Davis scores 7 to lead Lady Cavs
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
WINAMAC — Winamac freshman guard Sadie Popejoy plays with “no fear,” according to coach Tony Stesiak.
Both Stesiak and Popejoy said her on-court decision-making might need some work, but for now, Winamac has a new shooting star.
Popejoy scored 11 of her game and career-high 19 points in the fourth quarter to lead the host Lady Warriors past Culver 47-33 Tuesday.
Maggie Smith and Marissa Iverson added eight points each, and Piper Link had seven points and a team-high 10 rebounds as Winamac played through an early injury to sophomore point guard Kandace Kroft.
Like Winamac, Culver’s leading scorer was also a freshman as Brooke Davis tallied seven points. Brianna Schlemmer, Elexa O’Brien and Grace Sieber added six points apiece.
Schlemmer suffered a right ankle injury with 6:48 left in the third quarter and had to be helped off the floor. She did not return.
Culver committed 29 turnovers, including 10 in the fourth quarter. Winamac had 19 turnovers – 10 in the first quarter but only nine in the last three quarters combined.
Culver went on an 11-0 run covering the third and fourth quarters to cut what had been a 17-point deficit to 32-26. Treys from Sieber from the left of the key and O’Brien in the right corner capped the run.
Link countered with two free throws, and then Popejoy hit 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions. The first was from the left wing, and the second was from just in front of the Winamac bench.
That highlighted an 8-0 run that put Winamac back up by 14. Popejoy later added two free throws and her fifth 3-pointer as Winamac built the lead to as big as 17 in the fourth quarter.
“No fear,” Stesiak said. “That can be a blessing and a curse. I love that she’s wanting to take tough shots. Sometimes, time-and-score recognition, she’s got to work through. Sometimes, seeing a teammate and what they’ve got going, I thought she missed some teammates, but I love it. Because she’s added a huge dimension to us. She’s a difference maker, to have another ballhandler, a shooter, somebody’s who’s fearless and willing to make a good play and willing to take a risk. You can’t have enough of those kids.”
After a made shot, Popejoy raced back to the other end to deflect a pass out of bounds, causing Stesiak to pump his fist near the baseline and extend a celebratory five to Popejoy. A smiling Popejoy called Stesiak “outgoing” and said “he’s so loud” in the locker room that it brings out the best in the players.
Said Popejoy: “Pretty good. I definitely should have drove it more towards the end, but I think those 3s were pretty good and brought us back from being down.”
Popejoy said she plays for coach Travis Best on the Indiana’s Best AAU team during the summer, and she has also worked privately with former Logansport High School and Stillman College player Antonio Penny. She will also be on Winamac’s track team in the spring.
“He helped me a lot to gain my confidence and learn all the moves I’ve learned and then the arch on my shot,” Popejoy said of Penny. “My mom is helping me too.”
While Kroft was on the bench receiving treatment for a leg injury, Stesiak called timeout with Winamac trailing 7-4.
Winamac responded with a 10-0 run that turned a 7-4 deficit into a 14-7 lead. Popejoy scored five points, Iverson hit a pair of free throws, and Smith had a free throw and a steal and a coast-to-coast bucket to complete the run.
“We were playing without Kandace Kroft, which you don’t really design for,” Stesiak said of the timeout. “And obviously, the way she fell, mentally … they care about their teammate, so there’s a little indecision, and… we don’t spend too much time practicing without her, so I think we were a little indecisive, and they put us on a little run, and they maybe were the aggressive team coming out of that, so we just talked about being a little more specific in our assignments coming out of our press breaker, and once we were able to handle that and not turn it over as much, I think we could score with our defense. I think we were better at every position tonight. We just needed some time to slow down to speed up, so to speak. We were trying to make the hero pass right away, and then I think once we settled down and you see the ball go through the hole and you get a couple stops, and you just build on it.”
Sieber found Amiyah Williams for a layup, and O’Brien banged in a 3 to make it 14-12.
