Wawasee defenders Lexy Blunk, left, and KiLee Knafel pressure Columbia City’s Megan Deutsch during Tuesday night’s game. (Photos by Nick Goralczyk)

SYRACUSE — Fans in attendance at the Hardwood Tee Pee Tuesday night paid for a full seat, but only needed the edge of it after a thrilling game between Columbia City and Wawasee.

Lady Eagle sophomore Aubrey Wright would play the role of heroine for the visitors after hitting the go-ahead free-throw with 10.9 seconds remaining in the game. The charity toss allowed Columbia City to escape with a 47-46 win for its third straight victory overall and fourth straight over Wawasee.

After scoring 13 points in the first half, Wright looked completely lost in the second half. The sophomore did not hit a single shot from the field after halftime and was 0-4 from the charity stripe before the final seconds of the game. Wright had missed two consecutive one-and-one chances with her team clinging to a 45-44 lead late in Tuesday’s game. The second of Wright’s misses led to a foul on Wawasee’s KiLee Knafel.

Knafel sank two free-throws with just 17 seconds remaining in the game to put the Lady Warriors up 46-45. On the ensuing possession for the Lady Eagles, Wright was fouled by Wawasee’s Alexis Blunk. Wright would make both attempts to give her team the lead.

Following the suspenseful game, a very excited Lady Eagles coach Amy Shearer talked briefly about her sophomore’s clutch shots.

“She is our best free-throw shooter, percentage wise, I mean top notch,” Shearer said. “For her to miss those two one-and-one’s right in a row killed me. The game should not have gotten that close, but when Aubrey had to step and knock them down, she knocked them down.”

Wright would finish the night going 4-8 from the line and leading all Lady Eagle scorers with 15 points.

After a timeout by Wawasee, the inbound was given to Knafel who missed a potential game-winning shot with two seconds left. Columbia City’s Emily Whiteleather grabbed the rebound and Wawasee failed to foul the 6’2” junior before time expired. Whiteleather led all players with an impressive 16 boards.

Wawasee’s Ashlynn FIsher passes around City’s Britney Renninger.

The night started with momentum clearly on the visitors side. Columbia City carried momentum over from a great shooting performance in the first quarter into the second but started to lose some energy towards the end of the half. Wawasee would cut the lead by two, going into the locker room down only 30-22.

The third quarter is where Wawasee made things interesting. The home team outscored its opponent 14-9 in the third frame thanks to a pair of three balls from freshman Erin Wiktorowski and senior captain Cassie Martinez. Knafel provided six points of her own off of three steals. The ladies ended the quarter on a 10-3 run.

Lady Warrior head coach Kem Zolman attributed the second half improvement to his girls simply playing harder than they did in the first half. The coach also focused heavily on the fact that his team needs to put together a full game in order to start winning.

“Columbia City played hard, they played hard. I’m not sure we played hard for the whole four quarters,” Zolman stated.

Wawasee would continue its hard play into the fourth quarter and outscore the Lady Eagles 10-8 in the final frame. The effort, however, was just too little too late for Wawasee as the teams drops its seventh straight loss after opening the season at 6-0.

Zolman would talk more after the game on how the team needs to improves, placing some of the blame on himself for the recent performance from the Lady Warriors.

“By this time you would think we would be able to execute some things, and we just are not able to execute. That falls on directly on my shoulders, that’s my fault if we cannot get the kids to execute what they are supposed to execute,” the coach stated.

With tonight’s final in the non-conference match-up, Columbia City improves to 5-12 on the season while Wawasee falls to 6-7 and still remains at 0-3 in conference play. This is a crucial time of year for all Northern Lakes Conference teams as the bulk of the NLC schedule is still upcoming.

When asked about his team’s upcoming game against NLC powerhouse Elkhart Memorial on Saturday, Zolman made it clear the only thing that mattered in preparation for the game was how his team prepared, “At this point, every team is a tough team for us. If we walk onto that court and forget everything we have been taught and coached, then it doesn’t matter what Memorial does.”

Tip-off for the Lady Chargers and Lady Warriors is set for approximately 2:30 p.m. at Wawasee High School.

In junior varsity action, the Lady Eagles prevailed with a 21-16 victory over the Wawasee JV. Lady Warrior freshman Allissa Flores led all scorers with six points.

The Columbia City bench celebrates after beating Wawasee by one point Tuesday night.