NORTH MANCHESTER – Led by sophomores Aly Reiff and Brianna Cumberland, the Whitko Lady Wildcats held off the host Manchester Lady Squires 37-29 Friday night in Three Rivers Conference action. Reiff scored a game-high 17 points, while Cumberland added 13 in the win. Reiff scored seven points in the first half, and then surged with 10 more in the second half. She scored her first nine points from beyond the three-point arc in the first half. Haley and Hanna Yohe, and Reghan Craig each added two points in the victory for Whitko (5-3 overall, 2-0 TRC). Prior to Friday night’s game, the Lady Wildcats were averaging 46.7 points per game. To fall nearly 10 points beneath their average proved less than satisfactory according to Whitko head coach Brandon Bradley, who thought that they could perform better. “We’re a little disappointed with our play tonight honestly as a group,” Bradley said. “Tonight, I expected that we be in the 40s or 50s, but credit Manchester, they played hard and battled and worked to get easy baskets around the rim.” Bradley was happy, however, to get a TRC win on the road. “All wins are good wins, we got our second conference win so we are going to look at that as a positive,” he said. “But we will try to get better offensively and defensively and not have as many breakdowns.” For the Lady Squires, holding Whitko to just 37 points was good, but they just couldn’t get their offense going. “Our defense was OK, but it wasn’t great. Giving up 37, it’s close to where we want to get to,” said first-year Manchester coach Jake Everett. “We have success when it’s low-scoring. Our confidence level was strong in the first half, after that, our confidence kind of went back. We gave them some turnovers, and they gained some confidence.” Drew Thompson led the Lady Squires with nine points, while Bailey Sewell added seven points and Cierra Carter chipped in with five. Manchester was able to hang around in the first half, but just could not get the outburst it needed to stay in it. “We had spurts, that is for sure. We will be doing that a lot until we get older,” said Everett. “Just didn’t get some bounces; we had layups in the second half that we just did not make. We converted them in the first half ... didn’t make as many in the second half.” Whitko had its largest lead at 11 at the end of the third quarter. Still, Manchester refused to give in until the very end, trying to keep the margin in the single digits. “We played until the very end, we didn’t give up,” said Everett. “Even at the end, we were down nine with 30 seconds left. We were still trapping and still getting after it, so that was a positive.” The Lady Wildcats return to action on Thursday when they travel to Ligonier to face the West Noble Lady Chargers. Manchester (4-5 overall, 0-2 TRC) continues the hunt for its first TRC win and looks to get back to its winning ways when the Lady Squires play Southwood next Saturday. The Southwood Lady Knights are looking to get out of a rut themselves, as they are on a three-game losing skid.
WHITKO 37, MANCHESTER 29 Whi 9 12 10 6 – 37 Man 10 6 4 9 – 29 Whitko – Reghan Craig 1 0-0 2, Haley Yohe 1 0-0 2, Brianna Cumberland 5 0-0 14, Avaree Freel 0 0-0 0, Emily Day 0 1-2 1, Hanna Yohe 1 0-0 2, Aly Reiff 8 1-1 17, Michelle Kelsey 0 0-0 0, Maddie Gawthrop 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 2-3 37. Manchester – Drew Thompson 3 1-1 9, Tiffany Johnson 1 0-0 2, Ellie Milam 0 0-0 0, Brooklyn Howard 1 0-0 2, Rae Bedke 0 0-0 0, Celina Carter 2 0-0 4, Bailey Sewell 3 1-2 7, Cierra Carter 2 1-2 5. Totals 12 3-5 29. Three-pointers – Whitko 3 (Cumberland 3), Manchester 2 (Thompson 2); Fouls – Whitko 13, Manchester 11; Fouled out – none; Records: Whitko 5-3 (2-0 TRC), Manchester 4-5 (0-2 TRC) JV – Whitko 46, Manchester 39
