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SOUTH WHITLEY -ÊThe first basketball game after Christmas Break is always a story teller.
Thursday night's game between Whitko and Wawasee told two very different stories.
The Wildcats learned how much their effort over the past few weeks has paid off.
The Warriors learned they still have some work to do in the 54-37 loss to Whitko.
"We went for one or two weeks where we thought we were there," said Wawasee coach Phil Mishler. "I think we forgot what it takes to make the shots fall. "
And Mishler was not kidding. Wawasee shot a dismal 13 of 44, including a 1-for-15 performance from behind the three-point arc.
"Tonight we could not get the shots to fall," said Mishler. "But you're gonna have nights that the shots don't fall. That's when the defense needs to step up and create scoring for the offense."
On the other hand, Whitko was selective in its shooting, going 20 of 31 from the field with a 2-of-4 performance from the three-point line.
Wawasee jumped out to a 4-0 lead early in the first quarter but Whitko used ball control and strong shooting to turn things around.
In the final 4:56 of the first frame, Whitko went on an 8-0 run behind scoring from John Woods, Brad Walpole and Ben Garber and took an 11-6 lead into the second quarter.
The Warriors and Wildcats traded baskets through the second quarter, and Whitko held a six-point 20-14 lead at the half.
Whitko opened the second half with a 6-0 run, building a 26-14 advantage with 5:49 left in the third quarter. By the end of the quarter, Whitko's lead stood at 13, 33-20.
Wawasee's Clint Custer opened the fourth quarter by sinking two free throws and slicing the gap to 11 points, 33-22.
However, that was as close as the Warriors got to the Wildcats for the rest of the game. The Wildcats outscored Wawasee 21-17 in the quarter to get the 54-37 win.
"I'm really proud of our effort tonight," said WHitko coach Don Zawlocki. "When you hold a team like Wawasee to 37 points, you've done a nice job. I'll be honest, they did not shoot well, but we took care of the ball offensively and took good shots. Defensively, we held them to just one shot."
Walpole led the Wildcats with 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting, including 2 of 3 from three-point range. He also grabbed five steals for the Whitko squad.
Woods also scored in double figures for the Wildcats, netting 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting. He was also the team's leading rebounder, pulling down seven caroms.
Custer was the lone Warrior in double figures. Seventeen was Custer's magic number as he scored 17 points and pulled down 17 rebounds for the Warriors.
The win improves Whitko's record to 3-5 overall and 1-0 in the Three Rivers Conference. The Wildcats continue their TRC season in Rochester Saturday.
The loss puts Wawasee's record at 4-5 overall and 0-1 in the Northern Lakes Conference. The Warriors continue the NLC season Saturday when they take on the NorthWood Panthers.
WHITKO 54, WAWASEE 37
Wawasee 6 8 6 17 - 37
Whitko 11 9 13 21 - 54
Wawasee FG FT R S Pts.
*Ko. Lantz 0-5 2-2 1 2 2
*Conrad 2-7 2-2 2 1 7
*Ky. Lantz 2-7 0-3 2 1 4
*Custer 6-14 5-6 17 1 17
*Knisely 2-4 1-1 3 0 5
Stichter 1-4 0-0 1 2 2
Trobaugh 0-3 0-0 0 1 0
Schrader 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 13-44 10-14 26 8 37
Whitko FG FT R S Pts.
*Walter 2-3 2-4 0 1 6
*Day 0-2 0-0 0 1 0
*Robbins 3-4 5-6 1 1 9
*Walpole 6-8 3-6 2 5 17
*Woods 5-7 2-4 7 0 12
Lopshire 1-2 2-2 2 1 4
Garber 3-5 0-1 2 0 6
Spangle 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Peters 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Shepherd 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Coble 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Bowers 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 20-31 14-23 14 9 54
Three-point goals -ÊWawasee 1-15 (Ko. Lantz 0-2, Conrad 1-4, Ky. Lantz 0-2, Knisely 0-2, Stichter 0-2, Trobaugh 0-3), Whitko 2-4 (Walpole 2-3, Lopshire 0-1). Fouls -ÊWawasee 21, Whitko 17. Fouled out -ÊKnisely, Stichter.
JV -ÊWAWASEE 40, WHITKO 37
Wawasee scoring -ÊMock 7, Schrader 9, Stutzman 1, Lamb 6, Trobaugh 11, Kauchak 6
Whitko scoring -ÊPeters 11, Woods 1, Bowers 2, Spangle 2, Shepherd 8, Hobbs 10, Lopshire 3
Tiger Girls Slip By Fort Wayne Snider
By Dale Hubler, Times-Union Sports Writer
The middle two chapters weren't well written, but the beginning and end were enough binding for Warsaw's varsity girls basketball team to script a 54-51 win over visiting Fort Wayne Snider Thursday.
