RUSSIAVILLE — Playing against Hamilton Heights’ girls basketball team is as tense as walking a razor’s edge. At any moment, the Huskies can get on a run, fueled by the defense of lightning quick guard Dakota Weatherford.
Western got off to a great start against Heights on Tuesday, building an 18-11 lead through one quarter and holding a 30-28 advantage at the half. But that knife edge eventually proved deadly as Heights posted a 62-52 victory.
The Class 3A No. 4 Huskies improved to 12-1 on the season and 5-0 in the Mid-Indiana Conference. HH ran its MIC win streak to 26 games. Western fell to 12-3, 4-1 in the MIC.
Heights played well on offense and defense, but so did Western. Weatherford was the difference. The 5-foot-5 guard snagged nine steals, nine rebounds and scored a game-high 24 points. Four of her 10 buckets came directly off her steals.
“She is so fast and it’s something you talk about before the game [when] you look at video,” Western coach Chris Keisling explained. “We had three good guards, but she’s so quick and her timing is so good on that spin-dribble turn to get that pick for a steal. She lives on that. She’s just an excellent player.”
Heights sets up opponents by allowing Weatherford to play essentially a free role defensively. Other Huskies will try and coax opposing ballhandlers into turning into open space to get free of their defender, and that’s when Weatherford will knife in — from anywhere on the floor — to swipe at the ball from the blind side.
She scored two buckets that way in the third quarter to help fuel a 16-5 run that put Heights up 44-37 late in the third quarter. Western trimmed the lead to two points, 44-42 on a second-chance hoop from Jessica Givens after an offensive rebound from Raven Black, but the Panthers got no closer. Heights led by five points or more throughout the fourth quarter.
Western finished with 24 turnovers. Heights had 17.
Givens led Western with 18 points and canned four triples in the opening half. She hit two treys as Western opened an 8-0 lead to start the game and hit a trey with a few seconds left in the opening quarter for Western to take a seven-point lead into the first stop.
“We took a left hook and a right cross in the first couple minutes of the game and persevered,” Heights coach Tod Windlan said, talking about how his squad turned the game its way. “We found [Givens]. We didn’t want her to be spotting up on the 3-point line shooting. We had a little heart to heart at halftime on that.
“I thought our physical conditioning really wore them down. I thought their legs went a little bit in the second half and we were able to exploit some things we were wanting to exploit on them.”
The Huskies start four guards and a forward, but gained ground on Western with the introduction of a couple post players off the bench. Morgan Burton had seven rebounds and four points off the bench, and Maranda Pennington added seven points and five rebounds.
Western got a dozen points and nine rebounds out of Black, whose spirited effort inside gave Western its best glimmers of hope down the stretch. Carley O’Neal added nine points and Caitlyn O’Neal eight.
“Jessica Givens had an outstanding game, shot the ball well, took it to the bucket, did all the things that I like to see her do,” Keisling said.
“In terms of effort and overall performance, the kids, I couldn’t be prouder of their performance. They battled all the way to the end.”
Sports
Western’s upset bid of Heights falls short
3A No. 4 Huskies overcome Panthers’ hot start in 10-point win
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Barnes sets Taylor's career hits record
Taylor baseball standout Logan Barnes made his final game at George Phares Field one to remember.
Barnes pitched four solid innings to lead Taylor past Monroe Central 9-3 Tuesday. In addition, he went 2 for 3 at the plate, pushing his career hits total to a school-record 142. -
Kats drop heartbreaker
When the postseason arrives, emotions surge like a roller-coaster. One minute, it’s a long uphill, then a wild series of events offer a barrage of frights and thrills. And then, for one team, the ride ends and there aren’t any more tickets for another go around.
After two days of chills and thrills, Kokomo’s softball team ran out of tickets Tuesday night in the Class 4A Harrison Sectional. The Kats dropped a 4-3 decision to Harrison in eight innings, giving up a run in the top of the extra frame, and having a runner tagged out at home in the bottom of the frame.
