Wawasee Girls Basketball: Lady Warriors Find Identity In Win Over Westview
SYRACUSE — After Tuesday’s lopsided loss to Fairfield, Wawasee’s girls basketball team did a little bit of soul-searching. Among the topics of discussion was what kind of team the Lady Warriors were going to be. They seemed to find their identity in Friday night’s rebound win over visiting Westview.
Wawasee used a gritty effort both on the defensive end and on the boards to out-rebound and generally frustrate an outsized Westview team, and the host Warriors got a balanced offensive effort from their three seniors en route to a 42-34 win over their guests.
“This is our identity; this is who we are,” explained Wawasee head coach Matt Carpenter. “We have to do this every day in practice and every night we set foot on the floor. If we don’t give that effort, we lose. We don’t have D1 talent on our team, but we’ve got a group of girls and a group of seniors that are mostly four-year letterwinners right now, and we’ve just got a gritty bunch.
“What I told them was we can be a scary team. No one wants to play against somebody who plays that hard. No one wants to play against somebody who is pressuring that much with that good of help side on 6’1” post girls. No one wants to face that; it’s not fun.”
Westview (1-1) certainly didn’t seem to be having much fun in Friday’s Warrior-on-Warrior matchup at Wawasee.
The hosts used a hard-nosed defensive effort to hold their guests scoreless until Ashya Klopfenstein’s free throws at the 1:09 stop of the first period, part of a 7-2 first quarter by Wawasee (2-2). Westview didn’t score from the floor until Payton May’s layup on a Jenna Duff helper at the 6:28 mark of the second frame with Wawasee already holding a 14-2 lead.
The 6’1” Klopfenstein finished with a game-high 20 points, but front court mate and fellow 6’1” forward Alex Burr was limited to just three points for the night as the visitors failed to get meaningful offensive contributions from anyone but Klopfenstein.
“Really it was the girls playing with that grit and executing the game plan,” said Carpenter of his team’s defensive effort Friday. “We knew that we had to put tremendous ball pressure on without fouling to make them worry about our perimeter pressure, and then we also had to front and we also had to have backside help. Without all three ingredients, they were going to be able to pick us apart. And we knew that, and for the most part tonight, we executed.”
The hosts used that same grit to earn a 30-24 rebounding advantage against the bigger Westview lineup, led by senior Hannah-Marie Lamle’s 10 rebounds. Wawasee’s physicality seemed to frustrate its guests, particularly in the opening half, and Burr was forced to sit out much of the first half after being whistled for her third foul with 1:33 still remaining in the opening stanza. May received her third foul at the three-minute mark of the second frame, and Wawasee was already in the bonus in the first period.
All told, Westview was saddled with 13 first-half fouls and 22 total for the night as the hosts took 26 trips to the line, converting 13 free throws. By contrast, Westview made just 11 trips to the charity stripe, converting seven of those opportunities.
“We talked about no matter who we play against we need to out-rebound, and we need to emphasize paint touches. I think in the first stretch of the season we had settled for too many outside shots without getting the ball and working inside-out,” Carpenter said. “We talked about free throws — we wanted double-digit free throws; we wanted to get to the line. It isn’t so much that we emphasized getting the other team in foul trouble. It’s more putting them in position that we’re tough to guard and having us be the aggressors going into the paint. Regardless of their size, we knew that we could move them around enough and get those scoring opportunities. Thirteen for 26 is not how we need to shoot from the line, though. Thankfully we had a big enough margin at the end to hold on, but this team is a 70 percent free throw shooting team.”
While Westview got the bulk of its scoring from one player, Wawasee shared the ball as each of its three seniors finished with double-digit points production Friday. Lamle and Kabrea Rostochak each finished with 13, and Aubrey Kuhn notched 10 for the home team.
“We have to have our seniors lead us, and it’s going to take all three of them,” said Carpenter. “Typically it’s not going to be one person putting up 25 points. It could be; all three are capable of doing that. But they have to be willing to take the shots that they get when they’re in rhythm and to create scoring opportunities for themselves and each other. They’ve played together now for a couple of years, and we really saw that come out tonight. We did better movement without the ball, and they know how to move into areas to bail each other out of pressure situations and pressure releases and to create shots for each other.”
The seniors also led their team in the other statistical categories Friday. While Lamle notched a double-double in points and rebounds, Rostochak recorded seven steals and four deflections to lead a Wawasee defense that pressured Westview into 25 turnovers, which the hosts capitalized on for 10 points off turnovers. Kuhn finished with eight rebounds, meanwhile, including six in the second half alone.
Wawasee also got a boost from its sixth man as a sizable home crowd showed up to support the team on autograph night in Syracuse, a fact that didn’t go unnoticed by Carpenter.
“I tell you what, I appreciate the crowd that we had tonight,” said the second-year Wawasee skipper. “We had a big crowd. Westview always travels well, but the community showed up. I think we’re a fun team to watch, and the girls get that support and I love having them be supported like that.”
Wawasee now turns its attention to Lakeland and another home game next Tuesday night. Carpenter is hoping now that his team has seemed to find itself, it can carry that effort over to next Tuesday’s match-up in Syracuse.
“We’re going to celebrate the win tonight. I think Westview is going to win a lot of games this year, but Lakeland is much improved from last year. No game is going to be easy for us,” he said.
“We’re going to improve. Our skills are going to improve. Some schematic stuff will continue to improve in the next couple days as well, but we have to back it up now. We have to say, ‘Hey, this isn’t just one win because we came together for a couple days. This is our identity, and this is who we are on a daily basis.’”
Meanwhile Friday, Wawasee’s JV lost their match-up with Westview, 37-28. Ella Beezley scored six to lead the JV Warriors, while Rhian Galloway and Jadison Rostochak each scored five points. Westview’s junior varsity was paced by Gloria Miller’s game-high 13 points. Allie Hillman scored seven, and Grace and Julie Miller finished with six apiece.