Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
NORTHRIDGE - Veteran NorthWood High School girls basketball coach Steve Neff called it a wake-up call, and as it turns out, a five-point loss to rival Wawasee a month ago was just what the doctor ordered.
Since that 41-36 setback to the Warriors Jan. 7, the Panthers have been one of the hottest teams around. In Saturday evening's Northridge 3A Sectional championship, played in a gym that felt more like a sauna, the Panthers stayed hot while putting Wawasee on ice.
Despite struggling from the free throw line, NorthWood put together a strong defensive effort and downed Wawasee 42-29, eliminating the Warriors from state tournament play for the second consecutive year.
"We know each other too well," Neff, who guided the Panthers to their 17th overall sectional title, said of the rivalry. "They know everything we do and we pretty much know what they do. That game earlier was sort of a wake-up call. We've won them all since then."
That five-point loss to the Warriors in early January dropped NorthWood to 9-4; Saturday's 13-point win improved the Panthers to 18-4 and advanced them to the Peru Regional, where they will battle Norwell (12-11) Saturday at 10 a.m. Norwell advanced by beating Tippecanoe Valley 71-70 in the championship game of the Peru Sectional.
Wawasee, which won eight of its last nine games prior to Saturday's championship contest, finished the season 14-9.
The Warriors were very much in the game and took a 10-9 lead into the second quarter, but then scored just one point in the second quarter and only hit five total shots from the field through the second, third and fourth quarters.
"They made it very difficult for us to get any inside game going," said Warrior coach Kem Zolman. "Their kids played at a very high level. They should, they're seniors. You expect that kind of play out of seniors."
The Panthers started three seniors, while Wawasee has just one senior and two juniors on its roster.
Saturday night, experience won out.
Saturday night, experience held the young Warriors to 19 points over the final 25 minutes and 42 seconds of the game.
The Warriors shot 50 percent, 4 of 8, from the field in the first quarter but went just 5 of 28 (17.9 percent).
"They hit some big shots in the first quarter, but they cooled off like they were supposed to," Neff jokingly said of the Warriors, also noting the temperature in the gym. "We told the kids to know where (Rachel) Canen was and we played great defense inside. Our guards worked hard to cover the outside three spots and they've done that all year."
Canen and Megan Walker combined to hit five three-pointers for Wawasee, but the Panthers shut down the Warriors' inside game of Tiffany Fick, Jessie Wolf and Shawn Knafel.
Fick scored just four points, while Wolf scored two and Knafel was scoreless.
Canen led Wawasee in scoring with 11 points, all of which came in the second half, while Kalyn Lantz and Walker had six each.
Mandy Yoder and Lauren Zeltwanger scored 10 points each for the Panthers, while Audrey Duncan scored eight and Carrie Egging seven.
NorthWood trailed 10-9 after one quarter of play, and then started the second stanza with a 10-0 run. The Warriors scored their only point of the second quarter when Lantz hit the first of two free throws with 23.5 seconds left, cutting NorthWood's 19-11.
Canen's second three-pointer of the third quarter cut the Panther advantage to 24-17, but the Warriors couldn't find their hot shooting hand in the sweltering gym and trailed 31-20 going into the fourth.
Wawasee trailed by 15, 35-20, with 5:00 remaining and got no closer than eight the rest of the way.
Though they finished the game just 11 of 23 from the free throw line, the Panthers did hit 5 of 6 free throws in the final minute of the game.
NORTHWOOD 42, WAWASEE 29
Wawasee 10 1 9 9 - 29
NWood 9 10 12 11 - 42
Wawasee FG FT R S Pts.
* Lantz 1-6 4-6 6 3 6
* Walker 2-7 0-0 1 1 6
* Canen 3-10 2-2 4 6 11
* Wolf 1-4 0-2 4 0 2
* Fick 2-6 0-0 12 3 4
Knafel 0-2 0-0 4 0 0
Giltner 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
LeMaitre 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Wallace 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 9-36 6-10 26 10 29
NWood FG FT R S Pts.
* Egging 1-6 5-8 7 0 7
* Z'ltwngr 3-6 2-3 1 3 10
*Lchltner 0-0 3-7 6 2 3
* Yoder 5-8 0-2 3 4 10
* Duncan 4-8 0-0 5 2 8
Bechtel 1-2 1-2 1 0 4
Kurtz 0-4 0-1 3 0 0
Totals 14-34 11-23 26 11 42
Three-point goals - Wawasee 5-16 (Canen 3-7, Walker 2-6, Lantz 0-3), NorthWood 3-8 (Zeltwanger 2-3, Bechtel 1-1, Egging 0-2, Lechltiner 0-1, Yoder 0-1). Turnovers - Wawasee 19, NorthWood 12. Fouls - Wawasee 16, NorthWood 15. Fouled out - none.
