PERU - A tournament championship would have been a nice way to end 2009, but it wasn't in the cards for Whitko's varsity girls basketball team Wednesday night.
Playing in the Miami County Tournament at Peru High School, the Lady Wildcats (5-9) lost to the host Peru Lady Tigers 73-50 in the championship game after defeating North Miami 63-46 Tuesday in the opening round."I'm proud of them for making it to the championship game, but on the flipside, we need to take care of the little things," Whitko coach Rob Bell said.
One of those little things is taking care of the ball.
On a night when the Wildcats recorded 14 steals, they struggled to maintain possession, committing 34 turnovers.
"When we get a turnover, we turn it right back over," Bell said. "Once we get it, we need to take advantage of it. As fast as we go, it's hard. You want them to play fast mentally, you want them to play fast physically, but they also need to be able to slow themselves down."
Neither team was able to slow itself down in the first quarter, showcased by six Whitko turnovers in the first four minutes and five from Peru in the same amount of time.
However, along with turning the ball over, Peru was also finding ways to get it into the hoop, outscoring Whitko 17-8 in the opening quarter and 37-25 in the first the half.
"If you look at all the games we win, we hold our opponents in the 40s," Bell said. "Right now, we have to get most of our offense out of the transition. We didn't do a good job of moving. (Rachelle) Kessie was wide open in the post all night. (Cassie) Jones was also wide open in the post, but we couldn't get it to her."
Kessie finished the night with six points, while sophomore guard Micaela Sylvester led Whitko with 16 points, three assists and three blocks, earning all-tournament team honors in the process.
"She was named to the all-tournament team, and it's well deserved," Bell said. "She put a lot of pressure up on the ball. Both teams' point guards (we played) were given fits because of the pressure she put on."
Another all-tournament selection was Peru junior Breanna Calloway, who scored 26 points in the championship win.
The loss leaves Whitko with a 5-9 record going into its Jan. 9 Three Rivers Conference home game against Rochester at 6:15 p.m.