With 3:03 left in the half, Kroft returned, and Winamac closed the half on a 6-0 run with their point guard back in the game that Popejoy capped with a trey with six seconds left in the half to make it 20-12.
Meanwhile, Schlemmer and Williams each picked up their third fouls seven seconds apart during the run. Williams’s fourth foul occurred 31 seconds into the third quarter.
“It was there in that third quarter when Amiyah went out with her fourth foul,” Culver co-coach A.J. Neace said.. “We had to cut it to seven there, and I think that was the turning point because they went on a 10-0 run right there after Amiyah got in that foul trouble.”
Link’s layup on an inbounds play to start the second half, but Schlemmmer hit a 3 just before her injury to cut the lead to seven.
Without Schlemmer, Winamac went on a 10-0 run as Smith and Brody Goodman sandwiched treys around a pair of Iverson buckets to make it 32-15.
But a Davis putback and a Sieber assist to Eliana Andrzejewski for an open layup started the momentum back in Culver’s favor.
Neace brothers take over at Culver
A.J. Neace said his team got tired in the fourth quarter.
“I think it was our fatigue,” A.J. Neace said. “We were really dogging there come that fourth quarter. With our defense and our pressing we put on, there’s a lot of energy spent, and it showed in that fourth quarter.”
Brothers Adam and A.J. Neace are Culver’s first year co-coaches. Jessica McCuen is both the JV coach and the varsity assistant.
Adam is the “defensive coordinator,” and A.J. is the “offensive coordinator.” Adam has installed both a fullcourt press and a 2-3 zone in the halfcourt.
A.J. Neace said he and his brother became coaches on the first day of practice on Oct. 16. Previously, they had been assistant coaches for the Culver boys team.
Shane Lowry coached the team the last two years, and Brett Berndt had been the associate coach.
A.J. Neace said he did not know why there was a coaching change or why the change occurred when it did. A.J. Neace is also the girls soccer coach at Culver and is familiar with many of the players already.
Adam Neace is also the boys soccer soccer coach at Culver.
Adam Neace is a 2009 Culver grad and a member of Culver’s 2008 team that reached a Class 2A regional final. A.J. Neace is a 2011 Culver grad.
“They came to us and asked us if we wanted to take the job, and we said, ‘Sure, why not?’” A.J. Neace said.
Sieber, O’Brien and Giselle Villegas are the team’s three seniors.
Winamac also won the JV game 43-18.
Winamac 47, Culver 33
CULVER (33) (2-3, 0-1)
Grace Sieber 2 1-2 6, Maddy Hamilton 0 2-2 2, Elexa O’Brien 2 0-0 6, Brooke Davis 3 1-2 7, Amiyah Williams 2 0-0 4, Giselle Villegas 0 0-0 0, Brianna Schlemmer 2 0-0 6, Eliana Andrzejewski 1 0-0 2
TEAM: 12 4-6 33
WINAMAC (47) (3-2, 1-1)
Maggie Smith 3 1-2 8, Kandace Kroft 0 0-0 0, Sadie Popejoy 6 2-3 19, Piper Link 2 3-4 7, Lily Bennett 0 0-0 0, Brody Goodman 1 0-2 3, Mershai Loehmer 0 0-0 0, Marissa Iverson 3 2-2 8, Mara Holehan 0 0-0 0, Emily Weaver 0 0-0 0, Kaelyn O’Connor 1 0-2 2, Corinne Ulerick 0 0-0 0, Cyaira Wolford 0 0-0 0
TEAM: 16 8-15 47
Three-point field goals:
Culver 5 (O’Brien 2, Schlemmer 2, Sieber),
Winamac 7 (Popejoy 5, Smith, Goodman)
Total fouls: Culver 17, Winamac 13
Technical foul: Winamac, six players on the court, :16.8, fourth
Turnovers: Culver 29, Winamac 19
Score by quarters
Culver 7 5 8 13 – 33
Winamac 12 8 12 15 – 47
JV: Winamac 43, Culver 18