The deeper the Whiteland girls basketball team gets into the season, the more weapons it seems to be developing.
Megan Harlow and Toni Joyner combined for 40 points as Whiteland kept its perfect Mid-State Conference campaign going with a comfortable 63-47 victory against Greenwood on Friday night.
Harlow connected on three 3-pointers and finished with 21 points, while Joyner added 19 points and eight rebounds for the Warriors (14-4, 4-0), who can clinch at least a share of the conference title in two weeks at Franklin.
“Megan was big all night long,” Whiteland coach Kyle Shipp said. “She got us started off early and then hit some big outside shots to extend the defense.
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“Toni’s taken advantage of people double-teaming Mackenzie (Blazek), and our squad has done a nice job of finding her in good spots, and she’s done a nice job of converting those.”
The Warriors put together a run of 13 straight points, keyed by a pair of three-point plays from Toni Joyner, to build a 17-4 lead with 6:37 to go in the half. Greenwood (10-9, 0-5) finally got its offense going, however, and the duo of Alex Kincaid and Brooklyn Stubblefield helped cut the deficit to four at 22-18.
That surge didn’t last. Whiteland built its lead back up to 29-20 by halftime on a Harlow 3 and a Blazek putback, and an 11-0 run stretched that margin out to 42-22 midway through the third period.
The Warriors pushed their advantage to as many as 29 in the final quarter before putting it into cruise control late.
“Give credit to Whiteland’s defense,” Greenwood coach Bill Torgerson said. “There were periods of the game where we absolutely couldn’t score. With Blazek playing in the middle it takes away a lot of the things that Alex or Leah (Moore), especially, would do really close to the basket.”
Blazek added 13 points and 16 boards for Whiteland, passing Indian Creek’s Ally Lehman to become the county’s all-time rebounding leader and moving into the state’s all-time top 10 in that category.
Stubblefield paced the Woodmen in defeat with 13 points, while Moore added 10 points and Kincaid had six points and 14 rebounds.
