the plays in that kind of spot, and not micromanage every possession in the last minutes of a game. And I need to learn when I need to trust them and when I need to address certain things in a timeout.”
Warsaw head coach Michelle Harter wasn’t unhappy with her team’s defense, which held Whitko to 41 percent shooting and two made three-pointers. The lost opportunity for the Lady Tigers was in the paint on the offensive end.
“Defensively we did some really nice things. I felt there were some times we weren’t as aggressive on the defensive end and let them throw the ball where they wanted to,” she said. “When we became more active, that’s when we got some turnovers, we rattled them a little bit, we got the ball back and would come down and score.
“But on the offensive end, we missed way too many shots on the inside tonight, not going up strong and finishing. In the first half we missed 11 shots in the paint. Against good teams, you’re not going to win if you’re not going up strong and finishing.”
Passing was also an issue. Warsaw committed just 13 turnovers, but had to recover passes that otherwise would have led to open looks.
“Some of it was also our decision-making with our passes. We didn’t focus on making good, fundamental passes,” Harter said. “Little things like that, that we need to get back on Monday and start getting back to work, getting ourselves back on track, and making sure we’re playing good, solid basketball like we’re capable of playing.”
Desenberg finished with a game-high 16 points for Warsaw, with Kenzie Welk adding nine.
Whitko improved to 7-0 and will host Fort Wayne Northrop Wednesday. The loss was Warsaw’s first in six games this season. The Lady Tigers host 2A No. 5 Oregon Davis on Thursday. It’s the fourth straight game for Warsaw against a ranked opponent.
WHITKO 40, WARSAW 37
WA 5 9 10 13 – 37
WH 10 9 9 12 – 40
Warsaw – Page Desenberg 7-15 1-2 16, Mariah Rivera 1-5 0-0 2, Kenzie Welk 3-9 2-2 9, Dayton Groninger 1-7 2-2 4, Madi Graham 1-2 0-0 3, Kacy Bragg 0-3 1-2 1, Kaylee Patton 1-5 0-0 2. Totals 14-46 6-8 37.
Whitko – Emalee Duggins 0-0 0-0 0, Haley Yohe 1-1 0-0 2, Brianna Cumberland 3-9 2-2 10, Hanna Yohe 4-8 3-4 11, Aly Reiff 3-10 5-8 11, Ellie Snep 3-5 0-0 6, Brielle Harrison 0-1 0-0 0, Kennedy Krull 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 14-34 10-14 40.
Three-pointers – Warsaw 3 (Desenberg, Welk, Graham), Whitko 2 (Cumberland 2); Rebounds – Warsaw 27 (Desenberg 7), Whitko 28 (Snep 6); Turnovers – Warsaw 13, Whitko 15; Fouls – Warsaw 13, Whitko 11; Fouled out – none; Records: Warsaw 5-1, Whitko 7-0.
JV – Warsaw 57, Whitko 20
Warsaw – Maddie Ryman 12, Halle Shipp 11, Kennedy Patton 11, Miah Holsclaw 9, Emma Bohnenkamper 5, Naomi Phillips 4, Kenzie Martz 2, Madelyn Smith 2. Ashlynn Hepler 1
Whitko – Sarah Hewitt 5, Lilly Owsley 5, Cassidy Stout 3, Kayla Schipper 3, Emalee Duggins 2, Audrey Bradford 2
But the Lady Wildcat duo came up big when it mattered most, leading Class 2A’s top-ranked team to a 40-37 win over the visiting Lady Tigers Friday night.
With her team trailing most of the game, Warsaw’s Page Desenberg scored all the points in an 8-0 run and gave the Lady Tigers a 37-33 lead with about three minutes to play.
Reiff hit a jumper from the left side, was fouled and hit the free throw to cut the Lady Tiger lead to one. On the next trip down the court, Cumberland escaped an under-the-basket scrum with a rebound, dribbled down the left side of the floor and found Ellie Snep for a layup and the lead.
Cumberland then hit a pair of free throws with 22 seconds left to extend the lead, and after a timeout, all Warsaw could get was a shot in the lane that fell off the rim. The rebound went out of bounds as time expired.
Reiff finished with 11 points and Cumberland 10, but Whitko needed the support from senior Hanna Yohe, who tossed in 11 first-half points to keep Whitko in front until her classmates got untracked.
Whitko head coach Brandon Bradley said his team knows it has more weapons than just Reiff and Cumberland.
