Friday night’s matchup between two local teams featured Whitko trying to stay perfect in the Three Rivers Conference going up against Manchester, a team searching for its first TRC win. Both teams kept the zeros in their records as it was the Lady ‘Cats leaving North Manchester with a 57-39 win.
Whitko enjoyed a quick start to the game, with three different players scoring in the first 30 seconds, leading to an early 6-0 lead. Outside of a free throw for Manchester’s Molly Schannep, the Lady Squires struggled to get the lid off the basket. The team’s first field goal came two minutes into the game on a lay up by leading scorer Emma Walker.
On the other end, sophomore Jocelyn Luecke was the story early on, scoring six straight points on the other end for the Lady ‘Cats to give her eight of the team’s first 12. After the hot start, the visitors came back down to Earth, going a long stretch without a bucket. This allowed Manchester to get to within four with three minutes to go in the first.
Things stayed that way as time winded down, with the Lady ‘Cats unable to get going offensively once more and the Lady Squires unable to take advantage of the drough on the other end. Whitko was able to find some success at the free throw line which allowed them to open the lead back up to seven in the final minute, but a long two by Ava Sautter beat the buzzer for the home side to make it a 17-12 game going into the second.
The visitors got it going once more to begin the following period, with a midrange jumper by Adriyanna Phillips putting Whitko up by double figures a minute in a half into the quarter. As was the case in the first, the home side had trouble scoring, largely in part to a suffocating press that the Lady ‘Cats were employing. Manchester’s first make from the field came with 4:30 to go in the half.
Whitko was able to add on to its lead thanks to some gritty work on the offensive glass. The visitors were imposing their will down low, and it was turning into second chance points. Just as Luecke took over the game in the first quarter, Phillips did so in the second. Both players headed into the locker room with 10 points as the Lady ‘Cats led 32-20. Walker was the leading scorer after 16 minutes with 12.

    Senior Hanna Stout of Manchester stands her ground while defending Whitko's Jayma Stonebraker...Nieter

Manchester was able to get back to within eight a few minutes into the third, thanks to some sharp shooting by Schannep. The Lady Squires were giving Whitko a bit of their own medicine, putting together some strong defense on one end and turning it into offense on the other. It was working too, as the visitors were only able to manage three points in the first four minutes of the second half.
Finally, a big three from Reese Stonebreaker gave the Lady ‘Cats a bit more breathing room and halted the Manchester run in its tracks. After this make, the roles reversed, and now it was the home side struggling to get anything to go from the field. Despite the long stretch without a bucket in the opening minutes of the third quarter, Whitko had not lost any of its lead, still up 12 at 42-30 going into the fourth.
Time ticked away in the final quarter of play and the Lady Squires were no closer to picking up steam on the comeback. In fact, the Lady ‘Cats had extended their lead even further, now up by 14 with 5:30 to play. With three minutes to go in the game, that lead was now 13. Jayma Stonebreaker had now joined Luecke, Phillips and her sister Reese in double figures as the team looked to put finishing touches on another victory.
They didn’t have to work too hard to do so, as a majority of the visitor’s points in the final minutes came from the charity stripe. The largest the lead got was 21 towards the end of the game, as Whitko left no doubt in this one.
Whitko (6-2, 3-0 TRC) is at West Noble Tuesday while Manchester (3-8, 0-4 TRC) is off until Friday when the team takes on Southwood at home.