SYRACUSE – It hadn’t happened in 10 years, and it was just as shocking Tuesday night as it was in 2007.

Not since Taylor Goshert dropped 29 points on Class 3-A No. 1 South Bend St. Joseph in the northern semi-state has the Wawasee program defeated a No. 1 team. Until Tuesday. The Lady Warriors pulled the shocker of the day, beating No. 1 Whitko 48-46 at the Hardwood Teepee.

Wawasee’s Aubrey Schmeltz dives to the bucket, en route to a 17-point night against Whitko. (Photos by Mike Deak)

Wawasee used two free throws from Aubrey Kuhn with 12.2 seconds left and another free toss from Casey Schroeder to get past Whitko, which came into the game No. 1 in Class 2-A and has been at the top of the class perch since week two of the season. The ‘Cats looked like it would escape the Teepee with a win after Aly Reiff drilled a three with 20.3 seconds left to give Whitko a 46-45 lead, its first lead since early in the fourth quarter.

The Lady Warriors, which had only beaten two teams with winning records heading into the night, held a five-point edge after Schroeder nailed a three from the corner, taking a 44-39 edge. Whitko chipped away, using three Reiff free throws and a freebie from Ellie Snep to get within a basket. Kuhn earned the trip to the line after drawing a foul on the way to the basket, setting up her eventual game-winning shots.

“We’ve been in a lot of situations like this all year, and we let a couple slip away when we should have closed out a couple games we lost,” said Wawasee head coach Matt Carpenter. “We have done it a couple times, like the NorthWood win, which I think showed again tonight.

“We weren’t perfect, by no means, but when we did make mistakes, we rebounded as quickly as possible and moved onto the next play.”

Wawasee (8-10) surprised Whitko with a 15-10 lead after one quarter, fueled by a pair of deep makes from Aubrey Schmeltz, who paced the Lady Warriors with 17 points. Wawasee maintained its five-point edge at the half, and did so with Reiff on the bench with three fouls, her third coming on at the 7:24 mark of the second quarter.

Whitko’s Aly Reiff slices past Wawasee’s Hannah Haines.

Whitko (16-3) battled back, taking its first lead after Kennedy Krull got open for a shot under the Wawasee basket to make it 24-22 ‘Cats. The visitors took a 32-31 lead into the fourth, only for Hannah Haines to open the final period’s scoring with a three to give Wawasee a two-point lead with 6:52 to go.

“We just didn’t play great,” said Whitko head coach Brandon Bradley. “We have a habit of dropping our heads when Aly (Reiff) gets into foul trouble. When we play somebody capable of beating us, they are going to take advantage of it.”

Schroeder finished with 15 points for Wawasee, while Reiff had 15 points (10 in the fourth quarter), Hanna Yohe had 13 points and Brianna Cumberland had 10 points.

Whitko, which entered the game on a five-game winning streak, was playing its final non-conference game Tuesday before closing with four games in the Three Rivers Conference, none bigger than Thursday’s home tilt with also-unbeaten Tippecanoe Valley. Bradley maintained his kids were not overlooking Tuesday’s contest.

“No, they weren’t,” Bradley said bluntly. “We played the same way Saturday night (in a 47-31 win against Southwood), it’s just we played a lesser opponent. Our bench stepped up big time against Southwood.”

Carpenter’s group is also in a similar scenario, having a conference game Thursday at Warsaw and another Saturday at Plymouth before Valley invades the Teepee next Tuesday.

“It’s yet to be seen how we finish out this stretch,” Carpenter said. “We’ve seen a variety of styles throughout the year. From Norwell to Northridge, we’ve played some great teams with great defenses. Our message, though, is that we don’t have to change us. We need to adjust to what we need to do against whoever’s style, and take away their strengths. That worked tonight. We knew Reiff was going to do all the things that make her great. We just had to make sure she didn’t kill us. And the others didn’t. Same recipe Thursday against Warsaw. (Dayton) Groninger and (Madi) Graham are great players, but their role players could beat us.”

In the JV game, Sara Pritchard had 10 points to lead Wawasee to a 41-26 triumph. Anna Ousley led Whitko with nine points.

Whitko’s Brielle Harrison (34) makes contact with Wawasee’s Casey Schroeder.