Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
NAPPANEE - The Wawasee Warrior girls' basketball team at 9-0 was off to its best start since the 1984-1985 season. But now, everyone said, comes the first test of the season: playing at No. 16 NorthWood.
For the first half and seven minutes of the third quarter, the Warriors were passing the test. But for the last minute of the third quarter and all of the fourth, NorthWood had all the answers.
NorthWood defeated Wawasee 75-53 Tuesday night, pulling away with a 26-11 run the last nine minutes of the game.
"They're an excellent basketball team," Wawasee coach Randy Aalbregtse said of NorthWood. "They've been good for a long time. When you come in to play a state-ranked team at their place - they were at the semistate last year and really lost only one person - you have your hands full. It was a good measuring stick. We have a lot of work to do."
The Warriors stayed close for a while, but defensively, they never slowed NorthWood. The Panthers missed just 15 shots from the floor in the game. They made 31 of 46 field goal attempts, good for 67 percent.
All of NorthWood's scoring came inside as the Panther guards continually got the ball to their big people under the basket. The NorthWood guards finished with 21 assists, led by Amy Sloat's nine.
Out of the 31 field goals, 30 came in or near the paint. That's 60 points. They also hit 12 free throws. That's 72 points. The Panthers beat the Warriors by 22 and needed one perimeter shot, a three-pointer by Sloat.
"You have to play the defensive end of the floor," Aalbregtse said. "We didn't communicate. In the first half, we had them 18 for 22, and they took only two or three shots outside the paint. But we were only seven down (41-34). We performed very well at the offensive end."
The Wawasee offense kept the Warriors close early. Guard Carly Beer made three three-pointers in the first half, and forward Karissa Evans scored eight in the second quarter to pull Wawasee within seven at halftime. They stayed close without the help of 6-foot-1 junior Lydia Carpenter, who came out in the second quarter with two fouls. Carpenter entered scoring just over 16 points per game.
After NorthWood had six turnovers the first half, the Panthers had six in the third quarter. But instead of getting closer, the Warriors fell further behind. With 1:05 to go in the quarter, NorthWood forward Jamie Gill scored her third straight basket in the paint to up the NorthWood lead to 51-42. With 42 seconds left, Jodi Walters scored a basket and was fouled. She hit the free hrow, and NorthWood led 54-42.
Wawasee was never closer than 10 the rest of the way.
"Right at the start of the third quarter, we had some chances to get in it," Aalbregtse said. "We forced them to make some turnovers. We had good shots, but they didn't fall. It got to 10 or 12, and our kids started feeling a sense of urgency. They began doing things they hadn't done, making poor decisions at the offensive end. They got outran, and we couldn't get it stopped."
NorthWood's Natalie Will, who came in scoring 8.7 ppg, scored 21 on 10-of-12 shooting. LoriDawn Klotz added 15, and Gill had 14.
Carpenter led Wawasee with 14 points, and Kari Wortinger added 13.
NorthWood is 8-0 overall.
Wawasee, 9-1 overall and 1-1 in the NLC, hosts a 2:30 p.m. game with Northridge.
"I knew we would have to perform well, and I thought we did for the first three quarters," Aalbregtse said. "But that's what good, sound tradition does. If you don't seize the opportunities we had in the third quarter ... they fought of our surges."
