SOUTH WHITLEY – Class 2A No. 1 Rochester wasted little time in establishing itself as the boss in Saturday’s Three Rivers Conference girls basketball game at Whitko. The Lady Zebras bolted out to a 13-4 lead in the first 4:30 of the contest before 2A No. 8 Whitko answered with a 8-2 run to close the first quarter. After the Lady Wildcats got the first bucket of the second quarter to make the score 15-14, Rochester went on a 9-1 run, and Whitko got no closer than six points the rest of the way. The Lady Zebras stayed undefeated after their 57-45 win. Whitko head coach Brandon Bradley said his team allowed Rochester to dictate the pace of the game, which spelled trouble for his team. “You know, we spent five days doing game-specific material. Everything we did in practice looked right. We came out here and we allowed ourselves to get sped up, and we just didn’t play very well,” he said. “Until we can learn to overcome adversity mentally, and play at our speed, the way we want to play, and not let them dictate our mental approach, we’re not going to be a championship team at any level, whether its conference, sectional, whatever.” Rochester’s Becky Malchow was hot in the first half, scoring 18 of her game-high 24 points in the first two quarters and helping the Lady Zebras establish a 36-20 lead at the intermission. Early in the fourth quarter, Whitko benefitted from five Rochester turnovers in four minutes to draw within a half-dozen points. Lady Wildcat senior Jen Reiff had six points in the run to close the gap, and finished the game with 10. “The run was great, but we didn’t play well; they started not taking care of the basketball,” Bradley said. “We didn’t improve our play; I think their play slipped a little bit. They got almost a little bit complacent and a little bit sloppy with the ball. I can look at the video tonight and can tell you we didn’t improve our play. We got transition layups.” Aly Reiff, Whitko’s leading scorer, was held to 14 points before fouling out late in the game, and Brianna Cumberland was held to just one bucket in the contest. Bradley said it wasn’t a lack of effort on his team’s part; instead it was more of a matter of fighting hard but not doing the things it needed to do to be effective. “I call it ‘the quicksand effect.’ You keep fighting and fighting and the effort’s great, but you keep sinking,” said Bradley. The Lady Zebras will have a full week to prepare for its showdown with 3A No. 5 Tippecanoe Valley in Rochester Saturday night, a game that will likely decide the Three Rivers Conference champion. Whitko will take an 11-5 overall record to Norwell and take on the 3A No. 6 Lady Knights Thursday.
