Published: November 15, 2008 11:29 pm      

BASKETBALL: NW tests Kokomo

As Kokomo’s girls basketball team wins games later in the season, the Wildkats will remember Saturday night’s game. That was a night Kokomo learned a lot about itself — good and bad — in a grinding 47-40 victory over Northwestern.

Kokomo survived despite committing 15 fouls in the second half and finishing with an alarming 30 turnovers. The Wildkats looked like they were ready to run away with the game after using good offensive play to go up 21-4 early in the second quarter, but the Purple Tigers had plenty of fight left and trimmed the deficit to a worrisome five points down the stretch.

“Obviously, it got close there but we knew it was going to be,” Kokomo coach Jason Snyder said. “They’re a good team, well coached. [We knew] it’s going to be a dogfight, and it ended up being one, and we’re just fortunate to be on the positive end.”

A night after a season-opening victory at Noblesville, Kokomo went up big early in its home opener, then ran into trouble in the second quarter. Kokomo scored just four points in the frame and had nine turnovers. But Kokomo’s defense responded, holding Northwestern to just 3 of 23 shooting in the first 16 minutes to hold a 23-10 lead at the half.

“[We] battled through a tough weekend, two tough games, good teams,” Snyder said. “We showed some mental and physical fatigue after we got a good start. Our energy level would be much better as the year goes on. We had great energy for five quarters, but … not quite for eight this weekend.”

The Tigers (0-1) made things interesting in the second half.

Using nearly constant pressure, Northwestern forced another nine Kokomo miscues in the third quarter and eight in the fourth. The Kat lead hovered around 10 and grew to 43-29 after 3-pointers by Kokomo guards Skylarr Shurn and Kali Ackison before Northwestern made a late charge.

The Tigers pulled to within five points at 43-38 on a pair of free throws by Annelise Tarkington with 2:15 to play but got no closer.

“It seemed like the whole night we were a shot away from maybe getting back in, or some free throws away,” NW coach Todd Miller said. “It just seemed like every time we needed a shot, or a set of free throws, we’d miss and doggone it, they’d come back and hit a big shot or a 3.”

Fueled by pressure defense and 14 offensive rebounds in the second half, Northwestern had far more opportunities to score in the final two quarters, putting up nine more shots and 12 more free throws than the home side, and stressing the Wildkat defense. But the Tigers hit just 14 of 29 free throws for the game.

Snyder said that Northwestern’s fight “showed what a good group Northwestern has, how well coached they are. There’s a reason why they didn’t lose a regular season game last year and they’re not going to lose many this year. They’ve got good, solid guard play and solid post play and they can put a lot of pressure on you.”

Miller said it took time to adjust to Kokomo’s physical play, creating a hole too big to climb out of.

“We tried to be ready for their physicality,” he said. “We talked about it, we practiced for it, but for whatever reason we weren’t ready for is. They took it to us pretty strong physically in the first half, but I thought the second half I was really proud of our girls. We didn’t give up. We were down 21-4 I believe. [A] 17-point deficit to a great team like Kokomo, that’s pretty tough to overcome.”

Miller is enthused that the Tigers look like they can make things happen with their press down the road this season. The Tigers were led by Tarkington, who had 10 points and four steals, Kylie Ballard, who had 10 points and nine rebounds, and Sarah Lubben, who had eight points, five rebounds and five steals. Rachel Lowden added nine rebounds. Northwestern outrebounded Kokomo 39-36 and took 21 offensive caroms.

On the Wildkat side, Shurn led the home team with 11 points and added six rebounds. Clarissa Woodard had 10 points and eight rebounds, and Ackison scored nine points — all on 3-pointers. Ashley DeWitt had six rebounds and four blocked shots. Abby Hemmeger scored five points and had five boards before leaving the game with an ankle injury at the end of the third quarter.

Snyder praised the play of Shurn and Ackison outside and Woodard and DeWitt inside. He hopes the team’s grit carries over to its next game, on Saturday against North Central Conference foe Logansport.

“I’m proud of the way the girls stepped up and the fact that we’re 2-0 in the first weekend heading into our first conference game next week,” he said. “This has been great preparation for that.”