Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
SYRACUSE - University of Notre Dame women's basketball coach Muffett McGraw went to the Wawasee/Lakeland girls basketball game Tuesday to see one player: Wawasee sophomore Shanna Zolman, she who came into tha game leading the state with 34.7 points per game.
What she saw was two players.
She saw a Zolman that was 5 of 11 from the field and 2 of 3 from the charity stripe in the first half, and didn't seem to be involved in the game. In the fourth quarter she saw a Zolman that scored 15 points in the frame and brought her team from a seven-point deficit to within one in a span of nearly 20 seconds.
The Warriors outscored Lakeland 31-21 in the second half but, after trailing 30-11 in the second quarter, their second half run was not enough and the Lakers escaped with a 54-53 victory.
The Lakers improved to 7-4 with the win, while the Warriors fall to 8-4.
Zolman led all scorers with 36 points. She also pulled down four rebounds, made five steals and was 11 of 12 from the charity stripe. Freshman Jessica Leach added six points for the Warriors in the loss. Dusty Krull and Meagan Wallen chipped in five points each.
Kim Mynhier and Nikki Fry scored 16 points each to lead Lakeland, who plays in the same sectional as Wawasee. Kelly Mynhier added 10 points and nine rebounds for the Lakers.
Krull made good on two free throws with 3:31 remaining in the opening quarter, cutting Lakeland's lead to 10-8, but by the end of the quarter the Warriors trailed 18-9. Lakeland opened the second stanza with a 12-2 run that pushed its advantage to 30-11, the biggest lead of the game.
"We get down in some situations and it comes down to execution," said Wawasee coach Kem Zolman. "We didn't execute exactyl like we wanted to. A lot of times the girls get in a phase where they think Shanna will bail us out. The shots weren't falling for her as well as they have been."
Shanna entered last night's contest shooting 63 percent from the field.
Zolman scored all nine of her second-quarter points in the final 2:10 of the frame, pulling the Warriors within 33-22 at the half.
Sparked by a Krull free throw at the 7:40 mark, and capped off by a Leach field goal with 5:14 remaining in the quarter, Wawasee opened the third quarter with a 9-0 run that cut the deficit to one.
"We saw some spurts where some others stepped up," said Kem Zolman. "We saw some inconsistency, but that's part of the game. I can't think of a situation we haven't been in. We've been in a blowout. We've been in a close one. We've been on the losing end of a close one. We're learning some valuable lessons."
A three-pointer from Fry at the 6:24 mark of the final frame gave Lakeland a 46-42 lead. Kim Mynhier made good on a field goal attempt with 2:00 remaining, and another at the 1:40 mark, to push Lakeland's advantage to 54-47.
But the Warriors had one last run in them.
Zolman knocked down a trey with 1:20 remaining, and another with 1:04 remaining, to cut the lead to one, 54-53.
Lakeland inbounded the ball with :2.3 seconds left, but the pass went awry, forcing the Laker receiver to catch the ball out of bounds. With the turnover Wawasee had one last chance with :1.4 on the clock, but the Warriors couldn't get a shot off.
The Warriors shot a dismal 6 of 19 (31.6 percent) from the field. They turned that into an 11-of-21 (52.4 percent) performance in the second half.
What caused the turnaround?
"We challenged the younger kids to step up," said Kem. "Shanna was not having the night that she's used to having. It was nothing magical. Shots started falling, we made some steals and put ourselves in position to win."
As for Shanna hitting the two three-pointers in a span of 20 seconds: "I didn't expect that spurt," said Kem. "Shanna hit two threes. I can't tell you what goes through the mind of an athlete in a situation like that. I wish I could, then I'd feed it to the others. She just knew we needed it."
Wawasee (8-4) will play at Northern Lakes Conference and county rival Warsaw Thursday.
"I don't view these two teams (Lakeland, Warsaw) as different," said Kem. "They're like carbon copies. They both have a lot of seniors, and they both play physical games. A lot of Warsaw kids saw tonight that we could shoot ugly. Our other girls stepped forward. When we have three others in double figures, we'll be a hard team to beat."
LAKELAND 54, WAWASEE 53
Lakeland (7-4) 18 15 10 11 - 54
Wawasee (8-4) 9 13 14 17 - 53
Lakeland FG FT R S Pts.
Ki. Mynhier (G) 7-11 2-2 6 3 16
Fry (F) 7-15 0-0 1 0 16
Yoder (C) 2-6 2-2 7 1 6
Rennhack (F) 3-4 0-6 2 0 6
Gregg (G) 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
E. Neff 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Pearson 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Ke. Mynhier 2-4 6-10 9 0 10
Calhoun 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Total 21-41 10-20 30 4 54
Wawasee FG FT R S Pts.
Zolman (F) 11-22 11-12 4 5 36
D. Krull (G) 1-4 3-4 0 1 5
Fawley (G) 0-2 1-4 1 0 1
Leach (F) 3-7 0-2 6 1 6
Wallen (F) 2-4 1-2 5 0 5
Pletcher 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Sawyer 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Hunziker 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Lamb 0-1 0-0 1 0 0
Totals 17-40 16-24 23 8 53
Three-pointers - Lakeland 2 (Fry 2), Wawasee 3 (Zolman 3). Turnovers - Lakeland 22, Wawasee 17. Fouls - Lakeland 18, Wawasee 13. Fouled out - none.
JV: Wawasee 47, Lakeland 32
