SOUTH WHITLEY - The Whitko High School girls basketball team seemed to have a renewed joy for the game in the second half of its season opener Tuesday.
Trailing 17-16 at the half, the host Whitko Lady Wildcats (1-0) were a different team in the third quarter, using a 28-0 run to defeat the Central Noble Lady Cougars 55-25."They just settled down," Whitko coach Rob Bell said. "The first half was a lot pent-up emotion, a lot of ready-to-go. These kids know they have a lot of talent, they worked hard and they were ready to show how hard they worked."
Wound too tightly, Whitko missed its first 11 shots until senior Rachelle Kessie was fouled and scored on a putback in the early stages of the second half.
"Everybody's waiting for that first shot to go in," Bell said. "Everytime we missed one, the next shot just added a little more pressure."
Kessie's bucket loosened things up, but it didn't help her team get the lead, as the Lady Wildcats trailed the rest of the half.
"We were able to come in at halftime and catch our breath a little bit," Bell said. "Our defensive pressure picked up and we got a few more turnovers, which I think rattled (Central Noble). We were able to take off from there."
Applying defensive pressure, Whitko posted 22 steals in the game and a forced a total of 32 Central Noble (0-1) turnovers.
"We want to build this program around defense and that's been the focus," Bell said. "The kids have bought that, and you saw that. The kids were flying around. It is a gambling defense and when you gamble like that, you're going to give up some stuff. But to give up just 13 shots, that's pretty good."
Shooting just 13 times in the second half, the Lady Cougars connected on just three of them, getting outscored 39-8 in the final 16 minutes of the game.
On top of getting the offense out of an early rut, Kessie also dominated on the boards, hauling in a game-high 13 rebounds to go with her 13 points on 4-of-7 shooting.
"That was without our kids looking inside and getting it to her," Bell said of Kessie, who also had five steals. "We tried to run through there a couple times. She can control the middle and runs the floor well. If we can get her going, then work the inside-outside game."
Junior Karissa Olinske's outside game was struggling in the first half, as she hit just one of her eight shots. She did end up matching Kessie's game-high 13 points on the night, and also had seven steals.
"They never put their heads down, never thought they were out of it when we couldn't get anything to fall," Bell said. "That's what we needed."
The Lady Wildcats travel to Columbia City for a much tougher test Friday.
"That's a huge rivalry game," Bell said. "In that game, you can take everything and throw it out the window."
