Wawasee’s Allissa Flores looks to find room to dribble around Northridge’s Ellie Lengacher Friday night. (Photos by Mike Deak)

MIDDLEBURY – She was the only senior in the gym, and Taylor Miller had the floor for the Northridge Raiders. The slick shooting guard drilled a pair of huge threes to help lift Northridge to a 42-30 girls basketball win against Wawasee Friday night in the Northern Lakes Conference finale for both clubs.

Miller made her final game on Northridge soil count, scoring 16 points to lead the Raiders to its 17th win of the season. A three to end the third quarter put Miller’s team up 33-20, and just as Wawasee looked to be creeping back into the game in the fourth, Miller nailed her fourth triple of the night to put her squad back up 15.

Wawasee’s Kylee Rostochak led all scorers with 24 points.

“Taylor has hit some big-time shots in her career and has been playing some great basketball this past month,” said Northridge head coach Doug Springer, noting Miller is 29 points away from the Northridge scoring record. “I don’t have a lot of words to say what Taylor has meant to me and this program. Her teammates love her, the little kids look up to her. It’s a testament to who she is as a person.”

Kelly Miller added 10 points for the Raiders.

Northridge only held a 19-14 lead at halftime, but used a 5-0 run immediately into the third quarter to put some separation between the two teams. The Raiders also managed to hold Wawasee to just two players recording a point. Aubrey Schmeltz had six points and Kylee Rostochak scored a game-high 24 points for Wawasee.

Rostochak was on fire out of the gate, scoring 12 points in the first quarter from all angles, but didn’t record another point until the Lady Warriors fell behind by nine in the third quarter.

“I thought our effort was there tonight,” stated Wawasee head coach Kem Zolman. “I think a showing like this gives us much more momentum going into the tournament than we have had in recent years after this game. I think we go into the sectional with huge momentum not with perfect play, but with perfect effort.”

Elizabeth Jackson passes around Northridge’s Kelsey Brickner.

Wawasee (6-16) heads into its Class 3-A Wawasee Sectional with a Wednesday matchup with Lakeland (9-13). The Lakers have lost eight of its last 11 games, and with the way Wawasee has played of late, including two wins in the last seven days, Zolman is confident his team will represent well as the sectional host.

“Our defense, it starts there,” Zolman said of the Lakeland matchup. “It’s on us. Lakeland didn’t make a transformation from the first time we saw them, but they have a better record than us, so they are figuring something out. Our defense has to recognize what they are doing and take it away. That will be the deciding factor in the game.”

Northridge wraps up its regular season 17-7 and will face Warsaw (12-10) in the Class 4-A Goshen Sectional Tuesday night. Springer was pleased with some of the prep his club executed against Wawasee, but expects a much more physical matchup against the Tigers.

“Warsaw is going to play very physical basketball inside, and really make us work,” Springer said. “It’s going to come down to rebounding. We got outrebounded by Wawasee tonight, who is much smaller than Warsaw. Whichever team outrebounds the other will likely win the game Tuesday.”

The junior varsity game went to Northridge by a 48-16 count. Kelsey Miller had 14 points and Julaine Miller added 10 points for the victorious home side while Kaley Wood had five points for Wawasee.