“It was a great game,” Harrison coach Dick Mitchell said. “It’s always nerve-wracking to coach in one of them, but both teams played their hearts out. Nobody deserved to lose that game, but unfortunately somebody does.” -
Comets turn heads at track regional
Heading into Tuesday’s IHSAA girls track and field regional at Fort Wayne Northrop High School’s Spuller Stadium, event workers alike weren’t sure of Eastern High School’s location.
After the dust settled, they may feel compelled to get a map out and find out where Greentown is located.
Led by seniors Sarah Wagner, Brittany Neeley and Bethany Neeley, the Comets qualified for the state finals in six separate events to finish fourth as a team with 55.5 points, behind host and champion Northrop (78), Bellmont (68) and Carroll (Allen) 66. -
GASKINS: Hibbert’s block was thing of beauty
For the better part of the NBA season, ESPN devoted all kinds of time on SportsCenter episodes to replays of two dunks. Anyone who watches any ESPN at all surely knows the two to which I’m referring: 6-foot-11 DeAndre Jordan of the Los Angeles Clippers posterizing 6-3 Brandon Knight of the Detroit Pistons, and 6-8 LeBron James of the Miami Heat hammering home a dunk over 6-2 Jason Terry of the Boston Celtics.
Day after day, ESPN commentators lavished endless praise, which quickly grew tiresome. The dunks were strong, but Jordan and James were much taller and heavier than Knight and Terry and the dunkers also caught perfect alley-oop passes with the defenders in poor positions to defend. Still, ESPN commentators loved these plays.
I kept wondering if a great defensive play would receive the same kind of love. -
Coons, Walker, Glassburn reach Victory Lane
When the dust settled Sunday evening at the Kokomo Speedway, a pair of drivers who have visited Victory Lane in the past at the local oval found themselves there once again while a talented up-and-comer hit the hallowed ground for the first time.
Jerry Coons Jr. had his way in the sprint car feature and Craig Walker seemed to get faster as the laps wound down to win the Street Stock main event, however Kokomo High School sophomore Kory Glassburn had to scratch and fight before scoring the first feature win of his career in the Thunder Car A-main. -
Field is set for Indianapolis 500
After being bumped from the starting field while sitting on the qualifying line on pole day, Josef Newgarden turned the fastest time on bump day, assuring himself a spot in the Indianapolis 500.
The field of 33 cars will have one final opportunity to practice on Friday before next Sunday’s 97th running of the 500.
One year ago the Sarah Fisher Racing Team withdrew Newgarden’s entry on the first day of qualifying and had to qualify on bump day. This year the team decided not to make another qualifying run and got bumped. -
Athlete of the week
Cole led the small-school Comets to the Kokomo Sectional title, their first title since 1998.
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Kats regain tennis throne
At 10:51 a.m. Saturday morning, the bulk of Kokomo’s girls tennis team sprinted from the viewing hill to the east entrance of the tennis courts to mob No. 1 singles player Morgan Mohr as she came off the court following her 1-6, 6-1, 6-1 victory over Eastern’s Courtney Clark.
The No. 3 singles match was still raging, but the team match was already won. The Wildkats had reconquered the throne from two-time defending champion Eastern and were once again champions of the Kokomo Sectional. -
Eastern boys track claims first sectional title since 1998
The boys track and field coach at Eastern High School from 1987 until last season, Paul Nicholson’s parting message to his team was simple: “Don’t deny the gift.”
That motto left such a lasting impression on the Comets’ returning athletes that they had it screen printed on their 2013 season T-shirts.
With Nicholson in attendance to celebrate with them, new coach Austin Roark and the Comets outlasted host Kokomo to win their first sectional title since 1998 Thursday night, topping the Wildkats by 3.5 points, 124.5-121.
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Eastern, Kokomo favored in boys track sectional
Some of the names and faces have changed, but the plot remains much the same.
The Kokomo boys track and field sectional, much like last year, will likely be a two-horse race between the host and three-time defending champion Wildkats and Eastern, a team looking to break through and win its first sectional title since 1998. - More Sports Headlines
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