Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
SYRACUSE -ÊHad television commentator Dick Vitale watched Tuesday's girls basketball game between Wawasee and West Noble, he would have shrieked two words, guaranteed: Diaper Dandy.
Shanna Zolman is a 5-foot-9 freshman who starts at point guard for Wawasee. In the fifth game of her varsity career, she recorded a triple-double to lead the Warriors to a 71-59 win.
Zolman finished with 39 points, 14 steals and 11 rebounds. She fell just short of a quadruple double, finishing with seven assists. She also blocked five shots. Wawasee does not keep records of triple-doubles, but Zolman would have been the first to record a quadruple-double.
When someone said those are three-game stats for some girls, Wawasee assistant coach Dale Brannock said, "And for a lot of girls, it would be more than three games."
She is averaging 31.2 points per game, and her 39 points set a school record for most points in one game. The previous record was 36 scored by Yen Tran against Northridge in the 1993-94 season.
Zolman's points came on 17-of-31 shooting (55 percent) from the field. At least seven times she went coast-to-coast on plays, grabbing a defensive rebound or nabbing a steal at one end of the court and turning them into layups.
And, oh yeah, she was sick. She couldn't comment on her performance because she went home soon after the game finished.
"I knew she stepped up tonight," Wawasee coach Kem Zolman said. "She was sick. She had a real bad sore throat."
Kem Zolman would know. Shanna Zolman is his daughter.
"We tried three different things on her defensively," West Noble coach Becky Younce said. "None of them worked. She's a phenomenal freshman, that's for sure. Any game played against Wawasee, she will be the bottom line."
The Warriors, now 4-1, weren't facing a hapless, helpless team in West Noble. The Chargers sported a 3-0 record before Wawasee handed them their first loss. Two West Noble players, Jessica Ramey and Stacey Byers, were averaging more than 20 points per game.
West Noble tried double-teams, a box-and-one and a 1-2-2 zone. None worked.
"It's no secret," Kem Zolman said. "Shanna is the heart and soul of our team. She makes us go, no question. That's not arrogance. I'll give anybody our game film and they can see that.
"Already this season we have seen a box-and-one, a double-team, a triangle-and-two and a 1-2-2. I told our girls tonight not too many boys programs have seen that many defenses."
The Warriors beat undefeated team by 12 despite playing the game shorthanded. Six-foot senior starting center Michelle Lamb missed the game because she's attending the 4-H conference in Atlanta.
Zolman's performance overshadowed Byers, who finished with 27 points and seven rebounds. Byers came in averaging 22 points per game. Ramey, who was leading the Chargers with 23 points per game, scored 15.
Just how much of an impact does Zolman have on a game? When Kem Zolman rested her the final two minutes of the third quarter, Wawasee led 53-37. When she returned at the start of the fourth quarter, West Noble had trimmed the lead to 53-43. Within two minutes, the lead was up to 14 at 59-45.
A freshman records a triple-double in her fifth game as a varsity player. Kem Zolman was asked afterward if Shanna ever amazes him.
"I've lived with her all my life," he said. "That's all I know Shanna can do."
