SYRACUSE - After losing 44-38 to Fairfield last Saturday, the Wawasee Lady Warriors had something to prove against visting East Noble Friday.
Playing with more passion and enthusiasm, Wawasee used a smothering defense to defeat the East Noble Lady Knights 40-24."It's called effort," Wawasee head coach Kem Zolman said. "We had no effort last weekend (at Fairfield). Hopefully that was embarrassing enough to the kids. That's not what this program is based on. In my opinion, that may have been the worst spectacle of basketball from a varsity squad that I've seen. They were embarrassed to the point that I thought they'd do something about it."
In the first quarter, East Noble senior Courtney Bolen netted all eight of her team's points, but the Wawasee defense tightened after that, limiting her to five points the rest of the way.
"I was pleased how she came out as a senior," East Noble coach Bert McLaughlin said of Bolen. "She knows we have a lot of inexperienced players out there. Tonight, more than any other night, she kind of took charge of the team."
Even with Bolen in charge, East Noble (1-3) couldn't get anything going in the second and third quarters, scoring seven combined points in the two quarters, allowing Wawasee (3-1) to push its lead to 33-15 going into the final quarter.
The Lady Warriors increased the lead thanks to the shooting of junior Jonna Wiggs, who scored eight of her game-high 15 points in the third quarter, but she wasn't the only one scoring.
Zolman's team also got nine points from junior Amy Walker and another eight from freshman KiLee Knafel.
"That's what this team is going to be," Zolman said about the balanced scoring. "We're going to get a little bit from everybody. That's basically what it's going to be. Jonna had a concussion last week, so it's good to have her back out there. It's just good to see the kids grappling again."
Another welcomed sight to Zolman was the play of Walker, who had her starting position taken away for the game.
Coming off the bench, Walker went 4 of 4 from the field, nabbing seven rebounds and blocking two shots.
"You have to do things once in a while as a coach just to make sure they know you're serious," Zolman said. "She took it to heart and it looked good."
Accompanied with more inspired play from the rest of the girls, Wawasee swarmed East Noble into a 9-of-30 shooting night.
"Their defense is something we're not used to seeing very often," McLaughlin said. "They do a great job of what they do with their zone, their half-court traps and full-court press. Ultimately, it came down to them wearing us down. We had great shots tonight, we just couldn't get anything to fall."
And with the win, Zolman is hopeful his girls won't let down when they travel to West Noble Tuesday.
"After tonight, this is over," he said. "Then, you have to go out and reprove yourself. We're going on the road again, and this is a very young, inexperienced team that doesn't do well away from home."
