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Whippets hand Comets first loss

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Photo by Dan Lassiter

Delavan-Darien's Karli Collins battles for a shot with Whitewater's Megan Theune.

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Photo by Dan Lassiter

Whitewater's Courtney Trewyn eyes a shot sandwiched between Delavan-Darien's Kelly Supernaw, left, and Mallory Epping.

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Photo by Dan Lassiter

Whitewater's Leah Harms, left, and Sara Levine (11) grab the ball away from Delavan-Darien's Mallory Epping.

DELAVAN — Whitewater High girls basketball coach Judy Harms has tried to live by the motto of keeping the game fun for her team this season.

But facing the opportunity of knocking off undefeated Delavan-Darien, Harms couldn’t hide her intensity.

The Whippets, however, didn’t seem to mind.

Senior Chelsea Heil’s two free throws with 4.2 seconds left sealed Whitewater’s 51-50 Southern Lakes Conference upset victory over Delavan-Darien here Friday night.

With the win, Whitewater (14-2, 7-1) pulled within one game of previously unbeaten Delavan-Darien (16-1, 9-1) in the Lakes race.

The teams play again at Whitewater on Feb. 22 in a regular-season finale.

“All the odds were against us coming into this game,” Harms said. “We haven’t had school the last two days, but I think we were as prepared as we could be, despite those circumstances.

“This year, I have been trying to be low key and keep it fun, and it’s been a big key for us not to get too intense,” Harms added. “But tonight, I got intense—more intense than I have gotten all year.”

Meanwhile, Delavan-Darien coach Keiya Square took a positive outlook on his team’s frustrating loss.

“One loss isn’t necessarily a bad thing,” Square said. “You never like to lose, of course. But if you’re going to lose, I would rather lose now than in the playoffs.”

The Comets, however, appeared poised to keep their perfect record late in the fourth quarter. Alana Cesarz’s baseline jumper drew Delavan-Darien to within 49-47 with 13 seconds to play.

Leah Harms was fouled on the ensuing possession, but missed the front end of a bonus. On the Comets’ ensuing possession, sophomore guard Courtney Flood got a chance to tie the game after being fouled with 5.5 seconds left.

But Flood couldn’t connect on her front-end free throw and was forced to foul Heil with 4.2 seconds left.

Heil calmly sank two free throws to give Whitewater a 51-47 lead.

Hannah Nieuwenhuis then sank a long three-pointer at the buzzer for Delavan-Darien, but it wasn’t enough.

“I was kind of nervous, but I told myself to calm down and make these two free throws,” Heil said.

Leah Harms calmly racked up 10 first-quarter points to push Whitewater up 18-15.

Whitewater had a 24-23 halftime lead, before building its advantage to 40-37 after three quarters.

Delavan-Darien never led in the fourth quarter.

Kelly Supernaw paced the Comets with 16 points, while Mallory Epping added 10.

WHITEWATER 51, DELAVAN DARIEN 50

Whitewater (51)—Theune, 6-3-17; Heil, 2-3-8; K. Harms, 3-0-7; L. Harms, 5-4-15; Trewin, 1-0-2; Bowey, 1-0-2. Totals: 18-10-51.

Delavan-Darien (50)—Flood, 3-0-7; Nieuwenhuis, 3-0-8; Supernaw, 8-0-16; Epping, 4-2-10; Collins, 1-0-2; Zugay, 1-0-2; Cesarz, 1-3-5. Totals: 21-2-50.

Whitewater 18 6 16 11-51

Delavan-Darien 15 8 14 13 50

Three point goals—Whitewater 5 (Theune 2, K. Harms 2, L. Harms), Delavan-Darien 1 (Flood). Free throws missed—Whitewater 3, Delavan-Darien 7. Total fouls—Whitewater 16, Delavan-Darien 15. Fouled out—Supernaw.