SOUTH WHITLEY – Other than scoring the first bucket of the game, very little went well for Whitko’s varsity girls basketball team in a 54-37 home loss to Huntington North Friday night. The visiting Lady Vikings scored the next five points of the game, including the first of three first-quarter treys from senior Madi Canady. From there, Huntington North began running its bread-and-butter offense, the pick-and-roll, and widening the margin over the Lady Wildcats. “We practiced against (the pick-and-roll), because it’s how we should play defense all the time,” Whitko head coach Brandon Bradley said. “We either did a great job or a poor job each time (down the floor). “Honestly, this entire night came down to toughness; we weren’t very tough at all, they were very tough.” With 6:54 left in the second quarter, things went from bad to worse for Whitko when junior guard Aly Reiff picked up three fouls in less than a minute. Reiff came in averaging more than 24 points a game this season, and had only two when she exited for the rest of the half with her team down 15-9. “We can’t use fouls as an excuse; it’s happened before. We just have to get tougher,” Bradley said. “We’re too busy finding the next excuse instead of making up for gaps. If something negative happens, we need to figure out a way to fix it.” With Whitko trailing 39-25 at the end of the third quarter, Lady Viking senior Sarah Fryman put any thought of a comeback to rest with eight points in the first 3:30 of the final period. “This is the first game where we haven’t led from the beginning. I think we were up 2-0, but then they scored five straight points before we scored again, and they led the rest of the game, so we haven’t had to deal with overcoming a lead,” Bradley said. “Our inefficiency is like running a four-minute mile, but in the wrong direction. You’re working your butt off inefficiently. For a half, maybe three quarters, that’s how we played, and it just got overwhelming.” Reiff and Brianna Cumberland, the team’s second-leading scorer, combined for 20 points, but went 5 of 22 from the field. As a team, Whitko was held to 32 percent shooting from the floor. The Lady Vikings consistently collapsed on Whitko’s driving guards, either drawing the charging foul or disrupting Lady Wildcat shots. “It’s easy to cut drives off when the rest of your offense is standing and watching. When we caught the ball on the perimeter, we weren’t real strong with it. We’re just trying to dribble too quick. We’ve gotta move, even if it’s just a dummy screen to get the defenders to interchange on help,” Bradley said. The Lady Wildcats, after playing six games in 15 days, won’t play again until Friday when they travel to Warsaw. Bradley said in the meantime, his squad will have plenty to think about, and plenty of work to do. “Let’s face it; they were more physical than us, they were tougher than us, they were more confident than us. There wasn’t any facet of the game that they didn’t win. We just weren’t good tonight. “The biggest thing we can learn from this is ‘are we going to approach every game like a championship game?’ And I don’t feel like we’ve approached the first (six) games like championship games. We are not without flaws, and I think some of us in the locker room think we are flawless. But it was proven tonight; we’re 5-1 now.” Game notes: Reiff passed Rachel Brandenburg (Class of 1996) as the Whitko career leading scorer on a layup with eight seconds left in the first quarter. Reiff came into Friday’s game tied with Brandenburg with 895 career points. The two were recognized in a brief pregame ceremony. Reiff now has 904 career points.
HUNTINGTON NORTH 54, WHITKO 37 HN 14 12 13 15 – 54 W 9 8 8 12 – 37 Huntington North – Karmen Koch 0-0 0-1 0, Kylie Kaylor 0-1 0-0 0, Hannah Stoffel 2-8 0-0 4, Sarah Fryman 6-12 3-4 15, Rileigh Johnson 0-4 1-2 1, Ellie Lawson 2-4 0-2 5, Hannah Williams 3-5 3-4 9, Madi Canady 6-8 5-6 20, Larissa Johnson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-42 12-19 54. Whitko – Jennifer Reiff 3-9 0-0 6, Haley Yohe 1-2 0-0 2, Brianna Cumberland 3-12 3-4 11, Avaree Freel 0-0 0-0 0, Emily Day 1-1 0-0 2, Hanna Yohe 1-5 1-2 3, Aly Reiff 4-10 1-1 9, Sarah Hewitt 0-0 0-0 0, Ellie Snep 0-1 2-2 2, Kennedy Krull 0-0 2-2 2. Totals 13-40 9-11 37. Three-pointers – Huntington North 4 (Canady 3, Lawson), Whitko 2 (Cumberland 2); Rebounds – Huntington North 33 (Stoffel 6, Fryman 6), Whitko 23 (Krull 6); Turnovers – Huntington North 10, Whitko 12; Fouls – Huntington North 15, Whitko 18; Fouled out – A. Reiff; Records: Huntington North 4-0, Whitko 5-1 JV – Huntington North 33, Whitko 28 Whitko – Ellie Snep 10, Cassidy Stout 6, Kayla Schipper 5, Lilly Owsley 4, Sarah Hewitt 3
