Mikayla Wheelock shooting one of many threes on the night. She broke the school record for most 3s in a game with eight in the team's 73-41 victory over the Knights.
The JWP girls’ basketball team was looking to keep the winning streak going during its fifth of seven road games to begin the season at Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial on Tuesday, December 9.
While they achieved that goal with a 73-41 victory, the real storyline was senior Mikayla Wheelock breaking the school record for most three-pointers made in a game. Wheelock, who already owns the school record for career 3s, looked like she couldn’t miss for most of the game, as she hit eight three-pointers out of ten attempts.
“When she is making shots at that level we are going to be a very difficult team to beat,” Head Coach Brandon Goebel said. “It opens up the floor a lot. We have so many talented scorers on our team that it can be hard to defend at times, and when she shoots like that, it is going to draw a ton of attention. It makes my job pretty easy. You look to get them as many opportunities as possible.”
He also praised her passing. “I was really proud of her because even though she was making shots, she was still a willing passer and ended the night with six assists.”
While it was the Wheelock show for most of the night, it was Ashlynn Wolff opening the scoring for JWP with a two-point shot. It hasn’t been common for the Lady Dawgs to score first, but this certainly helped them against a tough LCWM Knights team looking to force turnovers in JWP’s defensive end all night with a full-court press. Wheelock provided a two-pointer and her first three-pointer of the evening to help the Bulldogs take a nine-point run and force a Knights timeout at 11-2.
While Lake Crystal frustrated the Bulldogs and broke up some plays, JWP used the Knights’ aggressiveness to its advantage. Wolff snatched the ball from a Knight player’s hands in the Bulldogs’ offensive end to set up Katie Olson for a quick layup. She went on a run herself, scoring nine straight for JWP. She took a shove after sinking a three, and another push had her winded and favoring her knee. However, she came back to play near the final minutes of the first half, aiding the team on a seven-point run to make it 39-23 at halftime.
“Katie is an unbelievable player and teammate, and I could never really say enough about her,” Goebel praised. “She is one of the toughest girls I have ever coached, and she is going to do everything in her power to be on the court. I have been very fortunate to coach a girl like her throughout the years.”
Goebel added that the team was prepared for LCWM’s aggressiveness on defense. “They definitely came out ready to go,” he explained. “I had a pretty good feeling they were going to try it, just seeing all the film I had on them. I don’t think we started the game off great vs it, but we started to figure it out throughout the game, which was great to see.”
While the Knights did a decent job stopping much of the Bulldogs’ offensive onslaught, they didn’t have an answer for Wheelock in the second half. It seemed she couldn’t miss, as she sank a three-pointer here, a corner three there, and even scored eight straight points in under two minutes. It seemed like whatever LCWM tried, JWP set up screens or passes to leave Wheelock open for the three-point shot. Junior Ray Blasing made one effort to keep the ball in play, launching it into the bleachers at one point. She then sank the two-pointer to force mercy rule.
It was a fantastic night for the Bulldogs. Wheelock led the way by far with her 28-point night, but Olson had a solid evening, too, with 20 points. Ashlynn Wolff contributed ten points, with Nevaeh Weimert connecting for seven points.
The girls are now 5-0, with a 2-0 record in Section 2AA play and in the Gopher Conference. They will have an interesting next two games at Maple River’s Holiday Classic. They will face Glencoe-Silver Lake on Friday, December 12, before facing Jordan on Saturday. The GSL game will be a grudge match, as JWP blew out the Panthers 67-29 but faced their full roster in the Section 2AA semifinals, narrowly losing to them 61-54.
