Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
NAPPANEE - The Whitko Wildcats were beginning to play some good basketball. In this roller-coaster season, they had begun to solidify as a team, especially last weekend.
They defeated a solid Triton team Friday night and defeated Rochester Saturday night to propel this team to its third win in a row.
Suddenly, things were great. Whitko was returning to its tradition of basketball power. After all, the Wildcats have never had a losing season. With the victory over Rochester, Whitko had moved to .500 at 9-9. The way the Wildcats were playing, it was feasible to think they could close out the season with two more wins and continue the streak of winning seasons that sits at 25 years in a row.
Ten conference championships and 12 sectional titles in 25 years. That is as close to a dynasty as you can find. And this team was beginning to carry on that torch.
Then, last night, it all fell apart. Whitko headed to NorthWood to play an 8-9 team that has struggled to get any momentum going throughout the season. Whitko head coach Dave Henson was confident his team could go into the Panther Pit and pick up a victory, assuring them of a 26th season without a losing record.
But the Panthers would have nothing to do with that Hollywood movie stuff. NorthWood came out and played their style of basketball and dominated Whitko from the outset for an impressive 87-51 victory.
Kevin Miller was the only Whitko player to score in the first five minutes of the game, and the Wildcats found themselves trailing 8-2 quickly. From the outset it was clear the offense just was not clicking for Whitko. Through one quarter, NorthWood led 16-6.
In the second quarter, Panther junior Jason Hill began to heat up. He knocked down a three-pointer to put his team up by 15 and made 9 of 9 free throws in the quarter. In all, he scored 12 of his teams 16 second quarter points, and NorthWood led at the break 32-16.
The usually reliable Zach Henson had tried to carry his team unsuccessfully. He scored just four points in the opening 16 minutes with just two rebounds and one assist.
Whitko shot just 28 percent from the floor in the first half and missed all six of its three-point attempts.
In the third quarter, NorthWood really began to heat up as it hit 12 of 18 shots in that period to extend the lead to 60-28 going into the final period.
In the fourth quarter, the Panthers never really allowed Whitko to make a strong effort to get back into the game and they held on for the win.
"We're capable of really being bad," head coach Dave Henson said. "And we were bad."
For the game, Whitko shot just 35 percent compared to the 54 percent shooting from NorthWood. In addition, the Wildcats committed 21 turnovers.
"If we turn the ball over," Coach Henson said, "then we get beat. In the last three games we've been under ten turnovers."
In the midst of a big loss, a few positives usually come out of them. This game was no different. Josh Gonzalez scored ten points for Whitko and is beginning to pick up the scoring load that Henson has been desperately trying to carry all season.
"He played hard," said Coach Henson. "We pulled him out in the fourth quarter because we have a game tomorrow night, but he played well."
This game was particularly frustrating for Henson in that it puts a damper on his team's chances to win the Sectional.
"We would have to play three good games against three good teams," Coach Henson said. "At this point in time we haven't done that yet.
"It is a big concern."
The Wildcats (9-10, 3-3) host Southwood to close out the season today. They will then begin to prepare for their Sectional opener against Manchester on Tuesday.
