An already historic year in South Whitley will continue for at least one more weekend.
Seven days after winning the first ever sectional championship in program history, the Whitko girls basketball team continued to add to its trophy case by defeating Bremen 53-44 for their first ever regional title. A week later, the Lady ‘Cats will have a chance to keep on making history with their first ever appearance in the Semi-State round. Two wins away from the state finals, Whitko is ready to keep on rolling.
“This whole ordeal has been one for the ages for everyone involved. As a player, you dream about playing in big games or making the big shot so it’s been amazing,” head coach Justin Jordan said. “The community has been behind us the whole way and has showered us with unconditional support.”
The Lady ‘Cats next task comes in the form of the 25-1 Eastside Lady Blazers, champions of the Northeast Corner Conference. Eastside destroyed Churubusco 63-18 in the sectional championship game before defeating Andrean 39-27 in the regional to make it to the Semi-State.
The Lady Blazers have dominated competition all season long, winning all but one of their 25 games by double figures. The team’s lone loss came to Bellmont by just two points. The Lady Braves’ season came to an end just last week in a loss in the 3A regional to Norwell.
“Eastside is a team that does a lot of the same things we do. They’re very well coached and the players get after it,” Jordan said. “I think the key term for this game will be ‘toughness'.’ Who’s tougher and who wants it more. There’s going to be a lot of pride on the line. We’re going to have to rebound well and be tough. They check those boxes already.”
Whitko has shown its toughness multiple times throughout this tournament already. The Lady ‘Cats trailed at halftime in both their sectional and regional championship victories. Whitko came out swinging in both second halves, outsourcing Bluffton 19-8 in the third quarter two weeks ago and Bremen 15-5 in the fourth quarter last weekend. Jordan credits the resilience shown by his players in their previous two trophy games to their willingness to fight through adversity and desire to be great.
“We’ve been down in each of the last two games and have come out of the half guns blazing,” he said. “The girls don’t hang their heads if something is going wrong, they just move on to the next play. They’ve been like that all season long. Just very resilient.”
Leading the charge in the regional, as they have all season long, were the Stonebreaker sisters: junior Reese and sophomore Jayma. After being held scoreless at halftime of the regional, Jayma went off in the second half en route to scoring a team-high 16. Reese wasn’t far behind her, adding 14 with four three pointers. The sisters combine for 27 points, 10.4 rebounds and 7.4 assists a night.
“They’ve been amazing all season long. It’s funny because last year I had to beg Reese to shoot the ball and now she’s finally stepping out of her own shadow,” Jordan said. “We had end of the year meetings with both of them and they came into this year with some high goals for themselves and the team. They’re making it happen.”
A win in the 10 a.m. game will put Whitko in the championship contest Saturday night. Possible opponents are either 24-2 Rensselaer Central or 25-1 Sheridan. The two teams will play in the second game Saturday morning. The Lady ‘Cats have not played any of these three teams this season.
While winning two games against two potential top five teams may sound like quite the task, Coach Jordan is confident his girls can get it done.
“A majority of our girls play travel ball so having to play multiple games hasn’t really crossed my mind,” he said. “We had to do it at Huntington North back in January at their tournament. It’s all a mindset.”
That same mindset has allowed this Whitko team to go where no other has gone before.