Wawasee’s Aubrey Kuhn soars in for a layup attempt against Triton Saturday night. (Photos by Mike Deak)

SYRACUSE – It was all working for Wawasee in the first half of Saturday night’s game against Triton. Holding the Trojans to just two points in the first quarter, Wawasee built a double-figure lead it wouldn’t lose in a 46-27 girls basketball final.

Jumping out to a 14-2 lead in the first quarter, Wawasee was well on its way while Triton couldn’t find any semblance of consistency to aid its cause. A 4-4 second quarter still had the Lady Warriors up 18-6 and feeling pretty good about itself.

“We were good early,” said Wawasee head coach Matt Carpenter. “Our challenge is being able to continue that success without turning the ball over and being able to knock down shots. We’ve struggled a lot from the floor this year, not being able to knock down shots consistently. But when we do, we are pretty tough.”

Hannah Wanemacher fires a shot for Triton.

Triton would make a game of it in the second half, finally getting a little rhythm from its starting five, but it was little too late. The Trojans posted 12 points in the third, matching its largest quarterly scoring output in its last three games, but Wawasee countered with 15 points. What burned Triton coach Adam Heckaman was the continuous turnovers, which piled up to 23 overall, to which he even paused assuming it was much worse before seeing the final stat sheet.

“You might have to fill me in on whether we had 30 or 40 turnovers,” Heckaman said in jest. “We had some even scoring tonight. We had other kids put the ball in the basket. So that’s a step in the direction. But we are going to continue to struggle offensively when we turn it over 20-plus times.”

Wawasee, which finished 13-27 overall from the floor, aided its case with a 17-22 performance from the free throw line. Aubrey Kuhn made 6-8 from the stripe and posted eight points to go along with five boards and a pair of steals. Kabrea Rostochak scored all nine of her points in the second half, and Hannah-Marie Lamle added six points, four rebounds, an assist and a steal.

“Our three seniors have been leading us offensively,” Carpenter said of Kuhn, Rostochak and Lamle. “When you add Casey Schroeder, seven points) to the mix, and now you have four people on any given night who can score 10-12 points apiece. Or one goes off for 18 or 19, and the other scores eight. I think we are dangerous if we can do that.

Caitlin Wortinger takes the rock to the bucket for Wawasee.

“If we can get three or four people going in a game like that, we are going to be in good shape.”

Triton, which was blasted at Plymouth Thursday night by 27, had Whytnie Miller finish with seven points and four steals, but had 10 turnovers. Abigail Powell pulled down seven rebounds, three offensive.

“I’m disappointed for them,” Heckaman said. “I know they are better than this. I know they can do better than this. For some reason playing these schools, they just are nervous and they aren’t believing in themselves. I had to pull a couple aside tonight, and I said hey, if I didn’t believe in you, you wouldn’t be out there. We are just going to try to get them back in the right frame of mind.”

Wawasee (4-2) will have a week off before visiting West Noble on Nov. 28 while Triton (2-4) visits NorthWood Tuesday ahead of its Triton tournament on Nov. 25.

In the JV contest, Triton held a two-point lead in the final minute, but got two big free throws from Jaelyn Bules to clip Wawasee 33-27. Jaela Faulkner would pace Triton with nine points. Wawasee’s Madison Mottern would score all seven of her points in the first quarter, but would leave the game in the final moments with an injured ankle.