Senior Janna Knisely scored 10 of her 12 points in the first quarter to lift the host Tigers to a 21-9 lead, while sophomore Jaclyn Leininger scored 11 of her team-high 20 points in the fourth quarter when the game was on the line.
"Janna's capable of doing that," Wienhorst said. "She's been in foul trouble a lot but she wasn't tonight. Jaclyn, offensively, was a step behind for 2 1/2 quarters. She came back strong later on in the game. I think that's a good sign for a sophomore to overcome that."
The three-point win pushes Warsaw's record to 11-3 on the season.
While the final score indicates a close game, the host Tigers appeared to have Snider put away.
After leading by 12 at the end of the first quarter, Warsaw took a 29-15 lead late in the second when Knisely got her own rebound and put it back in. Snider cut the deficit to single digits to start the third quarter, but senior Ashley Wyatt came right back and gave the Tigers a double-digit lead again.
But like a runner catching its second wind, Snider stormed back, outscoring Warsaw 14-5 in the final 6:45 of the third to cut the lead to 36-34.
"We should have buried them in the second quarter when we had them down 21-9 but we didn't," Wienhorst said.
The teams traded baskets for the first two minutes of the fourth quarter, with the Tigers holding a 40-38 advantage, but with the hot hand of Leininger Warsaw jumped out to a 47-40 lead with 4:14 left to play.
Not to be outdone, 5-foot-8 junior Molly Hayden caught the hot hand and brought the Panthers back. Her three-pointer at the 3:31 mark cut the lead to 49-45. Another trey with just under three minutes to play made it a three-point game, 51-48.
A pair of key free throws by Leininger pushed Warsaw's lead to six, 54-48, but Hayden hit another three-pointer to bring Snider within three again.
"Molly just caught fire," Wienhorst said of Hayden. "That's two games in a row where we've had someone catch fire on us like that. This time we came through though."
In Saturday's 63-60 overtime loss to Perry Meridian, 5-3 sophomore Tanisha Duerson went 4 of 4 from the arc against the Tigers.
Molly Hayden was 3 of 4 from the arc from the arc and 9 of 11 overall for the Panthers, scoring a game-high 21 points. Frontliner Megan Mattson finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds, while Amy Hayden chipped in with nine points and five boards.
To with Leininger's 20 and Knisely's 12, Warsaw got nine from Wyatt and eight from DeGeeter. Senior Hillary O'Connell, who Saturday hit the 1000-point mark, scored just five points on a dismal 2-of-10 shooting performance.
The Tigers will be in action again Saturday when they host Northern Lakes Conference opponent Northridge.
WARSAW 54, FW SNIDER 51
Snider 9 9 16 17 - 51
Warsaw 21 8 7 18 - 54
Snider FG FT R S Pts.
Stucky (G) 0-1 0-0 2 0 0
A. Hayden (G) 4-10 1-2 5 0 9
M. Hayden (F) 9-11 0-0 2 1 21
Every (C) 2-4 0-0 4 0 4
Mattson (F) 5-10 1-3 11 0 11
Jones 1-2 0-0 0 0 2
Florent 2-5 0-0 3 1 4
Kennedy 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Team 0-0 0-0 5 0 0
Totals 23-44 2-5 32 2 51
Warsaw FG FT R S Pts.
Wyatt (G) 4-10 0-1 1 1 9
O'Connell (G) 2-10 1-3 5 6 5
Leininger (F) 6-8 7-11 6 1 20
DeGeeter (C) 4-6 0-1 1 1 8
Knisely (F) 5-11 2-4 5 2 12
DeRenzo 0-2 0-0 3 1 0
Franklin 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
McGriff 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Chabot 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Team 0-0 0-0 4 0 0
Totals 21-48 10-20 25 12 54
Three-point goals - Snider 3-10 (M. Hayden 3-5, A. Hayden 0-5), Warsaw 2-8 (Wyatt 1-1, Leininger 1-1, O'Connell 0-2, Franklin 0-1, Knisely 0-3). Turnovers - Snider 20, Warsaw 10. Fouls - Snider 19, Warsaw 9. Fouled out - none.
JV - Warsaw 49, Fort Wayne Snider 25
Warsaw scoring - Mallory Hepler 19, Rebekah Reichard 14, Rachel Braddock 7, Kara Mayer 4, Tracy Stump 4, Karen Sand 1
