By Adam Knoll
Sports correspondent
The Lady Whippets are peaking at the right time while McFarland is falling to the back of the pack late in the race for the Rock Valley North Conference Championship. At the moment, McFarland and Whitewater (both 9-2) are technically tied for first place, however due to a tiebreaker, Whitewater has the edge.
Securing the top spot came via the Whippets netting a 49-37 victory over their rivals this past week.
In what was not the usual offensive explosion we have come to expect, Whitewater held firm defensively, giving up just 17 points in the second half to put the game away. Sarah Schumacher led all scorers with 12 points while Myriama Smith-Traore added 10.
It was a slow night from the line for the Whippets, who were just 4-6 from there and McFarland could have kept the game much closer had they hit their shots, going just 12-24. Overall, Whitewater was the more consistent team, connecting on 22 shots from the field while McFarland only hit on 11.
“(We) grabbed a big win tonight,” head coach Judy Harms said after the game, “(McFarland) experienced a different team this time around.’
Harms of course was referring to the Whippets dropping an early season game to McFarland by 20 points. Now the squad is healthy and has taken over the top spot that has eluded them all season – a spot they plan to remain in.
Whippets drop Big Foot
Of course it would all mean little if Whitewater suffered a setback at home against Big Foot. Luckily, the team’s defense is simply on fire, not allowing more than 10 points in any quarter en route to a 41-point victory, 67-26.
“We came out focused, and determined to play,” Harms said following the victory over the Chiefs. “Our play in the first quarter was very impressive. We have been working on improving in a few key areas.” In describing this, Harms simply pointed to the 20 steals the team racked up during the night, certainly a season high if not also a career high for the coach.
Sarah Schumacher led all scorers, again, with 22 points. Kailey Reynolds added 17 while Brooke Trewyn had 12 on the night. For the second straight game, no opponent scored in double figures.
Girls outrun Beloit
Starting off the week on a positive note, the Lady Whippets defeated Beloit-Turner convincingly by a score of 80-59. Trewyn scored 20 points and Smith-Traore had 19 to spearhead the victory.
Considering that Whitewater’s defense has been nothing less than stifling lately, the coach said it could be even better.
“Although we did a nice job producing points tonight, we need to go to work in practicing our defense,” Harms said after Monday’s game. “Allowing Washburn to connect on three 3s in the first half is something we need to work on eliminating.”
With five games remaining and all of them in conference, the end of the regular season should be very interesting. First up the Whippets will take on Parkview on Thursday, Feb. 13. They will follow that up with a big game against East Troy on Saturday.
