Girls' Basketball Team Falls To Wabash
22 Jan 2009

by Eric Christiansen
Cold shooting from the field hurt the Lady Squires in a 58-42 loss to Wabash Saturday night.
Manchester shot just 10-45 from the field for 22.2 percent against the Lady Apaches, which translated into a rough night for the Lady Squires.
“Wabash played very well tonight,” Manchester coach Mark Underwood said. “They were clicking, and their shots were falling.
“I think we took a baby step backwards tonight,” he continued. “We have been improving over our last several games, but tonight, we didn’t have the enthusiasm, effort, or intensity that it takes to compete against a solid basketball team like this.”
Manchester never led in the ball game, and only enjoyed one tie, 2-2 early in the game.
Wabash’s Brooklyn Short paced the Lady Apaches with 21 points, 13 of them in the first quarter, including seven straight to break the game open.
Wabash led 11-4 in the first quarter after a Short layup, but Katie Bowers and Noelle Patrick both went 2-2 from the free throw line, followed by a basket from Jessica Bedke to cut the lead to 11-10.
Short then hit a jumper, was fouled and hit two free throws, and connected on a three pointer to give Wabash an 18-10 lead.
Jordan Fox went 1-2 from the line to make it 19-10 at the end of the first quarter.
Bowers and Emily Hill hit back to back baskets to cut the lead to 19-14, but that would be the closest the Lady Squires would get all night.
Wabash outscored Manchester 14-10 in the second quarter to take a 33-20 halftime lead, and never let Manchester inside of single digits the entire second half.
“I was pleased with all facets of the game tonight,” Wabash coach Scott Bumgardner said. “We had a good idea of what they wanted to do. Twenty of their points came from the free throw line. That’s good attacking on Manchester’s part, but I was happy with how we played defense.”
Underwood wasn’t thrilled with how his team played, but took it all in stride.
“This game isn’t going to make or break our season,” he said. “We have to learn from this and understand if we play them again in sectional, we’re going to have to come more ready.
“The first time we played them, we did that,” Underwood continued. “We’ve already proven this is a team we can play with. We played them close for 3 1/2 quarters. We just know it’s going to take that kind of effort in the next meeting, if there is one.”
Underwood was also happy with his reserves, who played pivotal roles after Bowers and Amber Fratus got into foul trouble in the first half.
Hanna Schmidt came off the bench to score seven points, while Emily Hill added three points.
“Hanna and Emily both did an excellent job for us tonight,” Underwood said. “Emily started the year full time JV, but now she’s put herself in a position where she is a full time varsity player because of her hard work and attitude.”
Bowers and Patrick led Manchester with 12 points each. Bowers added four assists and three rebounds, while Patrick had seven rebounds.
Schmidt had one rebound and two steals to go with her seven points, Fratus had four points and six rebounds, Hill had three points and one rebound, and Becka Guthrie and Bedke both had two points.
Manchester will host Lakeland Christian this Friday and Rochester on Saturday. They will then host Triton on Tuesday.