By Kevin Cunningham
Sports Correspondent
Following a 3-1 start to the 2015 season, the defending state champion Whitewater Whippets’ girls basketball team had a pair of games in a back-to-back format on Thursday and Friday. On Thursday, the team travelled to play Delavan-Darien and came out victorious, 65-42.
Despite the eventual 23-point win and the Comets being 3-19 a year ago, it was Delavan-Darien that started the game on a 5-0 run. The Comets slowed the game down the opening couple of minutes due to the Whippets’ zone but found holes for the early lead.
After the 5-0 deficit, though, the Whippets began to take over, entering halftime up 33-24. It wasn’t until the 13:30 mark that Whitewater started to pull away, going up 39-28, then eventually ending the game on a 26-14 run.
Myriama Smith-Traore, a 6-foot-2 forward, and Rebekah Schumacher, a 5-foot-8 guard, combined for 40 of the team’s 65 points. Smith-Traore finished with 23 points, 14 rebounds, five steals, five blocks and three assists in the victory.
She also went 7-of-7 from the free throw line, while the team shot 13-of-18 as a whole. The Comets’ Jennah Speth finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds.
A day later, the Whippets hit the road again, this time to face Parkview. Parkview entered with a 2-2 record, but the Whippets would force them to fall under .500 and push its own record to 5-1 on the season.
Whitewater showed its dominance early, going up 33-15 by halftime. Parkview then fought back in the second half, winning it 32-31, making the final score, 64-47. The Whippets were again led by Smith-Traore, posting 16 points and 11 rebounds to go along with her two assists, steals and blocks.
Due to not only her height and length, but her athletic abilities, Smith-Traore led the team at the charity stripe again, going 8-of-10. The other Whippets combined to go 6-of-9.
The team also made 4-of-7 from behind the arc and allowed only one Parkview player to score at least 10 points, that being Katie Harnack, with 21. Aside from the lone overtime loss in the Whippets’ second game of the season, the team hasn’t lost since the playoffs in 2013-14.
The Whippets went undefeated last year and will look to build upon its 5-1 record this season with its next game slated to start at 7:15 p.m. tonight against Big Foot (2-2) at Whitewater High School.
