SOUTH WHITLEY — The Whitko girls basketball team overcame some early foul trouble to open its season with a 54-27 win over visiting Central Noble Tuesday night. Inserting some girls into new roles this season, the Whitko Lady Wildcats (1-0) got off to a slow start, but gradually worked up enough momentum to hand the Central Noble Lady Cougars (0-1) their 28th-straight loss. In the season opener, junior Bailee Juillerat led the Lady Wildcats with 11 points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots. “In the first half, we did a nice job of communicating, defensively,” Whitko coach Brandon Bradley said. “We rotated fairly well, but we got into some severe foul trouble. I had to play a lot more young kids sooner than I thought.” The most experience on the Whitko team is in senior point guard Cagney Craig and junior center Jordan Hall, but each picked up two first-quarter fouls. Craig was able to play through some of her foul trouble, but Hall was limited to just six minutes on the floor. Despite her lack of minutes, Hall’s production was there, as she scored 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting, while also getting five rebounds. But moving on, she’ll need to use her fouls more wisely. “When she plays against true post players, she’s typically more effective on defense,” Bradley said of Hall. “When she plays against smaller players and has to get low and defend the bounce, I think she gets caught thinking she’s as quick as a guard and recovers with her arms instead of her legs.” Craig is as quick as any guard, but too found herself getting in early foul trouble. However, unlike Hall, she played through the second quarter without getting another foul, and played most of the game. Running the show, the four-year varsity player had nine points, five assists and three steals to go with her two rebounds. “She did a great job tonight of just taking care of the basketball, running the offense, getting the ball where it needed to go,” Bradley said of Craig. “Not really vocally, but in her style of play, she’s taken a leadership role. “Everything runs through her,” he added. “We’ll go as she goes. She did a tremendous job tonight of playing big minutes, crucial minutes and really taking care of the basketball.” Junior starter Kelly Reiff also picked up two first-quarter fouls and the entire Whitko squad had nine in the opening quarter. With fouls racking up, Bradley inserted each of his players by the half, and he was pleased with how they performed. “Our bench, in the minutes that they did play, took care of the ball,” he said. “They didn’t try to force anything. They defended hard. They weren’t always in the right position, but at least they defended hard. I’ve told them, their role is just to take care of the basketball and defend.” Against a team that shot 8 of 42 from the field, missing its first 12, Whitko was able to rely on hustle. However, when the Lady Wildcats travel to Columbia City Friday night, things may be tougher in the Whitley County rivalry game. “Tonight was encouraging with our young kids, but Friday’s a whole new beast,” Bradley said. “Big rivalry game. There’ll be about 2,000, 3,000 people there. I don’t know how they’ll respond in that environment. It’s just something we’ll need to figure out.”
