WHITEHALL — Even down to six rotation players due to various mid-winter break happenings, Whitehall played its most complete game of the season Friday night, pounding Oakridge 58-24 and raising optimism it can be a factor in the upcoming district tournament.
The Vikings only beat Oakridge by a point in the teams' first matchup, and while that game did not include sophomore point guard Peyton Schultz, the dramatic increase in margin of victory was still noteworthy.
"It was a team effort," senior Janie Fagan said. "The points, rebounds, passing, steals, everything was spread throughout the team this game, and I think that was really impressive. It was amazing."
Whitehall knocked down a trio of three-pointers in the first quarter, one each by Schultz, Ellie Conklin and Clare Westerlund, to take a 13-9 lead. The Vikings' offense was cohesive and impressive the rest of the game, but just as much so was the defense. Oakridge took 4:58 or longer to score a point to start each of the final three quarters.
Limiting second chances was the biggest reason for Whitehall's defensive success. Westerlund had 10 rebounds and Conklin (the biggest beneficiary of the extra available playing time), Schultz, Decker and Kayden Johnson also got after it on the boards. The Vikings also had nine steals as a team.
Whitehall's Clare Westerlund passes the ball off while Johanna Lundquist defends during Friday's game at Whitehall. Westerlund had 17 points and 10 rebounds in the Vikings' 58-24 win.
"I think that we all did really good rebounding," Decker said. "We worked really hard on defense, which I think also helped the outcome, and I think we were just using our mental strength there to find those people that were open and make good passes."
As Decker alluded to, there was impressive passing along the way. Westerlund fed Decker with a beauty of an interior pass in the first half for a basket, and Fagan had an equally impressive pass for a bucket in the second. Schultz had six assists all by herself to go with 13 points.
"They're all so unselfish, and sometimes they're a little bit too unselfish when there's just too many hands in the way, but I'd much rather have that than the 1-on-5 kind of situations that we've seen in the past," Whitehall coach Brian Milliron said.
Westerlund led the Vikes with 17 points and her 10 boards. She also blocked two shots. Conklin had 10 points, playing her best game yet, Milliron said, and Fagan chipped in eight points.
Whitehall will face Oakridge again in next week's district opener, with a potential rematch against Fruitport after that. The Vikings lost 45-33 to the Trojans back on Dec. 30.
"I think the (biggest thing) that we can get better at is just carrying the energy we had this game into the district, because I think that's really what's going to get us there," Fagan said. "We know physically that we can do it and mentally we can do it...We have to be positive."
