SOUTH WHITLEY - With both teams struggling this season, the Wawasee Lady Warriors just made fewer mistakes in a 60-57 overtime win at Whitko in girls basketball action Tuesday.
After blowing a 10-point fourth quarter lead, Wawasee (8-7) staved off Whitko (6-12) in overtime by not committing a turnover, while the host Lady Wildcats turned it over three times."We get to that hump, but can't take it over the top," Whitko coach Rob Bell said. "When you do that because you make mistakes or take quick shots, that's not being comfortable in the situation."
A Whitko team with two sophomores and a freshman in its starting lineup committed 24 turnovers, while a slightly more experienced Wawasee team had 25 of its own.
"We don't value the ball," Wawasee coach Kem Zolman said. "I thought the girls did a really nice job of getting us up 48-38. There were some really nice things. We rebounded very well during that part of the game. Then, that was it. Then, it was like we didn't value the ball anymore."
Wawasee appeared to have gained control of the game by the time the fourth quarter rolled around, but seven turnovers in the final eight minutes helped Whitko crawl back into it.
"We're in the 15th game of the season," Zolman said. "You'd think by now we outta do something about that."
The win comes on the heels of Wawasee's 68-31 loss at Elkhart Memorial Saturday, the team's biggest loss since falling 85-41 against South Bend Washington on Dec. 3, 2005.
"Saturday, we just laid down and died," Zolman said. "Memorial's a very good team. You can't just lay down and die.
"If we just compete as hard as we can and lose by 15 or 20 points, I can handle that," he added. "I can't handle not competing."
And even after letting a 10-point lead get away, Zolman was pleased to see his girls fight back to get the non-conference win over Whitko, Wawasee's eighth-straight over the Wildcats.
"I am proud of them for hanging in the there," he said. "It just took us four more minutes to do what we needed to do."
In the win, freshman KiLee Knafel, who's coming off a foot injury, shined by scoring 24 points to go with seven rebounds, five assists and two steals.
"She just has a good court sense," Zolman said. "She has an offensive mind. We've had lots of freshmen come through here and get 20-some points. That's OK, because we needed that, obviously, and that's a big plus for us. But, I want her to get away from what else is happening, like when everyone else is turning the ball over."
Along with Knafel's points, Wawasee also received 15 from junior Jonna Wiggs, who was open for a lot more shots than Bell would have liked.
"We had it on our board in the locker room," Bell said about his pregame message to his girls. "We said (Knafel and Wiggs) are their kids that are going to shoot it. Sometimes, we play so hard and so fast that we don't get it covered up. We don't recognize they're out there."
Whitko was led by sophomore Karissa Olinske's 20 points, but 5-foot-3 freshman Cagney Craig also supplied a spark by scoring 10 points, getting five steals and hauling in four rebounds.
"Cagney's been coming on nicely here at the end," Bell said. "She's playing hard and she's playing well."
Both teams return to their respective conferences Saturday, when Wawasee hosts Plymouth at 6:15 p.m. and Whitko welcomes in Northfield for a noon game.
