Team will face McFarland Friday night at Whitewater High School
By Kevin Cunningham
Sports Correspondent
The Whitewater High School girls basketball team is now riding a six-game winning streak after defeating Big Foot and Evansville this past week. Against Big Foot on Dec. 10, the Whippets were at home and got off to a hot start, doubling Big Foot in the first half and led, 46-23.
In the second half, the Whippets cruised to their eventual, 69-43 victory. Junior forward Myriama Smith-Traore posted video game-like statistics, scoring 19 points and grabbing 21 of the team’s 41 total rebounds, while recording six steals, five assists and three blocked shots in the win.
The 6-foot-2 forward did this while not turning the ball over and recording one personal foul. Rebekah Schumacher also had a productive stat-line, scoring nine points while dishing out a game-high 14 assists and stole the ball eight times.
“Big Foot is a good team averaging a lot of points,” Whippets head coach Judy Harms said. “Holding them to 43 points was a huge accomplishment. The entire team has been working hard to improve our defense and tonight that hard work paid off. We have been emphasizing teamwork all week, and tonight we delivered just that, a true team win and I couldn’t be more proud of the girls.
“We had contributions off the bench from many of our players and are looking to maintain that team concept all season long. Tonight we could feel the electricity from an amazing crowd, and it sure made it an amazing atmosphere to play in at home.”
The Whippets’ next game, against Evansville on Tuesday, also proved to be advantageous for Harms’ group. The team hit the road for this contest, but came away with a 78-38 victory.
Smith-Traore led the way once again with 22 points to accompany her 14 rebounds, four assists, four steals and four blocks. The Whippets recorded 19 assists as a team and had 14 steals, but turned the ball over 20 times.
Four Whippets scored in double-digits and the Whippets shot 31-of-61 in two-point field goals while going 1-of-14 from behind the arc. The 40-point win gives the defending state champions a 7-1 record on the season with each of its wins occurring by at least a 17-point margin.
The team’s lone loss to Stoughton in its second game of the season was a 47-43 loss in overtime. The Whippets’ next game will begin at 7:15 p.m. against a 2-2 McFarland team on Friday at Whitewater High School.
