SYRACUSE — Wawasee may have had the best player on the court Saturday night, but Warsaw certainly had the better team.
In a Northern Lakes Conference clash at the Hardwood Tepee in Syracuse, junior KiLee Knafel tallied game-highs of 26 points and nine rebounds, but her Wawasee girls basketball team fell 67-38 to rival Warsaw.
“I asked the girls if they were going to let one player beat them, and they said no,” said Warsaw coach Michelle Harter, whose team won its sixth-straight game and improved to 7-1 overall and 2-0 in conference play.
“We knew Knafel was going to get her points,” added Harter. “We lost her a few times in the first half and she hit some 3s. I thought our defense stepped up in the second half, and we took away those open 3s.”
Knafel, who earlier in the season scored 35 of her team’s 42 points in a loss to Fort Wayne Canterbury, scored all 10 of Wawasee’s points in the first quarter, 17 of the team’s 21 points in the first half and 26 of the Lady Warriors’ 33 points through three quarters.
“We’ve got to have more people step up,” said Wawasee coach Kem Zolman, whose team lost for the fourth time in five games and fell to 4-5 overall and 0-2 in the NLC. “Do we have people who can step up? Yeah, I really believe we do. We rely on KiLee too much, almost to a fault.”
Senior Kelsey Hunter scored eight points for the Lady Warriors, while senior Jamesha Reeves and sophomore Ashlynn Fisher scored two points each.
The Lady Tigers were considerably more balanced.
Senior Sarah Heagy and junior Lindsay Baker scored 18 points each, while junior Jennifer Walker-Crawford added 12 and senior Lauren Burish chipped in with 10.
Walker-Crawford led the team in rebounds with eight, while Baker added seven assists and four steals to her stat line.
“One of the nice things about this team is we have 11 girls who can play,” said Harter. “They all come ready to play and ready to do what they have to do to help the team win. This was a good team win, and I couldn’t be prouder of their effort.”
Warsaw led 19-10 after one quarter of play, 33-21 at halftime and 52-33 at the end of the third quarter.
Already leading by 19 points heading into the final eight minutes, the Lady Tigers outscored Wawasee 15-5 in the fourth quarter.
“We quit competing,” said Zolman. “That’s all I can say, we quit competing. We compete until we’re uncomfortable, and then we quit competing.”
Warsaw’s pressure certainly made the Lady Warriors uncomfortable, as Wawasee was just 9 of 34 (27 percent) from the field overall and turned the ball over 24 times.
The Lady Tigers, on the other hand, were 26 of 53 (49 percent) from the field, though they did get sloppy at times and were guilty of 16 turnovers.
Warsaw will try and extend its winning streak Wednesday when it hosts Triton, while Wawasee will try to get back in the win column it takes on Norwell in the opening round of the Brebeuf Shootout on Dec. 30.
