Whitko’s Aly Reiff has done plenty during her four years in South Whitley, but she’s hoping to add a sectional title to her resumé this February. (Photo by Nick Goralczyk)

ALBION — History is not on the side of the Whitko Wildcats. It’s just easier to get that out of the way early. Throughout the history of the girls program at Whitko, the Wildcats have claimed no sectional titles. So, once more, history has been no friend to Whitko’s ladies.

But, go ahead and ask the Wildcats if they care.

Much like Mark McGwire during his appearance in front of the House Committee on Government Reform in 2005, Whitko is not here to talk about the past. The Wildcats are ready to redecorate their program’s trophy case and that journey starts in the upcoming Class 2-A Central Noble Sectional 35 tournament.

“Sectional is the goal right now, or part of the goal,” shared Aly Reiff, Whitko’s all-time leading scorer and current Wildcat senior said earlier this month. “We want to win the first sectional in school history and keep going. We want to go all the way. We want to take this as far as we can.”

Reiff and the Wildcats enter the sectional field ranked No. 2 in the class (behind Triton Central) in the final poll of the season. Whitko boasts a 19-4 mark overall and 1-0 record against sectional 35 teams, that win came back on Nov. 8, a 62-54 win against Central Noble. The Wildcats and Cougars are the two favorites in the field and, conveniently, were drawn on opposite sides of the bracket. If all goes according to plan, the two teams will be on a collision course for Saturday’s title match.

“As far as Central Noble goes, things haven’t changed in the last two years,” said Whitko head coach Brandon Bradley. “They have two dynamic young players, and we can’t let them get loose and have huge nights.”

Bradley’s team is riding an eight-game winning streak against Central Noble, but over the past two seasons the Cougars have been becoming more competitive with Whitko thanks to those two dynamic young players, sophomores Sydney Freeman and Meleah Leatherman.

Leatherman dropped 26 on Whitko in the first meeting between these two teams while Freeman scored 12. Leatherman averages 16.1 points per game, Freeman is not far behind at 15.9. Obviously Whitko has its own talented scorers in Reiff and Brianna Cumberland. Reiff scored 23 on Central Noble earlier this season and scorers 17.4 on a per-game clip. Cumberland, meanwhile, averages 12.5 ppg. Tertiary scorers Calista Rice of Central Noble and Hannah Yohe of Whitko could prove to be key in the event of a rematch.

While a rematch of the 22-2 Cougars and 19-4 Wildcats is what most hoops fans will be hoping for, Bradley is just making sure his team is taking things one game at a time.

“In order to get to the sectional final we primarily need to just worry about us,”Bradley explained. “If we are disciplined, play at our tempo with purpose, and play with effort and energy, I think we will be in a good spot to make it to the championship game.”

The Wildcats start their journey Tuesday night with a 7 p.m. tip against Fremont (8-14). The sectional resumes Wednesday evening when Prairie Heights (5-17) takes on Central Noble at 6 p.m. with Bremen (15-8) and Westview (12-9) to follow at 7:30 p.m. Westview won last year’s title game in overtime against Whitko and are riding a four-peat of sectional championships.

“I think the next big threat in the sectional is Bremen,” offered Bradley. “They have played a tough schedule, they have some really good wins, and they have nice balance throughout their roster. They are capable of beating anyone in the sectional. But until anyone beats Westview, this is their sectional. I believe they’ve won four in a row. They still have very good size and a couple of nice wings. They can cause problems for people.”

The semifinals are set for Friday night with the winner of Tuesday’s game taking on LaVille (10-12) at 6 p.m. with the second semifinal coming at 7:30 p.m. Saturday’s title will be played at 7 p.m.