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Campbell, Link score in double figures for Lady Warriors
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
WINAMAC — Isabel Scales scored 21 points, and the Caston girls basketball team used a three-quarter court pressing defense to open an early 12-point lead en route to a 48-40 win over host Winamac on Nov. 13.
Brianna Yarber added seven, and Maddi Smith and Bailey Harness had six each for Caston, who bounced back after a 42-29 loss to sectional rival North White the previous night.
Kaya Campbell led Winamac with 14 points, and Piper Link added 10. Kingsley Kroft added nine, all on 3-pointers and all in the second half.
Caston achieved their biggest lead at 43-29 on a Smith free throw with 4:24 left, and Winamac would get no closer than eight the rest of the way.
Caston, who was playing their fifth game in 10 days, improved to 4-1 overall and 1-0 in the Hoosier North. Girls basketball records are sketchy prior to 2000, but it was believed to be Caston’s first road win at Winamac in at least 20 years.
Caston had lost to Winamac 68-3 in their last trip to Winamac on Nov. 16, 2019.
It’s also the first time in at least 20 years that Caston has beaten Winamac in back-to-back years.
Winamac fell to 1-3, 0-1.
Winamac’s only lead was at 2-0 when Link hit a left baseline pullup jumper just 32 seconds into the game.
Caston stayed with their pressing defense and went on a 12-0 run. Yarber had a 3-point play, and Scales scored six consecutive points at one stretch. She hit a left baseline jumper and two long 2-pointers from the right wing.
Caston coach Josh Douglass described his team’s effort and hustle as “excellent.” Even as Winamac made adjustments to the pressure, Douglass didn’t want to get away from the pressure.
“We’re trying to work on that and build that up,” Douglass said of the early pressure. “And we decided as coaches tonight … they did a great job. They beat us several times on it, but we have to learn to keep moving, and when they adjust, we have to re-adjust. So we wanted to stay in it tonight, even though they cut into us with a couple baskets. It’s something we’re working on and trying to get better and trying to anticipate a little bit better.”
Winamac coach Kole Kroft called Caston a “good, physical team.” He said his team didn’t match Caston’s physicality in the first quarter.
Winamac got within 21-14 at halftime and chopped the deficit down to three on two occasions in the third quarter. Kroft hit a pair of treys in the first 44 seconds of the second half, and Campbell also scored six points in the quarter.
A 19-footer from Yarber along the right baseline and a Scales 3-pointer helped Caston take a 33-27 lead into the fourth quarter.
Caston then went on a 10-2 run to open the fourth quarter to go up by 14. Smith had a steal and a layup. Scales turned an off-balance banker into a 3-point play. Kinzie Mollenkopf scored off a Harness assist.
“We definitely did not play well last night, so we wanted to get that off our minds and play a good game tonight,” Scales said. “Honestly, 4-1… doesn’t mean anything. We have to keep working like we’re 0 and whatever. Just because we’re winning games doesn’t mean that we’re all that. We have to keep working in practice.”
Hailey Attinger scored off a trap breaker for Winamac, but Abby Williamson answered with two free throws to put Caston back up by 13.
Winamac was coming off a 46-27 road loss to Argos the previous night. Lady Warriors coach Kole Kroft said he sensed a good response from his team earlier Saturday.
“I’ll give our kids credit,” coach Kroft said. “They fought back. There’s no quit in him. There were a couple a sophomores, and I saw them grow tonight. … There was a different tone at shootaround this morning. And I could tell when we came in here there was a different tone than there was last night. We might as well have not even gotten off the bus last night with the intensity and that. So we had to put that behind us and come back and just make sure we’re getting better each game.”
Game notes
Caston played without sophomore shooting guard Addison Zimpleman, who was participating in a travel softball tournament.
Lauren Fredel, a Winamac junior and a member of the JV team, sang the national anthem. Senior Kate Collins performed the anthem in sign language.
Caston 48, Winamac 40
CASTON (48) (4-1, 1-0)
Isabel Scales 7 6-7 21, Brianna Yarber 3 1-1 7, Bailey Harness 1 4-9 6, Maddi Smith 2 2-8 6, Abby Williamson 1 2-4 4, Laura Dammermann 0 0-0 0, Kinzie Mollenkopf 2 0-0 4
TEAM: 16 15-29 48
WINAMAC (40) (1-3, 0-1)
Maggie Smith 0 0-0 0, Kingsley Kroft 3 0-0 9, Kaya Campbell 6 0-1 14, Piper Link 4 2-2 10, Ella Gearhart 0 0-0 0, Hailey Attinger 3 1-4 7, Lily Bennett 0 0-0 0
TEAM: 16 3-7 40
Three-point field goals:
Caston 1 (Scales),
Winamac 5 (Kroft 3, Campbell 2)
Total fouls: Caston 8, Winamac 22
Fouled out: Kroft (WIN), :31.2, fourth
Turnovers: Caston 14, Winamac 19
Score by quarters
Caston 12 9 12 15 – 48
Winamac 4 10 13 13 – 40
