SYRACUSE – Whitko used a big third quarter to pull away from West Noble in a 56-39 win in the second game of Class 3A Sectional 21 at Wawasee High School Wednesday night. Afte trailing 22-20 at halftime, the Lady Wildcats made 7 of 11 shots from the field and 5 of 6 free throws in the third quarter, while holding West Noble to a pair of treys in the first two minutes of the period. Aly Reiff hit all four of her shots from the field, including a trey, and a pair of free throws for 13 of her game-high 27 points. Brianna Cumberland had a pair of traditional three-point plays and a trey for nine points in the stanza. Reiff added seven more points in the fourth quarter to keep the Lady Chargers at bay. Whitko head coach Brandon Bradley said while he wasn’t surprised at all by his team’s run, the timing of it was something new for the Lady Wildcats. “I know this sounds biased, but we have that offensive firepower when everybody does what they’re capable of doing. We can score and we can defend whenever we want to. The problem is we can’t just assume it’s going to happen,” Bradley said. “We have to be the aggressor at both ends of the floor, and that was the change. We started attacking them, and that’s the first time this year for a stretch of minutes where we’ve been on the attack with a lead. There have been times when we’ve been down and been on the attack, but that’s the first time we’ve had a lead and been on the attack.” The key, according to Bradley, is to play within the confines of each player’s ability. He said there have been times this season the Lady Wildcats have attempted to play outside their talent levels, and that changed Wednesday night. “We had some slips (Wednesday) but I think we played within ourselves. Emily Day, Jennifer Reiff and Maddie Gawthrop came up with some big rebounds,” he said. “They generally give up some size regardless of who we play, so that’s going to be a struggle for us. Reagan Craig didn’t do much statistically, but she didn’t turn the ball over, she defended, she was a vocal leader, she did a lot of good things out there.” The victory may have come at a price. While dribbling out the clock, Cumberland made a cut and went down with a knee injury with four seconds left. She was carried off the floor in obvious pain. Bradley said her status for Friday’s game wouldn’t be known until closer to tipoff. Whitko, 15-8, advanced to Friday’s second semifinal game against the host Wawasee Lady Warriors at about 7:30 p.m.
