Elizabeth Jackson sinks her first shot from behind the arc on Wednesday night. (Photos by Nick Goralczyk)

NAPPANEE –  On Wednesday night NorthWood and Wawasee faced off on the sectional stage for the eleventh time since 2001. The Wawasee Lady Warriors basketball team rolled into The Panther Pit with hopes of upsetting its No. 11 ranked rival, but as the game wore on, it was clear that the evening would belong to NorthWood. The Lady Panthers won a decisive game over Wawasee, 68-38 in the quarterfinals of the Class 3A NorthWood Sectional.

NorthWood was the overwhelming favorite entering the game, but Wawasee was not going to roll over and the upset-minded Lady Warriors made that clear in the game’s opening half.

“I thought that was the best half we played all year,” said Wawasee head coach Kem Zolman. “With the exception of that last 30-seconds, I thought we played a whale of a half. The girls executed, they hit shots, they played defense. What can I ask for from freshmen and sophomores? Tonight wasn’t as much about execution as it was turnovers and what NorthWood did with them.”

The Lady Panthers scored 17 of their 33 first half points off Wawasee turnovers. For the game NorthWood would create 30 points from Lady Warrior mistakes. The mistakes erased an otherwise strong start from Wawasee.

Wawasee shot over 50-percent in the first quarter, hitting two threes and found itself trailing just 13-11 at the end of one. The first quarter success was due in large part to Kylee Rostochak. The sophomore guard scored the first eight points of the game for Wawasee to her team hanging with NorthWood.

Erin Wiktorowski hits one of her two three-pointers on the night for Wawasee. Wiktorowski also led all players with six assists.

The last 30-seconds of the first half were killer for Wawasee. A five-point deficit ballooned to 11 in the final minutes of the half, four of those points coming off Wawasee turnovers in the final 30-seconds. Wawasee trailed 33-22 at half.

NorthWood never looked back and Wawasee never got the game that close again. The Lady Warriors were 12-16 from the free throw line, but scored just two field goals in the entire second half, both coming from Rostochak. Wawasee struggled to match the size and effectiveness of NorthWood center, Morgan Olson who led her team with 20 points.

Rostochak, who finished leading all scorers with 21 points, was upset following the loss but knows this loss will go a long way in helping the team grow for next season.

“I think it’s big for us that we have everyone coming back next year,” said Rostochak. “We all know what we have to do. We ended this last game well. We know we can play with them (NorthWood), we did it the entire first half. We know we will be alright next season.”

As for Zolman, he knows his team faced adversity but still managed to grow throughout the season, and that really showed in the past five days.

“I really thought we grew from our game against Northridge last Friday to our game on Saturday against Plymouth,” stated Zolman. “Then to see us grow from Saturday night into this game, we can really catapult our offseason. We challenged the girls, as teammates, to hold each other accountable to put in the effort this offseason. We’re young, we’ve got a lot of work to do.”

Wawasee ends the season at 2-17. NorthWood improves to 17-5 and will play Tippecanoe Valley at approximately 7:30 p.m. on Friday night with a trip to the sectional final on the line.

Kylee Rostochak had an outstanding night for Wawasee. The sophomore product scored a game-high 21 points and led her team with five rebounds.