Central Noble Ends Wawasee’s Season In Sectional Play
Central Noble Ends Wawasee’s Season In Sectional Play
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Alaister McFarren-
Central Noble Ends Wawasee’s Season In Sectional PlayLAGRANGE – In a rematch against an opponent from earlier in the season, the Wawasee girls basketball team fell to Central Noble 54-31 in their 3A sectional game on Tuesday night at Lakeland High School. In their December matchup, Wawasee struggled to keep up in transition en route to a 73-34 defeat. In Tuesday’s game, head coach Matt Carpenter’s team was far more prepared for the challenge that Central Noble presented on the fast break. “We knew coming in that (their transition offense) was something we would have to prepare for,” Carpenter said. “We gave them a few early transition baskets that let them have that little lead, but we handled it much, much better than we did in the first game. In fact, what few transition points they did get had more to do with them making athletic plays than us playing bad defense.” Wawasee also had the benefit of having their full team present this time around. In the previous game, the Lady Warriors had been missing three key rotation players. “We were a different team last time,” said Carpenter. “We came into this game knowing we could compete. No question.” Carpenter was right; the Lady Warrior defense handled Central Noble’s fast-paced offense admirably in the first half. Despite their own offense’s troubles - they scored only seven points in the period - they trailed by only seven entering the second quarter. The offense picked up notably in the second. They missed only five shots in the period and were able to cut the lead to three at one point. Sitting at 25-20, Wawasee looked like they would head into the half down only five before a buzzer-beating three-point shot by junior Lydia Andrews made it 28-20. Throughout the game, Andrews was one of two Central Noble players that would give Wawasee considerable grief. She finished with a game-high 21 points on 9-of-12 shooting, including 2-of-3 from three-point range. Junior Bridgett Gray also gave the Lady Warriors fits, hitting four three-pointers on her way to 20 points. Wawasee (8-14) was led in scoring by juniors Ella Beezley and Danielle Jenkins, each of whom scored seven. Central Noble came out firing in the third quarter. In a nearly flawless offensive quarter, they shot north of 80 percent and pushed their lead to 43-29 by the end of the quarter. Wawasee would be unable to muster a final comeback run, scoring only two points in the fourth quarter. “We had to change how we played for that last push,” said Carpenter. “We could have come out and played the same offense we had all time, but we didn’t come here to lose by 10. In the huddle we said, ‘Let’s throw some punches and go for it,” but unfortunately they just didn’t land.” Carpenter said that although his team’s defense stood out to him this game, Central Noble had a good offense that was hard to cover on all fronts. Central Noble relied heavily on three-point shooting to put Wawasee away. They made seven over the course of the game, putting Carpenter’s team in a difficult situation. “When our rotations got around, we weren’t bad today,” Carpenter stated. “Unfortunately, they did a really good job of making us move. There were times where we just weren’t fast enough.” Coming into the game, Carpenter was determined to not let his team – which featured only one senior this season - use their youth as an excuse. “We had a meeting a few weeks ago where I told the team that my biggest fear for them was that they would use their youth as a crutch,” Carpenter said. “We couldn’t afford to look to the future. We wanted our lone senior, Hannah Lancaster, to know that we’re not going to overlook the present; we were here with high expectations for this year’s team.” Lancaster scored four in her final game for Wawasee.
