Two of the better area girls basketball teams met in South Whitley Thursday night for one final tune up before the state playoffs begin next week. In a game that was fast-paced and fun for the entirety of the contest, it was Whitko holding on to beat Wawasee 63-53 to pick up its third win in four nights.
The action was incredibly fast paced early on, with neither side taking the time to set up a half court offense. Instead, each team preferred to run the length of the floor and try to create fast break opportunities for themselves. The Lady ‘Cats were doing the better job of it, with the Stonebreaker sisters, junior Reese and sophomore Jayma, leading the charge as the home side got out to an early 11-2 lead.
After a quick timeout, the Lady Warriors were able to find some more success offensively, but they couldn’t come up with the defensive stops to stop Whitko. Now it was 6’2” sophomore Ally Brown imposing her will down low, using her size and length to control the boards and get some easy shots to fall.
The Lady ‘Cats were able to go up by double figures at multiple points during the first quarter, but both times, Wawasee came up with an answer to shrink the gap. Molly Beer and Ava Couture were supplying a good chunk of the offense early on.
Both teams were able to light up the scoreboard over the first eight minutes. After a period of action, Whitko was up 23-17.
Jayma got right back to work for the home side as the following quarter got going. Coming up with buckets, steals and pretty much everything in between, the sophomore took control of the game and extended her team’s lead once more.
As had been the case for the entire game thus far, the Lady Warriors were doing just enough to stay in the game, but lacked the extended run they were looking for to jump in front. For a large portion of the quarter, the Whitko lead remained in that 4-6 point range. Each time the visitors looked to be on the verge of breaking through, the home side would respond on the other end.
Couture continued to lead the way for the Wawasee offense, hitting shots from everywhere and setting up her teammates to get open looks with some nice passing. Even still, Whitko was having a great night on the offensive end, coming up with a counter for every punch the visitors threw at them. At halftime, things were close, but the Lady ‘Cats remained on top 36-31.

    Senior Olivia Horn of Wawasee dribbles to the basket as Ally Brown of Whitko keeps close track...Nieter

The beginning of the third quarter saw the Lady Warriors shrink the lead down to one thanks to a pair of triples by Couture, the lowest it had been since the opening moments of the game. The visitors were starting to get into a rhythm defensively as well, holding the Whitko offense to just four points over the first two and a half minutes of the third.
Credit to Whitko, they were able to fight through the adversity and get back on track when things started to get tight. The offense was able to get going once again and in a matter of moments, the home lead had been extended back up to seven. While this had been the closest the Lady Warriors had gotten to taking control of the game, the result was the same as all of the previous attempts.
Then, as the quarter was winding down, the Lady ‘Cats were able to apply even more pressure, going up by as many as 10 before a last-second bucket by Olivia Horn made it an eight-point game with eight minutes to go.
Time was starting to become a factor with Whitko continuing to stifle any hopes of a Wawasee comeback. Holding onto a lead and not in any hurry to give the ball back to the visitors, the home side was beginning to settle into a half court offense, dribbling around the perimeter and taking precious seconds off of the clock.
Four minutes remained in the game now and the Lady ‘Cat lead was still seven. Nearly 45 seconds came off of the clock before the next shot went up: a made layup by Jayma to extend the advantage back to nine. Needing something and needing it soon, the Lady Warriors were working quickly on the other end, but almost too quickly. More than a few possessions were rushed and resulted in misses that could have been makes.
Soon, just 60 seconds remained and Whitko had gone up even further to a nine-point lead. Wawasee had committed a few fouls down the stretch to try and extend the game at the free throw line, but the Lady ‘Cats were poised and hit them when they mattered most.
Whitko (17-4) will begin its sectional journey Tuesday night against Woodlan at Bluffton, while Wawasee (13-9) has a bye and will face the winner of Columbia City-NorthWood at Fairfield in the semifinals on Friday.