“We’ve always had that potential. It happened in a big game, finally,” he said. “Maybe a year ago we don’t win this game, or Columbia City or Huntington North (this season). They’ve been so much easier to coach in practice this year. The intensity is a little bit different, the focus is a little bit different.
“We made our fair share of mistakes. But when we needed to, we made plays.”
The win gives Whitko back-to-back wins for the first time since the series began during the 1975-76 season. Warsaw leads the overall series 30-5.
Warsaw used a full-court press most of the game, and made a point to keep the ball away from Whitko’s biggest guns.
“I’m as impressed with Warsaw as any team I’ve coached against in six years here,” Bradley said. “This is an incredible team that plays as a single unit, that shares the ball well, they run their offense well, they execute on defense and they do a good job of working together. I anticipate they’ll be a top-10 team in 4A most of the season. I’m impressed. That’s a good team.”
As the clock wound down, Bradley used but one timeout, and none when Whitko trailed.
“This year more than most, we’ve tried not to over-coach in those situations, and not call a ton of timeouts to see how they react.” he said. “As we go, we’re going to have to be more judicial with our timeouts. But we wanted to see if they could make the plays in that kind of spot, and not micromanage every possession in the last minutes of a game. And I need to learn when I need to trust them and when I need to address certain things in a timeout.”
Warsaw head coach Michelle Harter wasn’t unhappy with her team’s defense, which held Whitko to 41 percent shooting and two made three-pointers. The lost opportunity for the Lady Tigers was in the paint on the offensive end.
“Defensively we did some really nice things. I felt there were some times we weren’t as aggressive on the defensive end and let them throw the ball where they wanted to,” she said. “When we became more active, that’s when we got some turnovers, we rattled them a little bit, we got the ball back and would come down and score.
“But on the offensive end, we missed way too many shots on the inside tonight, not going up strong and finishing. In the first half we missed 11 shots in the paint. Against good teams, you’re not going to win if you’re not going up strong and finishing.”
Passing was also an issue. Warsaw committed just 13 turnovers, but had to recover passes that otherwise would have led to open looks.
“Some of it was also our decision-making with our passes. We didn’t focus on making good, fundamental passes,” Harter said. “Little things like that, that we need to get back on Monday and start getting back to work, getting ourselves back on track, and making sure we’re playing good, solid basketball like we’re capable of playing.”
Desenberg finished with a game-high 16 points for Warsaw, with Kenzie Welk adding nine.
Whitko improved to 7-0 and will host Fort Wayne Northrop Wednesday. The loss was Warsaw’s first in six games this season. The Lady Tigers host 2A No. 5 Oregon Davis on Thursday. It’s the fourth straight game for Warsaw against a ranked opponent.
WHITKO 40, WARSAW 37
WA 5 9 10 13 – 37
WH 10 9 9 12 – 40
Warsaw – Page Desenberg 7-15 1-2 16, Mariah Rivera 1-5 0-0 2, Kenzie Welk 3-9 2-2 9, Dayton Groninger 1-7 2-2 4, Madi Graham 1-2 0-0 3, Kacy Bragg 0-3 1-2 1, Kaylee Patton 1-5 0-0 2. Totals 14-46 6-8 37.
Whitko – Emalee Duggins 0-0 0-0 0, Haley Yohe 1-1 0-0 2, Brianna Cumberland 3-9 2-2 10, Hanna Yohe 4-8 3-4 11, Aly Reiff 3-10 5-8 11, Ellie Snep 3-5 0-0 6, Brielle Harrison 0-1 0-0 0, Kennedy Krull 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 14-34 10-14 40.
Three-pointers – Warsaw 3 (Desenberg, Welk, Graham), Whitko 2 (Cumberland 2); Rebounds – Warsaw 27 (Desenberg 7), Whitko 28 (Snep 6); Turnovers – Warsaw 13, Whitko 15; Fouls – Warsaw 13, Whitko 11; Fouled out – none; Records: Warsaw 5-1, Whitko 7-0.
JV – Warsaw 57, Whitko 20
Warsaw – Maddie Ryman 12, Halle Shipp 11, Kennedy Patton 11, Miah Holsclaw 9, Emma Bohnenkamper 5, Naomi Phillips 4, Kenzie Martz 2, Madelyn Smith 2. Ashlynn Hepler 1
Whitko – Sarah Hewitt 5, Lilly Owsley 5, Cassidy Stout 3, Kayla Schipper 3, Emalee Duggins 2, Audrey Bradford 2
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