When you’re hot, you’re hot.
Whiteland’s girls basketball team came into Indian Creek Tuesday night on a tear, and the Braves weren’t able to do much to stop it. The Warriors got a combined 69 points from the trio of Mackenzie Blazek, Natalie Stuck and Megan Harlow on the way to a 83-63 victory, their sixth in a row.
“Offensively, I thought we did a real nice job finding open people and moving the ball,” Whiteland coach Kyle Shipp said. “Mackenzie established herself, and then Harlow and Stuck really had some nice offensive games tonight, too.”
The Warriors (10-1) stormed out to an early 14-3 lead behind seven points each from Blazek and Stuck, and they stretched that lead to 32-17 when freshman Gracie McCullars followed a Blazek three-point play with a 3-pointer at the 3:29 mark of the second quarter.
Indian Creek (7-6) fought back with nine consecutive points, cutting the deficit to 32-26 on a steal and layup by Addie Rund with 1:50 to go in the half. But Whiteland swung the momentum back in the closing seconds, with Blazek scoring on the block and Stuck following with a steal and three-point play to make it 40-29.
The Braves got as close as nine on two occasions in the second half before Whiteland slammed the door shut with an 8-0 run early in the fourth. Harlow, who scored all 17 of her points after halftime, had the first six of those and then started a fast break that led to a Stuck bank shot and a 70-53 advantage with five and a half minutes left.
Blazek finished the night with 28 points and 12 rebounds, while Stuck added a career-best 24 points.
“We’ve been working a lot on different plays, when to hit the post and when to hit other things, and we were just clicking tonight,” Blazek said.
Addie Rund led the Braves with 19 points, 15 of those in the second half. Caitlyn Snyder carried Indian Creek early and finished with 16.
Braves coach Brian Ferris still saw plenty of positives in the loss that his team can build upon.
“We did a lot of things tonight that I feel we’ve been trying to get instilled this season,” he said. “We play like that against a lot of teams, we’ll be winning a lot of games.
“Whiteland’s on a roll.”
