SOUTH WHITLEY – Gearing up for a Northern State Conference championship game Friday at home against LaVille, the Class 1A No. 7 Triton girls basketball team didn’t overlook Whitko Wednesday in South Whitley, winning 55-45. “It could have been easy to look past Whitko, and not because they’re weak, but because Friday, we’re playing for at least co-champs (of the NSC),” Triton coach Adam Heckaman said. “We prepared for LaVille most of this week and just kind of geared it here and there for what Whitko does. I thought our girls adjusted real well for that.” Early, Whitko (8-12) jumped out to a 9-2 lead on the Lady Trojans (14-5), with senior Lynsi Hicks netting five points and senior Karissa Olinske scoring four, and later extended its lead to 14-8 following a bucket by sophomore Bailee Juillerat with 33 seconds remaining in the first quarter. Triton embarked on an 8-0 run to close the gap, playing even with the Lady Wildcats until the road team’s 11-2 run late in the third quarter blew the lead up to 38-28 with 50 seconds remaining in the third. The run put Triton far enough ahead, where Whitko couldn't recover, as the home team hit just 1 of 16 three-pointers in the game, 1 of 10 in the final quarter. “We put a new offense in Monday to kind of gear up for Friday’s game, and we wanted to toy with it a little bit tonight,” Heckaman said. “We weren’t real sure of it at first, in the first half. Once we realized what we needed to do out of it, we started going to the basket, drawing fouls. Honestly, we shot free throws horribly tonight, but when you get there as many times as we did, you’re going to score points.” On the night, Triton did only make 59 percent of their free throws, but they did shoot 41, making 24 of them. Those trips to the line didn’t only deliver easy points to the Lady Trojans, it also led to a herky-jerky game flow. “We shot 19 free throws, and I say that’s about average, but it seemed like they were all at the very end of the halves,” Whitko coach Brandon Bradley said. “Triton was shooting throughout each quarter. Then, there’s a lot of dead time, because we’re sitting there watching them shoot free throws, it’s hard to have your feet be strong and quick.” Olinske finished the game as Whitko’s lone double-digit scorer, netting 14 points, while senior Micaela Sylvester had eight and senior Katee Reiff finished with seven. For Triton, junior Shana Anderson led the way with a game-high 17 points, followed by sophomore Taylor Hatfield’s 14 and freshman Kylie Mason’s 11. And the balance for the Lady Trojans wasn’t just in scoring, as Mason had seven rebounds, sophomore Mallorie Jennings had six, freshman Krystal Sellers had five. Mason also led Triton with three assists, with three other girls posting two assists. “The nice thing about that team is, they’re seven deep and they know what they are,” Bradley said about Triton. “They don’t do anything they’re not capable of. They don’t force a lot of action. The girls that can handle the ball, handle the ball. The girls that can shoot the ball, shoot the ball.” Along with leading the team in rebounds and assists, Mason also came off the bench to post four assists, while Anderson led the squad with five. But at the end of the day, Heckaman isn’t as concerned with stats as he is with wins. “I told the girls tonight was one of our best all-around team efforts,” Heckaman said. “From the people that sat on the bench cheering each other on, to people being on the floor being leaders. As far as stats, I couldn't care less. I don’t care who gets them, and when the girls don’t care who gets them - then we’re a good team. We’re a great team when we play like that. That’s what we had tonight.” While Whitko’s regular season is over, Triton has one more game, that being Friday at home against LaVille. Currently, Triton, LaVille and Bremen all sit at 5-1 in the NSC. A loss to LaVille would leave Triton out of title contention, but a win would give the Lady Trojans at least a share of the crown for the first time since the 2002-03 season. “ We get to get back to work (today) and get ready for our biggest game of the year,” Heckaman said. Even with a win, Triton may have to share the championship with Bremen if the Lady Lions defeat Jimtown tonight in Bremen.
