Kroft breaks Winamac career 3-point mark in win over S. Central
- Val T.
- 19 hours ago
- 4 min read
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BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
WINAMAC — Kandace Kroft broke the Winamac girls basketball team’s career record for 3-pointers in a 58-32 win over visiting South Central (Union Mills) Saturday.
Kroft hit four treys and scored a game-high 22 points. Her fourth 3 came with 4:23 left and gave her 133 for her career. Jordan Brandt, a 2010 grad, had the previous record with 132.
Coach Tony Stesiak called timeout afterwards to allow the crowd to give her a round of applause.
“I knew I was close,” Kroft said of setting the record. “I knew I was close because when I was going through the records with my dad, and then I went on MaxPreps, and I was like, ‘Oh, I’m kinda close to this one.’ So it became more maybe trying to get closer to that.”
Sadie Popejoy hit three 3s and added 16 for Winamac (2-0). Marissa Iverson, the frontcourt player in Winamac’s big three, scored 13, including 12 in the second half, and she also had eight rebounds and three blocked shots.
Samantha Marks led South Central (0-2) with 11 points.
Winamac started the game with a 14-0 run that included eight points from Popejoy and six from Kroft. Each hit two 3-pointers during the run.
“It was really important,” Kroft said. “South Central is a really great team, and they like to play fast too, so it was just more outrunning them and getting rebounds and going.”
Said Stesiak of the start: “Today was one of those where we came out and shot it well early, and that sets the tone for everything else. It allowed us to set everything else up offensively and defensively. It got them chasing us. To be able to do that and get off to a good start is always good, especially when you’re home and in a new season.”
The lead was 28-12 at halftime, and South Central hung within 30-17 in the third quarter after a Makenna Welsh post layup, but Winamac went on a 13-1 run covering the third and fourth quarters to increase the lead to 43-18.
That run included a Popejoy 3, a Kroft steal and layup, an Iverson layup with one second left in the third quarter off a nifty Maggie Keller pass in the post and an Iverson garbage layup to start the fourth.
The lead reached as high as 28 in the fourth quarter. Kroft had five points and three assists as Winamac put the game away in the fourth, including flipping a pass from the left corner in front of the Winamac bench and finding a cutting Popejoy for a layup.
Winamac’s defensive pressure forced 20 turnovers. South Central also did not make a 3-pointer. Stesiak said the pressure has a cumulative effect on opponents.
“I think it all was effective,” Stesiak said when asked if Winamac’s fullcourt press or halfcourt zone was more effective. “We wanted to wear them down. We wanted to run on them as much as possible. I think that’s something we can do, and I think that this is a team that has some size but is not super athletic or super quick or super good ball handlers. So we wanted to get this into a transition game, and I think pretty much from the tip we were able to do that and handled their pressure when they tried to make a run with some traps late. We were able to change our defenses quite a bit, and I think this is a team that can do that as well.”
Kroft noted that having 12 players on the roster – Winamac is playing two quarters of JV this year after not having a JV last year – also allows them to play a faster tempo.
Winamac played nine players in the varsity game Saturday. All four subs were freshmen: Abby Keller, Kylie Fisher, Jordan Compton and Willa Byroad.
“They’re just scratching the surface,” Stesiak said. “Fisher and Compton especially have an athleticism that blends in well to this group. Byroad and Abby Keller will get there. They’re not quite at that level, but Fisher and Compton can play right now, and as they get more comfortable with the speed which we want to play at, their ceilings are really high too. I think they can be difference makers.”
Winamac 58, South Central (Union Mills) 32
SOUTH CENTRAL (32) (0-2)
Samantha Marks 3 5-6 11, Makenna Welsh 2 0-0 4, Gwen Mendenhall 0 0-0 0, Kallie Sutter 2 0-0 4, Ashlen Strauch 1 1-2 3, Aby Kalinke 1 2-2 4, Morgan Paschen 0 0-0 0, Adisynne Kalinke 0 2-4 2, Katelyn Duttlinger 0 0-0 0, Payton Egolf 0 0-0 0, Lola Yeaney 1 0-0 2, Carmen Garner 1 0-0 2, Hannah Drubert 0 0-0 0
TEAM: 11 10-14 32
WINAMAC (58) (2-0)
Maggie Keller 0 0-0 0, Kandace Kroft 8 2-2 22, Sadie Popejoy 6 1-4 16, Corinne Ulerick 2 1-2 6, Marissa Iverson 5 3-6 13, Abby Keller 0 0-0 0, Kylie Fisher 0 0-0 0, Jordan Compton 0 1-2 1, Willa Byroad 0 0-0 0
TEAM: 21 8-16 58
Three-point field goals:
South Central 0,
Winamac 8 (Kroft 4, Popejoy 3, Ulerick)
Total fouls: South Central 14, Winamac 13
Turnovers: South Central 20, Winamac 13
Score by quarters
South Central 5 7 6 14 – 32
Winamac 14 14 13 17 – 58
