Columbus North’s Miley McClellan gets hit in the head as she battles for a rebound with Franklin’s Emma Sappenfield, left, during Friday’s sectional semifinal.
Rob Baker | For the Daily Journal
When shots aren’t falling — which they haven’t been this week for Whiteland — you’ve got to find other ways to win.
The Warriors did so again on their home court Friday night, riding a second straight strong defensive effort to a 50-39 victory over Columbus East in Class 4A sectional semifinal play.
Whiteland (12-12) set up a date in tonight’s championship game with rival Franklin, which trounced Columbus North by a 74-25 margin in the second semifinal.
“I think we always change our mindset to more of a defensive one,” Whiteland junior point guard Sukhman Bains said. “We let our defense channel into our offense.”
Indeed, the Warriors got off to a cold shooting start (8 for 26 in the first half) and fell into a 12-4 hole late in the first quarter after Messiah Trapp converted three-point plays on consecutive possessions for the Olympians. But Bains banked in a deep 3-pointer as time expired in the first quarter, giving Whiteland a much-needed momentum boost going into the second.
“It was really surprising,” Bains said, “but honestly, we always do a Subway shot, and when I hit it (my teammates) all started screaming, ‘Subway shot!’”
Bains’ shot wound up serving as the start of a 15-3 slow-burn run by the Warriors. Samantha Roadruck tied the game at 13-13 with a 3 at the 5:47 mark, and Sophia Dyer’s driving layup two minutes later gave the home team its first lead. A late and-one from East’s Jenna Guse trimmed the Whiteland advantage to 19-18 going into the half.
A run of six straight points in the third quarter, capped by layups from Roadruck and Dyer, gave the Warriors a 28-22 lead with 2:17 remaining in the period, and they still led by a half dozen, 35-29, entering the final quarter. The Olympians closed to within a pair twice in the fourth, but a three-point play from Dyer with 3:58 to go pushed the Whiteland lead to 43-38 and set off a 10-1 stretch to close the game out.
Dyer finished with 16 points and seven rebounds for the Warriors, while Bains and Roadruck contributed 12 points apiece. Former Center Grove player Madelyn Poe led East (5-18) with 13 points.
In the nightcap, the Class 4A No. 8 Grizzly Cubs (22-3) left nothing to chance after surviving a first-round scare against Shelbyville on Tuesday. Franklin scored the first six points and never looked back, building a 21-2 cushion while holding Columbus North without a field goal for the first 9:39 of the game.
“We had a serious talk about actually giving a lot of effort plays, because we had a lot of stats (Tuesday) that weren’t very good for us or we weren’t satisfied with,” said Franklin senior Brooklyn York, who tied for the team scoring lead with 17 points. “We just worked as a team and got a lot more back cuts going, getting the ball moving quicker, so I think that’s what really helped us out. We really just wanted to lock in as a team together.”
Erica Buening scored eight points and Emma Sappenfield hit a 3-pointer from each quarter during that early blitz for the Grizzly Cubs, who never let the Bull Dogs get closer than 15 after the first period. Up 38-14 at halftime, Franklin continued to pull away, triggering a running clock when Kennedy Urban’s corner 3 in the final minute of the third.
Urban came off the bench to match York with a career-high 17 points, followed by Buening with 13 and Sappenfield with 10.
York expects the Grizzly Cubs to maintain the same intensity for tonight’s final.
“Don’t think low of anybody,” she said. “Be ready for anything in tournament play.”
Though the two regular-season meetings with Franklin weren’t particularly close (68-30 and 51-22), Bains is confident that the Warriors will be able to put up more of a fight in tonight’s third battle.
“I think we’ll be a little bit more aggressive,” she said. “We know we have it in us; we know we can play a lot harder.”
