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WABASH - There would be none of that "anything can happen on a given night" stuff. Not at Northfield, not on Friday, not with the two teams playing.
Manchester's girls basketball team played like a 17-3 team, and Wabash played like a 1-19 team. Manchester drilled Wabash 75-35 in the Northfield Sectional.
"We just wanted to make sure we didn't play to their level," Manchester coach Jody Shewman said. "Normally we play to the level of the team we're playing and let them stay with us. Tonight, we took advantage of their guard weaknesses and put a lot of pressure on them."
The win puts the Squires in this evening's championship game against North Miami (16-6), who beat Northfield (6-16) 38-37 in Friday's second game. If the Squires win that, they will capture their first sectional title since 1984. Manchester hosted and hammered North Miami 62-39 on Jan. 12.
An already shorthanded Wabash team became even more shorthanded against Manchester. Jan Eichennauer, the Apaches' leading scorer with 10.7 points per game, has been sidelined with an injury the second half of the season and was still out. The Apaches then lost Tiffany Richards, who came in averaging 7.0 points, 3.7 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game, in the first three minutes to an injury. She had to be carried off the court.
Wabash needed a miracle.
It didn't happen.
Only against Wabash could the Squires shoot 5 of 19 from the field in the second quarter -Êand extend the lead. Manchester led 21-8 after the first quarter, thanks to 12 Megan Eckert points. When halftime arrived, Manchester's led grew to 20 at 35-15. The Squires had 13 steals in the first half.
The troubles continued in the second half for Wabash. With 5:04 to go in the third quarter, the Apaches had more turnovers (20) than points (19).
Manchester's leading scorer on the night wasn't Eckert, who came in averaging more than 18 per game. Nor was it Katie Parker or Jodie Peden, starting guards who score more than 10 a game.
Jessica Hicks, a 5-foot-11 freshman, led the Squires with 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting. She also pulled down eight rebounds.
"We've been working the past three weeks on post moves," Shewman said. "She did a tremendous job. She has great hands and just took the ball to the hole. Just what we wanted.
"(Wabash) is small, and we took advantage of that on the inside. I told the kids, This is the time. Either we're going to lose and we're done, or we're going to win and go on. I wanted them to have that hunger in their eyes."
No matter who Shewman put in the game, they contributed. Jennifer Jester had seven points, four rebounds and three assists off the bench. Sherri Wagoner, another reserve, had six points and two rebounds. Christy Markstahler, yet another reserve, delivered two points, four assists and three steals. And so on.
The only thing that didn't go Manchester's way took place in the fourth quarter. With a minute to go in the game, the Squires made a concerted effort to get Jodee Ruppel the ball. Ruppel, a senior, has played sparingly this season, so her teammates and fans wanted to see her score in a postseason game.
Try as she might - she fired up five shots in the game - she didn't score, and with each miss disappointed Manchester fans groaned.
But that was the only thing that went awry.
Eckert finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Peden scored 14. Parker scored seven and had six steals and four assists.
The Squires won't have to be worried about being tired for tonight's game. Starters Eckert, Parker, Peden and Lindsay Seagert played only the first three quarters. Hicks played only at the start of the fourth then came out.
Tonight's championship game takes place at 7:30.
