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Craig, Douglass score 12 each for Caston in loss
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
Kandace Kroft Marissa Iverson Allison Craig
WINAMAC — Kandace Kroft hit five 3-pointers and scored 24 points, and the Winamac girls basketball team survived being “punched in the mouth,” according to coach Tony Stesiak, to record a 61-50 win over visiting Caston Saturday.
Sadie Popejoy added three 3-pointers and scored 17 points, and Marissa Iverson vacuumed up 20 rebounds to go with her 12 points.
Allison Craig had 12 points and nine rebounds, and Madi Douglass had 12 points and six rebounds for Caston in the loss. Grace Colvin and Adyson Steininger hit three triples each and scored nine points each.
Winamac improved to 4-0 overall and 1-0 in the Hoosier North. The 4-0 start is Winamac’s first since 2018.
Caston fell to 2-3, 0-1.
Winamac had won its previous three games by margins of 39, 26 and 45 points, and they led this game 43-25 on a Popejoy steal and layup in the first minute of the second half.
But that’s when Caston, playing their second game in as many nights and their fifth game in 10 days, summoned up the energy to go on a 13-1 run covering the third and fourth quarters.
Craig, who was playing despite pain in her surgically repaired left shoulder, hit two free throws nine seconds into the fourth quarter. When Douglass’ backcourt pressure forced a Winamac turnover, which led to a Colvin 3-pointer, Caston had sliced the lead to 47-42.
Douglass would miss two free throws, and Colvin missed an open 3 to get even closer, and Winamac then responded with a 7-0 run.
The run included Corinne Ulerick putting back her own miss, and freshman Kylie Fisher draining a 3-pointer after a Popejoy kick-out pass from the post. Fisher’s field goal was the first of her career, and Winamac coach Tony Stesiak called it “the unsung play of the game.”
A driving banker from Kroft followed to increase the lead to 54-42. Caston never got closer than nine after that.
“I think we were a little deeper,” Stesiak said. “I think that was the difference. But I loved the fact that we got punched in the mouth in the third quarter. Coach (Josh) Douglass is a good coach. That’s a good team. They’re a proud team. We needed it. … The game got physical. We didn’t handle it great at the start. We regrouped and got the ball where it needed to be.”
Iverson appreciated the effort Caston gave.
“I like the competition,” Iverson said. “Playing the worst teams is fun, but they’re not going to get us any better.”
Caston had just three turnovers in the second half while forcing 10 Winamac miscues, but Caston went just 6 for 16 from the foul line in the second half.
“We changed some things up there at halftime,” coach Douglass said. “Went a little differently. The girls executed better what we wanted to do on defense. And honestly, if we could hit our free throws there, the whole complexion of that game changes. I think it’s even closer. Because we were awful from the foul line.”
Popejoy hit a 3-pointer 15 seconds into the game, and Winamac never trailed. Popejoy would hit another 3 in the first quarter, and Iverson also scored six points in the first quarter on two putbacks and a flash to the post off a Kroft assist.
Then Kroft, who leads the state with 21 3-pointers and who was coming off a school record eight 3-pointers in a game against North Newton, went thermonuclear. She tossed in a 3 to start the second quarter from the top of the key. Then she swished another 3 from the top of the key from about 23 feet.
Colvin answered with a 3, but Kroft countered with another 3 from the right of the key. Her fourth 3-pointer of the quarter came in transition, and when Popejoy tossed in another 3 in transition and Kroft scored on a driving banker, the lead was 35-21.
“Kandace Kroft is playing how you want a four-year varsity starter to play,” Stesiak said. “I think this might be her 75th game of her career. She is without a doubt the best player in the area and one of the best in this part of the state. There’s no doubt about it. She does everything. She rebounds, she distributes, scores, coaches on the floor. This is how you want a kid’s senior to go. She’s led us. Having said that, we’ve got three now in doubles with Popejoy and Iverson. Not a lot of teams have that.”
A nifty Craig scoop and a Craig bucket in the post cut the lead to 10, but Ulerick scored in the post, Iverson scored on an inbounds play off a Kroft assist, and Popejoy hit a pullup banker to get the lead to 41-25 at halftime.
Iverson had a double-double (10 points, 11 rebounds) in the first half. She said she is still getting in shape from a knee injury suffered against Pioneer 10 months ago that ended her season early.
She missed track season in the spring recovering. She did not undergo surgery, but she said she might need surgery after basketball season. She said she wants to average a double-double.
“So at the Pioneer game last year, I tore part of my meniscus, had a deep bone bruise, sprained my MCL, and I tore cartilage in my knee,” Iverson said. “I’ve been doing a lot of physical therapy. I’m in physical therapy now. My meniscus has healed a little bit, but there’s still like a tear, and I have tendinitis in two spots in my knee. … I just push through it. It’s my senior year. I’m not going to sit out with tendinitis.”
Stesiak noted that Iverson’s desire has not waned.
“She wants it,” Stesiak said. “She wants the school record for rebounds in a game and a season. She wants all that. She’s still coming back from rehab. … Summer was more about rehab than playing. So she’s kind of playing her way into shape. I think there’s more in the tank there.”
Caston post player Natalie Warner missed her third straight game with a concussion. Caston face-guarded Kroft and Popejoy in the second half.
Kroft is the latest star player Caston has faced, following Rochester’s Aubrey Wilson, Peru’s Addison Robbins and North White’s Autumn Reif.
“It really wasn't a triangle-in-two,” coach Douglass said. “We were talking about going triangle-in-two. We just went full-out denial on those two with extreme help side. The same thing they were doing to us. They were leaving kids open, and we were going to do the same thing to them. The first half, we didn’t execute very well, but we weren’t full-out denial. We were supposed to be more help side, and we weren’t there. We were too latched on to other girls, and that allowed Kroft over here to get going.”
Winamac 61, Caston 50
CASTON (50) (2-3, 0-1)
Grace Colvin 3 0-2 9, Madi Douglass 4 3-6 12, Camila Hernandez-Rios 0 0-2 0, Hadlie Coffing 3 1-4 7, Allison Craig 4 4-5 12, Ellie Zartman 0 1-2 1, Adyson Steininger 3 0-0 9, Gigi Berry 0 0-0 0
TEAM: 17 9-21 50
WINAMAC (61) (4-0, 1-0)
Maggie Keller 0 0-0 0, Kandace Kroft 9 1-2 24, Sadie Popejoy 6 2-5 17, Corinne Ulerick 2 1-2 5, Marissa Iverson 6 0-2 12, Jordan Compton 0 0-0 0, Kylie Fisher 1 0-0 3
TEAM: 24 4-11 61
Three-point field goals:
Caston 7 (Colvin 3, Steininger 3, Douglass),
Winamac 9 (Kroft 5, Popejoy 3, Fisher)
Total fouls: Caston 16, Winamac 18
Turnovers: Caston 10, Winamac 14
Score by quarters
Caston 11 14 12 13 – 50
Winamac 16 25 6 14 – 61
