Lady Squires Fall To Wabash In County Finals
03 Jan 2008

It was over almost before it started.
After defeating Northfield in the opening round of the Wabash County Tournament, the Lady Squires faced off against defending champion Wabash in the championship game.
Wabash raced out to a quick 6-0 lead and never let Manchester back into the game in a 55-28 win.
“Wabash had a total team effort,” Manchester coach Mark Underwood said. “They were the aggressor in every facet of the game, and we were just letting them do what they wanted to do. We didn’t bring the competitive nature, and we kind of played scared.”
Wabash controlled the opening minutes of the game, including getting two early baskets from Jordan Fox, one a three pointer, to take a 6-0 lead.
Audrey Johnson finally got Manchester on the board at the 4:09 mark with a three pointer of her own, but freshman Kaleigh Hensley answered with a three pointer, followed by another basket from Fox for an 11-3 lead.
Manchester hit four three-pointers in the first half, two from Jessica Bedke, but could never get the inside game going.
“We were so mentally out of it that we weren’t even getting into our offensive sets,” Underwood said. “We were just kind of floating around the perimeter. Luckily, we hit a few of those outside shots. We weren’t attacking the basket aggressively. They took us out of everything we were trying to do.”
One thing, rather, one person, Wabash focused on was Manchester’s Katie Bowers, who leads the Lady Squires in scoring. The junior only got off three shots, going 1-3 for two points.
“If you hold Bowers to two points, you’re giving yourself a chance to win,” Wabash coach Scott Bumbgardner said. “She was a major focus for us last year with all the players they had. She’s a nice athlete who can go right or left, can hit the 15 footer and the three pointer. She poses a lot of problems—there isn’t just one area you have to take away. We held her in check.”
The Lady Squires cut the lead to 15-11 on three pointers from Bedke and Amber Fratus, but Wabash used a 9-0 run to lead 28-16 at halftime.
In the second half, Wabash opened things up with a barrage of three pointers, including three from Fox, who finished with 18 points.
In a slowed down fourth quarter, Bowers’ basket were the only two points Manchester would score as the Lady Apaches spread the floor and controlled the ball.
“What is disappointing is they brought it to us, were ready to play, and were aggressive on both ends,” Underwood said. “We’re trying to get the girls to bring that same stuff back to them, but we didn’t have that competitive edge to win the game tonight.
“Some shots didn’t’ fall early, but we can’t let that dictate whether we’re going to play hard or not,” he continued. “I know a lot of girls on our team have never played in this type of situation, in front of a crowd like this. You can make all the excuses in the world, but this was their time, and they didn’t cash in on it.”
Underwood is looking forward to the Lady Squires’ next contest with North Miami to see how his team responds.
“They are good kids, and are going to come back and work hard, and try to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” he said. “We’re going to be challenging them. It isn’t about winning and losing. It’s competing and doing what you are capable of doing. We’re just going to have to compete at a higher level, or we’re going to have more disappointing nights like we did tonight.”
Bedke led Manchester with 10 points, while Johnson and Fratus both had five points. Bowers Noelle Patrick, Julie Seifert, and Kyla Zile all had two points each.
Manchester will travel to North Miami on Saturday for a TRC match up, with the JV tip-off at 6:15 p.m.