Kylee Rostochak (30) and Seaquinn Bright (40) cringe as they watch Bright’s free throw rattle around the rim late in Thursday’s game against Marian. (Photos by Nick Goralczyk)

SYRACUSE – For the first time since 2012 the Wawasee girls basketball team found the path to victory in its season opening contest. Thursday night’s game with Mishawaka Marian provided every up and down that a team could possibly want in a season opener but the Lady Warriors handled the challenge well enough to hang on for a 46-44 victory.

Savanna Dennig

It was a satisfying victory in a variety of ways for Wawasee. The Lady Warriors struggled to put teams away last season, offensive production was scarce in many outings and the team’s outcome typically rested on the scoring output of now senior Kylee Rostochak. Thursday’s opener proved that this year’s Wawasee team has changed.

The Lady Warriors were disciplined and thorough with their play in the first half. The home team took a 10-9 lead into the second quarter where it would then find a groove offensively. Wawasee hit a trio of threes to highlight a 21-point effort in the second frame. To put that into perspective, Wawasee only eclipsed the 20-point threshold in a quarter once in 24 games last season. Five different players contributed to the second quarter scoring. Going into the break Wawasee held a 31-22 lead and the game certainly did not feel like it was a season opener.

But then came the second half.

As the game carried on, the play got sloppier on both sides. The third quarter was a better example of what was expected from a season opening contest, filled with turnovers, frustrating fouls and bad shots. Marian started to pick up momentum in the frame, but Wawasee still held a 38-31 lead heading to the fourth.

Marian continued its surge and would take its first lead of the game, 39-38, on a layup from Meghan Urbanski with 5:41 to play. Urbanski then extended her team’s advantage with a clutch three on the Knights next possession, forcing a Wawasee timeout. Urbanski brought a new level of excitement to the game after her shot with a hearty fist pump and confident yell. Suddenly the early November game felt like it was a February winner-take-all scenario. Of course it was far from the latter, but that was not of importance to the girls on the court.

Hannah Haines

Wawasee had some clutch play from not the usual suspects in the closing minutes. Sophomore Kabrea Rostochak hit two free throws late to bring the Lady Warriors within one point at 44-43. Hannah-Marie Lamle, another sophomore, challenged Urbanski’s intensity after she hit an equalizing shot from the charity stripe to make it 44-44. Marian failed to produce anything offensively which left Seaquinn Bright to hit two free throws on Wawasee’s next two possessions to help secure the victory. Bright scored seven points in the fourth quarter.

Throughout the final minutes of the fourth quarter the raw emotion could be easily seen from every player on the court and bench for Wawasee. Whether or not that came as a response to Urbanski’s passionate display or not is anybody’s guess, but the intensity was refreshing to see so early in the season.

“You know what that’s called? That’s called an answered prayer,” Wawasee head coach Kem Zolman said of his team’s display of emotion. “I’ve been praying all year that these girls would see the benefits of their labors in the summer. When you, as a player, start to finally see your hard work pay off, then you see that emotion.”

The Lady Warriors still left plenty of room for improvement, which is obviously expect. Nobody wants to peak in the first game of the year. But confidence was certainly built up in Thursday’s game, confidence that will hopefully carry over into Tuesday’s contest with a historically physical Fairfield squad.

Aubrey Schmeltz

“We didn’t handle physical play as well as I thought we might,” Zolman remarked. “It will be more physical Tuesday night. Fairfield will be very physical. Marian is a solid team, I think. They played physical and that allowed us to prepare a little bit for Tuesday.”

Marian kept things close with its three-point shooting, hitting six shots from behind the arc on the night. Urbanski led all scorers with 10 points.

Wawasee broke a trend from last season of having to rely on the elder Rostochak’s scoring effort to win games. Bright led the way with nine points, Aubrey Kuhn added eight while the senior Rostochak scored seven. Erin Wiktorowski, playing in her first game since her freshman year, showed promise with a five-point outing. Wiktorwski missed the past two seasons with injuries.

Marian won the junior varsity contest 36-39. Mikiya Roby of Marian led all scorers Knights with 15 points. Madison Beaman led Wawasee with eight points, Gabbi Warner added another seven for the home team.