AKRON - Wawasee's varsity girls basketball team seems to have adopted Muhammad Ali's rope-a-dope technique of playing possum before going in for the kill.
During Tuesday's 46-39 win at Tippecanoe Valley (8-9), Wawasee (10-7) scored 21 of its 46 points in the final quarter, overcoming a seven-point deficit.In a 40-37 win at Plymouth Saturday, the Lady Warriors used a similar strategy, scoring 26 of its 40 points in the fourth quarter.
Scoring most of their points in the fourth quarter has been a trend all season for the Lady Warriors, who have averaged 8.7 points in the first quarter, 8.3 in the second, 9.3 in the third and 10.5 in the fourth.
"Our plan is to lull them to sleep for three quarters, and then they think they've got us," Wawasee coach Kem Zolman joked. "Then, all of a sudden, we decide to play."
In reality, what Wawasee has really needed is a player to step up to calm things down.
Against the Lady Vikings Tuesday, that was freshman KiLee Knafel.
After Valley took its biggest lead of the game at 32-25 to end the third quarter, Knafel opened the fourth quarter by hitting back-to-back three-pointers, cutting the lead to 32-31 with 6:18 to play.
However, on Valley's ensuing possession, Knafel attempted to record a steal by diving on the ground, but ended up drawing her fifth foul.
With Knafel out, Wawasee lost the player who had scored 18 of its 31 points.
"We just weren't keeping up with the foul situation," Zolman said. "That's a coaching error. That's my fault. In the huddle, we need to take her out and start playing smart with her. But, on the other hand, she's going to have to learn to play with four fouls. As a young player, what is an aggressive play diving for a ball, isn't necessarily the thing to do. But that's all learning the game at the varsity level."
Following the foul out, Wawasee senior Kaytie Woodard stepped up by hitting back-to-back treys, resulting in four-straight made three-pointers by the Warriors and a 37-34 lead.
"All they need is for someone to step up and hit a couple threes, or hit a couple shots period," Zolman said. "Then that kind of relaxes them, and they get a feel."
Wawasee junior Katie Allen hit another bucket with 3:45 to play, running the Lady Warriors' scoring spurt to 14-2 and their lead to 39-34.
'You have to give them credit for pulling through," Zolman said. "They could have tanked it."
The four-straight three-point makes drained Valley, but missed free throws didn't help either.
Entering the fourth quarter in the bonus, the Lady Vikings made three trips to the charity-stripe for one-and-ones, but missed the first attempt each time.
"Not being able to convert those one-and-ones is really a big thing," Valley coach Gary Teel said. "Normally, the kids do a great job of shooting free throws as a team."
Valley ended the game hitting just 11 of 19 free throws, and lost out on shooting more by missing the first of one-and-ones on four different occasions over the course of the game.
"I think our kids played great defense," Teel said. "We were out on the shooters in the first three quarters and we covered up the middle. We got a lot of turnovers, stealing the ball. I just want to give my kids credit for playing outstanding defense against a very good basketball team."
The leader of the Lady Vikings' defense was senior Hannah Boggs, who posted six steals.
"She's hustling after the ball," Teel said of Boggs. "She's diving after the ball."
In the win, Knafel led Wawasee with 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting, followed by 10 from Woodard and another nine out of junior Jonna Wiggs, who hit 6 of 6 free throws in the final quarter. Junior Amy Walker led the Warriors with seven rebounds.
For Valley, sophomore Staci Groom, senior Kate Myers and sophomore Tory Keirn each scored 10 points, while junior Becky Minnick hauled in six rebounds.
The win is Wawasee's third straight after a span of losing five of six, so Zolman is hoping a corner's been turned.
"They should be building some confidence, because they're doing enough things right at the right times to get through it," Zolman said. "We're finishing games with free throws. We're doing the things we need to do at the end.
"They've got to learn to put four quarters together," he added. "This is one of those games where a lot of them are very, very disappointed. We pulled it out and won, but they're very disappointed."
Wawasee is back on the road Saturday at Concord, while Valley looks to rebound at Manchester Saturday night.
