SOUTH WHITLEY — It was back-and-forth, sloppy and turnover-laden, but the Columbia City Lady Eagles sorted out the mess by topping the Whitko Lady Wildcats 81-68 Friday night in South Whitley. In efforts to spoil Whitko’s home opener against their Whitley County rival, Emily Whitleather and Macie Hinen each scored 16 points to lead the way for the Lady Eagles (1-0). “We couldn’t defend anybody,” Whitko coach Brandon Bradley said. “It didn’t matter what defense we played. We were reacting to everything instead of making plays, and it was no different than what we were doing Tuesday night versus Central Noble (in a 66-44 victory). The only difference is the quality of the opponent.” The Lady Wildcats (1-1) had four players in double-digit scoring figures, with freshman guard Aly Reiff leading the way with 20 points, followed by senior Kelly Reiff’s 14 and senior Jordan Hall’s 11. Also for Whitko, sophomore guard/forward Jennifer Reiff, finished with 10 points despite hobbling over the course of the game. “She has a really deep bruise, and it will get better...it’s a pain tolerance thing,” Bradley said. “Late in the game, she got hit, and you could see her hobbling around. There’s nothing wrong structurally, just a deep muscle bruise.” Turnovers proved to be a big problem for the Lady Wildcats in the first half, nearly doubling Columbia City’s in the early portion of action. The Lady Eagles led by as much as eight points before Whitko was able to cut the margin down to six at the half. In the third quarter, a flurry of scores and forcing Columbia City to turn the ball over gave Whitko some hope as it narrowed the margin to just three points. However, foul trouble took hold of the Lady Wildcats and the Lady Eagles pulled away on a 23-13 run to close out the game. Bradley could see a difference in play between this year’s and last year’s teams. “The biggest thing that we were missing from the seniors (from a year ago) was that they were grinders,” he said. “Tonight, it was apparent that they weren’t here. We had a lot of breakdowns and we got beat to a lot of loose balls.” The Lady Wildcats tallied a total of 36 fouls. “I bet you 30 of those fouls were reaching fouls, and we can’t play that way,” Bradley said. Whitko travels to Churubusco (0-1) tonight, which will be the Lady Eagles’ home opener. As much as this game may sting with it being a rivalry game, Bradley says they’ll just have to get focused during their today’s walk through before traveling to Churubusco. “We can stress all we want, but it all comes down to them,” Bradley said. “They just have to be able to do it themselves. They have to show their own focus and maturity and move past this. They just have to be dialed in.”
COLUMBIA CITY 81, WHITKO 68 CC 20 24 14 23 – 81 W 19 19 17 13 – 68 Columbia City – Emily Whiteleather 16, Macie Hinen 16, Aubrey Wright 14, Baily Rentschler 11, Chelsea Pettigrew 9, Alyssa Hansen 8, Holly Martinez 7, Elise Cormany 2. Whitko – Aly Reiff 20, Kelly Reiff 14, Jordan Hall 11, Jennifer Reiff 10, Brianna Cumberland 7, Aly Nicodemus 6, Michelle Kelsey 2 Records: CC 1-0, Whitko 1-1 JV – CC 22, Whitko 20 Whitko JV Scoring – Kennedy Krull 10, Hanna Yohe 7, Haley Yohe 3
