Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
South Whitley - Whitko's varsity girls basketball team hosted Three Rivers Conference rival Tippecanoe Valley Saturday night, with the Wildcats ending a six game losing streak to their rivals from Akron. coming from behind for a 43-33 win.
Whitko rallied to post a 43-33 win and improve its overall record to 5-5 and its conference mark to 2-1. Valley fell to 6-3 and 2-1.
"This is the kind of win this program needed," said first-year Whitko coach Rob Bell. "Anyone could see that our girls came out to play tonight. They played with such intensity and concentration and they did not panic. This is what we have been working towards."
Both the Vikings and Wildcats are one game out of the TRC lead, as Manchester and Rochester lead the league with a record of 3-0.
Both teams played with one of their scoring threats sitting on the bench Saturday night. Ashley Hoopingarner sat on the Whitko bench with a foot injury.
Valley's Chelsy Rhoades served her second game of a four-game suspension.
Valley used an 8-0 run early in the third quarter to take a 29-20 lead.
Whitko stopped the Valley scoring and ran off an 8-0 run of its own to close with in one at the end of the quarter.
Whitko came out in the start of the fourth and outscored Valley 5-0.
Valley coach Gary Teel called a timeout with 6:05 remaining.
The Wildcat defense held the Vikings to four points in the fourth quarter. Whitko scored 15 points in the frame to secure the win.
"We just couldn't get it done when we had to," said Teel. "Bottom line is you have to give coach Rob Bell and the Whitko players credit for the victory. They just outplayed us."
Jamie Westness of Whitko dominated the boards. She grabbed 17 rebounds and scored 14 points to lead the Wildcats. She also had two steals.
"We had players doing a lot of different things tonight," said Bell. "We had Jamie playing out at the point to get some things going. She did a great job."
Whitko held an 11-8 led at the end of the first quarter after Jenneca Juillerat converted a three point play.
Valley then out scored the Wildcates 11-7 in the second to go into the locker room with a one point lead at 19-18.
Stacie Hoffman led Valley 16 points. She shot 3 of 6 from the three-point line.
"We have to learn from these types of games," said Teel. "We have to determine what we did wrong and what we have to do to fix them."
Valley's leading scorer, Hannah Krueger, was held to 4-of-19 shooting. She ended the game with nine points. She still managed to get six rebounds and four steals.
"Hannah has been sick this week," said Teel. "You could see that she was getting frustrated. She is down in the locker room pulling herself together."
Juillerat scored 12 points for Whitko. Emily Bidwell came off the bench to score eight points and added six rebounds.
"I feel great about tonight's victory," said Bell. "This game I believe is our turning point for this program. The players see what playing on this level can do for them. This win is great for our senior, Jill Wendel."
Whitko's defense held Valley to 12-of-47 shooting for the night. The Vikings also out rebounded the Vikings 43-13.
"We will not have any time for practice before our next game. We play North Judson on Monday and come back on Wednesday to play another. We will be facing a tough opponent in North Judson. They are a 6-3 ball team."
"I am very proud of this team," said Bell. "We just played awesome out there tonight. This is what we have wanted for a long time."
Whitko, which equalled its win total from last year, plays at Triton Tuesday.
WHITKO 43, T. VALLEY 33
T. Valley 8 11 10 4 - 33
Whitko 11 7 10 15 - 43
T. Valley FG FT R S Pts.
*Newman 0-3 0-2 2 4 0
*Vogel 1-4 0-1 0 3 2
*Krueger 4-19 0-0 6 4 9
*Hoffman 5-14 3-5 4 1 16
*Sitts 2-5 2-2 0 4 6
Hoffer 0-2 0-0 3 1 0
Sparkman 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 12-47 5-10 13 17 33
Whitko FG FT R S Pts.
*VanHoozen 2-6 0-3 5 0 4
*Wendel 0-2 1-4 4 0 1
*Westness 5-11 3-3 17 2 14
*Jersey 2-8 0-0 7 1 4
*Juillerat 4-6 3-7 4 1 12
Bidwell 4-10 0-0 6 0 8
Totals 17-43 7-17 43 4 43
Three-point goals - T. Valley 4-20 (Hoffman 3-6, Newman 1-1, Krueger 1-10, Sitts, 0-1, Vogel 0-2), Whitko 2-5 (Westness 1-1, Juillerat 1-3, Wendel 0-1). Turnovers - T. Valley 12, Whitko 19. Fouls - T. Valley 12, Whitko 14. Fouled out - None.
JV - T. Valley 30, Whitko 19
