Lady ’Cats advance to D6 district semifinals

MOWRYSTOWN — The Division VI SE District Quarterfinal was a game full of success for the Whiteoak Lady Wildcats, as they are advancing to the next round after defeating the Peebles Lady Indians, 59-47 Thursday at WHS.

The home tournament game for Whiteoak against their Southern Hills Athletic Conference counterpart saw Whiteoak score 15 points in the opening frame, while PHS scored 10 points.

“I'm proud of the girls,” Whiteoak head coach Cole Schaefer said. “Not very often do you have a home tournament game, and not very often does the home crowd show up the way that they did tonight for the tournament game, and to give them an opportunity and a chance to come and watch our girls perform.

“The community, the administrators, everybody around Whiteoak Lady Wildcats basketball is tremendous in their support, and we really feed off of that energy that they provide.”

WHS led early on with a four-point advantage after two baskets by Torie Potts — who totaled nine points in the win — and following a 3-pointer by Peebles’ Abigail Smalley,  WHS had a 3-pointer of their own by Charli Hauke for a 7-3 lead with 4:13 on the first-quarter clock. Hauke ended the game with 11 points.

After Peebles scored their fifth point, Whiteoak had five consecutive points from Jillian Lucas for a 12-5 WHS lead. Lucas totaled 14 points in the win.

Peebles came back with two points, but it was another 3-pointer for WHS, this one by Addison Roberts, that put the Lady ’Cats ahead 15-7. Roberts totaled nine points in the game.

PHS sank a 3-pointer by Kendall Myers with 28 seconds left in the first for the 15-10 score once the first came to a close. Myers led PHS with 10 points in the game.

Peebles outscored WHS 11-9 in the second, but the Lady ’Cats held the lead at halftime at 24-21.

WHS in the second had five points by Roberts, including a 3-pointer with 4:25 left in the quarter. The Lady ’Cats also had two points from Charli Hauke and one point each off free throws by Kylee Hamm and Lucas.

The second for Peebles had six points from Myers, two points from Angel Gray, and MaRhea Unger had one point in the quarter.

“We had a good halftime,” Schaefer said. “The last few games here, we've been able to make some good halftime adjustments for our girls, and our girls are able to come out and execute it. I think that's a huge part of what we're trying to do here, taking what they're hearing and applying it to the game is is huge for them.

“We have some younger girls and some older girls, so there's a mismatch of leadership that goes on throughout there. They see how each other behave and how they communicate with each other. Once we get that through, I think it looks really good.”

Whiteoak and Peebles exchanged baskets early in the third, then PHS made a basket with 5:43 left in the third to get to within a point of Whiteoak’s lead.

Peebles eventually took the lead with 4:30 of the third-quarter clock following a basket in the paint by Gray for a 30-29 lead.

Roberts tied the score with a free throw with 4:20 left in the frame, and WHS regained the lead with another free throw by Lucas.

WHS extended their lead to four points with a 3-pointer by Addy Hauke, her first points of the game. Hauke eventually was the team leader in scoring in the game for WHS with 15 points.

“My double-digit scorers tonight are three of my youngest girls,” Schaefer said. “We like to see that, but we also like to see the older girls getting involved, too. We're battling a little bit of sickness here and there, and a lot of our energy is on defense, and we see that moving the ball around and just getting up and down. We'll get our conditioning as we get into the rest of the season.”

As the third frame continued, WHS built a lead as high as nine points with 1:24 left in the quarter, and eventually they ended the third with a 42-35 lead.

WHS won the fourth and sealed the win with a 17-12 quarter.

WHS built their lead to 12 points when Potts made a free throw with 2:45 left in the quarter, and later they eventually they won by 12 points as Charli Hauke scored the final two WHS points from the free-throw line.

Final scoring totals for Peebles included Myers (20), Alyssa Smalley (11), Gray (7), Abigail Smalley (6), Paysen Shively (2) and Unger (1). PHS ends the season at 4-18 overall.

The win improves Whiteoak’s overall record to 15-6. Next for WHS is a district semifinal game Tuesday, Feb. 18 against SHAC rival Ripley at 8 p.m. at Southeastern High School. WHS previously defeated Ripley, 58-45 and 59-52 in SHAC play this season.

“Ripley's a team we're very familiar with,” Schaefer said. “We’ve played them twice already, and one of the games was a closer game, and it's going to be a physical, tough game for us, and a game that we really have to be mentally prepared for going into. Coach Rabbit Littleton has got some great athletes down there and a great program, so for us to travel Southeastern to go play, we’re ready for it.”

BOX SCORE
PHS    10 11 14 12 — 47
WHS    15 09 18 17 — 59

WHITEOAK (59) — C.Hauke 3 (1) 2-4 11, K.Hamm 0 (0) 1-4 1, J.Lucas 2 (1) 7-10 14, A.Roberts 1 (2) 1-2 9, A.Hauke 3 (2) 3-4 15, T.Potts 3 (0) 3-6 9. TOTALS: 12 (6) 17-30 59.

PEEBLES (47) — L.Barr 0 (0) 0-2 0, Al.Smalley 3 (1) 2-2 11, P.Shively 1 (0) 0-0 2, Ab.Smalley 1 (1) 1-2 6, K.Myers 7 (0) 6-12 20, A.Gray 3 (0) 1-5 7, M.Unger 0 (0) 1-2 1. TOTALS: 15 (2) 11-25 47.

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