Lady Warrior freshman Aubrey Schmeltz passes around the Lady Cobra defender Kei Kei Worsham. Schmeltz had a double-double to lead all players with 18 points and 11 rebounds. (Photos by Nick Goralczyk)

SYRACUSE – There are big wins and then there are completely lopsided victories, both of which are hard for a young team to achieve. On Friday night, just three days after suffering a tough overtime loss, the Wawasee Lady Warriors basketball team was able to respond by dominating an inferior and inexperienced South Bend Career Academy squad with an eye-popping 69-7 victory.

While the Lady Warriors were far from perfect, they managed to play their best game of the season and it showed. Defense has been a staple of the Lady Warrior basketball program in the Kem Zolman era and that was on display on Friday night. Wawasee forced 44 turnovers, had 18 steals and 13 defensive rebounds while taking a 31-0 lead into the half.

Zolman’s main goal, outside of getting the win, was having his team focus on executing. The coach, now in his sixteenth season with Wawasee, found that his team executed best after halftime.

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“I thought we did a much better job in the second half tonight,” said Zolman. “We told the girls tonight was about executing our game plan. It was a lot about getting into the right defensive positions and really just about dominating and what that looks like. It was a game about doing what we do and doing it as well as we can.”

One thing Wawasee did well on Friday was rebound the basketball. The Lady Warriors used its significant height advantage to win the battle on the boards 42-21. Freshman Aubrey Schmeltz led all players with 11 rebounds. The freshman completed a double-double by adding 18 points on the other end of the court and tallied two steals and a block in the process.

Wawasee’s biggest offensive quarter was the third when the Lady Warriors put up 23 points fueled by Elizabeth Jackson and Kylee Rostochak who both had seven points in the frame. Both players finished with 11 points on the night.

Overall, 11 Lady Warriors got playing time against the visiting Cobras squad and nine ended up scoring for Wawasee. Just three players would make a bucket for Career Academy. Bridjette Burton hit the team’s only three to make her the team’s leading scorer. Breela Burton and Kei Kei Worsham also added buckets for the Cobras. Breela led the team with four rebounds.

Career Academy is in just its second season as a program and head coach Bridgette Kelly is just focused on getting her players pointed in the right direction.

“The goal right now is just for them to start believing that they can improve,” started Kelly. “A lot of these girls have never experienced varsity sports before, some had never picked up a ball before this season. We are just looking to improve on the little milestones that we are picking up from game to game.

“Confidence is a big thing right now, this was a big arena to play in for our girls. The goal for this season is to just learn to play together and to go into a game and stay poised and focused for a whole game.”

Wawasee (1-2) will take on a physical Fairfield team next Friday (11/29) for a game that Zolman says will be a “good test” for his young team. Tip off is set for 7:30 p.m. in Goshen.