Published: February 09, 2008 11:54 pm            

GIRLS BBALL: Kokomo wins sectional

Drake-led Kats win program’s 20th sectional title

LOGANSPORT — Over the past quarter of a century for the Kokomo Lady Wildkats and more recently for four-year starter Kayla Drake, IHSAA sectional championships have become a pleasurable way of life.

Heading into this past week’s Class 4A, Logansport Sectional, Kokomo had won 18 of its last 23 sectionals and Drake had been a part of two of three title teams.

That successful run came to a screeching halt last year at Lafayette when Logansport beat Kokomo in the sectional finals. Saturday night, here at the Berry Bowl, the Wildkats got a bit of revenge and made certain that all is right in their world once again.

For the second straight night, the Kats utilized a strangling defense, holding the Berries 26 points below their season scoring average en route to a 35-28 victory.

Drake said losing to the Berries in last year’s title game made this 20th sectional title in school history, special.

“This was all we wanted all year,” said Drake, who led the Kats with 11 points. “It was almost like our regular season was just practice games leading up to the tournament. This was what we wanted.”

The Kats (17-5) move on to the Huntington North Semistate where in the second game Saturday, they’ll take on Carroll of Allen County (14-10). Fort Wayne South (20-4) takes on Anderson (15-9) in the opener.

Kokomo coach Jason Snyder struggled finding words after the biggest victory of his two-year coaching stint.

“Winning a share of the [North Central Conference] was great and it gave us some momentum going into the tournament,” Snyder said. “This means so much to the program and I’m happy for the team, especially the seniors. I look out on the floor right now and I see all the families enjoying the moment and that’s what this is all about.”

In beating McCutcheon Friday night, Kokomo’s defense harassed the Mavs into 9 of 45 shooting. It was much of the same Saturday night. Logansport, which shoots 44 percent on the season and averages 54 points, was silenced to the tune of 8 of 35 accuracy (23 percent) and a season low 28 points.

“We wanted to stop their driving to the basket and we did a pretty good job of that,” Snyder said. “Like [Friday] night, our guard pressure from [Kelcey] Ackison, [Shaketta] Cotton and Drake was all guts and effort. They were able to put that extra pressure on because they had faith in their post players, that if they needed help, those girls were going to swat a few shots away.”

Logansport coach Jerry Hoover, who watched his NCC co-champs end their season at 17-6, also pointed to Kokomo’s defense as the difference.

“We shot poorly, but you have to give Kokomo credit, they really defended us,” he said. “No doubt, their defense frustrated us. If someone would have told me that Kokomo would score 35 points, I’d have been pretty happy — I’d have figured we would win the game.”

As was the case with the win over McCutcheon, the Kats led pretty much start to finish, but had a difficult time distancing themselves from the Berries.

Kokomo led 12-6 at the first quarter and with 4:35 left in the game, the margin was still six — 30-24, after Ackison’s perfect pass out front gave Drake an open look at a much needed 3-pointer.

Drake followed that with a drive to the hoop that drew considerable attention. She passed off to Kelly Hopkins who scored. With 4:15 left the lead was back to eight (32-24) and it looked as if the Kats might pull away.

That didn’t happen. Logansport trimmed the lead to 32-26 and the Kats went to their delay game. Kokomo missed a gimmie layup at 1:05 and when the Berries’ leading score Lindsay Rich scored to cut the lead to 32-28, the Berries call timeout at :54.

Snyder then sealed the deal with a bit of a risky call. Drake was inbounding under pressure and threw a three-quarter court pass to a streaking Cotton. She made the catch, hit the layup and after the Kats rebounded a Logansport miss from 3-point range, the issue was settled.

“That was a great pass by [Drake],” Snyder said. “[Cotton] made the catch and finished the play after she got open on a nice screen by [Ackison].”

Kokomo shot 14 of 44 from the floor for the second straight night, this time against the No. 1 ranking defense in the NCC. One of the smallest players on the court, Drake added a game-high 10 rebounds to her 11 points. She and Cotton had six of the Kats nine steals. Aelleon Woodard had nine points and seven boards and along with her sister Clarissa, handcuffed the Berries’ 6-foot-1 Jasmine Penny, a 16-point average scorer, to just six points.

        

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