Wawasee’s Cassie Martinez (14) and Erin Wiktorowski surround West Noble’s Kelsie Peterson during Tuesday night’s 47-41 win by the Lady Warriors. (Photos by Nick Goralczyk)

SYRACUSE — The Hardwood Teepee was the site for the most recent establishment of Lady Warrior basketball Tuesday. The undefeated Wawasee girls hoops team welcomed in the Lady Chargers of West Noble and ground out a 47-41 victory in a game littered with fouls and turnovers.

The night started well for Wawasee as senior KiLee Knafel scored the game’s first six points which helped in giving the Lady Warriors an early double-digit lead. But the impressive pace at which Wawasee started did not stick around for long.

Following an exciting first quarter from both teams, the second quarter saw only eight combined points scored as well as nine combined fouls and 17 turnovers between the two squads. Going into the locker room, West Noble trailed Wawasee 24-19, but more telling was the stat the Lady Chargers led with, turnovers. The visiting team gave the ball up to the Lady Warriors an eye-popping 14 times during the first half but Wawasee was not far behind with 11 giveaways of its own.

Coming out of the locker room West Noble had to get something going so the team turned to its 6’2” senior, Haley Richardson. Richardson scored eight points in the third quarter as part of an 11-point Lady Charger scoring surge to bring the team within three heading to the final quarter, down only 33-30. Richardson, a 2013 recruit for Ball State University, finished with 17 points and nine rebounds.

Being in such a close game, one team had to have a player step up and make plays, fortunately for Wawasee coach Kem Zolman that player was his 5’3” sophomore guard Elizabeth Jackson. Going into the fourth quarter Jackson had only tallied four points and one steal. In the final eight minutes, Jackson gave her team a boost with seven points and two steals. She ignited a 14-point Wawasee scoring effort in the fourth quarter when she hit a three around the five minute mark and came back down to hit a mid-range jumper a few seconds later.

Wawasee’s Elizabeth Jackson had a big night, registering 11 points and three steals.

Jackson, who finished with 11 points and three steals, provided her team with the clutch performance they needed and the effort did not go unnoticed by her coach.

“I like how when we struggle someone different is usually stepping up each game and this time that was Elizabeth. She had been struggling up to this point and then all of the sudden, boom hit a three, hit a couple of twos and a couple of free throws,” Zolman stated.

A few telling stats and keys to victory for Wawasee were second half free throws and turnovers. Wawasee went 14-18 from the line in the final two quarters while West Noble was a dismal 5-13. Knafel also had a say in the matter, scoring 25 points and helped her cause by making nine of 11 free throws.

The Lady Chargers also ended up turning the ball over 23 times and committed 17 personal fouls. The turnovers, fouls and missed free throws were all to blame for West Noble’s poor showing according to head coach Dale Marano.

“We just needed to play basketball,” Marano said. “Honest to goodness, we were extremely disappointed in the way we played. We give them credit for making shots down the stretch but there is not one person in our locker room happy about how we played tonight. We weren’t close enough at all. Bottom line is, and I told the girls this, we did not play well enough to win this game tonight.”

Marano’s team falls to 3-3 and will look to rebound Saturday afternoon when it hosts Eastside.

Wawasee guard Cassie Martinez makes her way up court Tuesday night against West Noble.

Following his team’s most recent victory, Zolman gave his girls some much deserved credit for their toughness in a critical situation, “I’m real pleased with how the girls handle adversity. They bend but so far they have not broken. Every team you have develops an identity and right now these girls are showing that we bend but we aren’t really breaking. We are still very undisciplined in those situations, and that’s not their fault, it’s mine. But that is something we will be working on in practice.”

The Lady Warriors will have plenty of time to practice before their next game which is not until next Dec. 7. Wawasee (6-0) will be welcoming in their rivals the Lady Redskins of Goshen (4-1) for the first Northern Lakes Conference game of the season. Following Tuesday’s action, the NLC’s combined records for all eight teams is an astounding 34-4 on the 2012 season. The Lady Warriors and Goshen are set to tip-off at approximately at 6:15 p.m. with the JV game, varsity to follow.

The Lady Chargers fared much better in junior varsity play as they ousted the Lady Warriors JV squad 35-25. Wawasee sophomore Natalie Jones led all scorers with 12 points.