A bad start to the fourth quarter doomed Southern Wells in its bid to pick up a huge Allen County Athletic Conference victory against Woodlan Thursday night.
An 8-0 run in the first three minutes of the period gave Woodlan the separation it needed to hold off the Raiders down the stretch for the hard-fought 61-53 win.
Southern Wells fell to 10-3 in all games and 2-2 in the conference with the loss. Woodlan improved to 3-1 in the league and 6-5 overall with the win.
"It stinks to play this well and lose," said Southern Wells coach Kyle Penrod, disappointed with the outcome but not with the effort. "I'm actually surprised that we executed our game plan as well as we did after all the missed practices we've had this week because of illness. They did a good job of doing what I asked them to do. We wanted to focus on rebounding and guarding (Alyssa) Anderson in the post."
Southern Wells won the battle of the boards by a solid 34-28 margin. And although Anderson had game-highs of 17 points and 14 rebounds, she managed just four points in the entire second half, all of them on free throws.
Southern Wells was right there through three quarters, trailing just 48-46 after a back-and-forth contest that saw five ties and 14 lead changes to that point.
But Woodlan's Brooke Kneubuhler and Layla Hodson opened the fourth stanza with back-to-back three-pointers, Kneubuhler added a steal and layup, and the Warriors were suddenly on top, 56-46.
"A couple of their role players stepped up and hit threes," said Penrod, referring to Hodson, who only scored two other points the rest of the night, and freshman Savannah Scheumann, whose triple from the left corner to end the third quarter gave Woodlan that two-point lead.
Southern Wells, meanwhile, was missing four shots and committing four turnovers during that Woodlan breakout.
"They brought their defense out farther and pushed us about four feet off the three-point line," said Penrod of Woodlan's defensive push in the fourth quarter.
The Raiders didn't go down without a fight, however.
A three-pointer by Kaylea Coffel, one of two free throws by Ashlie Needler, and a bucket underneath by Collena Reeves off a sharp feed from Erika Beavans got them back to within 56-52 with 1:51 left, and they got the ball back on a turnover.
But a steal and layup by Scheumann kicked it back out to 58-52 with 1:09 left.
And despite consecutive Woodlan turnovers in the backcourt against Southern Wells' fullcourt press, the Raiders were unable to get closer than five points after that.
The game was competitive throughout.
On two separate occasions, just when Woodlan appeared ready to step on the gas, Southern Wells came charging back.
A 12-2 Woodlan run in the first quarter that was fueled by four Raider turnovers in five possessions staked the Warriors to a 22-15 lead.
But Southern Wells answered with an 11-1 run of its own to move in front, 26-23.
Then, after a Kneubuhler three early in the third quarter put Woodlan on top, 39-33, Southern Wells went on a 9-0 burst on three inside buckets by Needler and a three by Reeves for a 42-39 Raider edge with 3:40 left in the period.
But Scheumann scored twice in eight seconds with a Southern Wells turnover on the inbounds pass in between to put Woodlan back on top, 43-42.
A 15-footer from the free throw line by Coffel gave Southern Wells its last lead at 46-45. Scheumann then hit her three-pointer to end the quarter, and the rest has been told.
Needler finished with 15 points on 7-for-11 shooting to lead Southern Wells.
Davis added 13 points, all of them in the first half, for the Raiders, who connected on 22 of 47 shots from the floor for a .468 shooting percentage.
Kneubuhler scored 15 points and Schuemann 12 to join Anderson in double figures for Woodlan.
Cadence Watkins scored eight points and Remi Holmes seven to lead Southern Wells. Ellie DeWeese added four points and Adalynn Morrison, Lexi Pennington, and Lillia Paxson two each for the Raiders.
WOODLAN (6-5, 3-1 ACAC): Reagan Widenhoefer 1-6 0-0 2, Makenna Smith 2-2 0-0 5, Alyssa Anderson 6-13 5-6 17, Brooke Kneubuhler 6-14 1-2 15, McKenna Goble 1-5 0-0 3, Emma McDaniel 1-6 0-0 2, Savannah Scheumann 5-10 1-2 12, Layla Hodson 2-3 0-0 5. TOTAL: 24-59 7-12 61.
SOUTHERN WELLS (10-3, 2-2 ACAC): Erika Beavans 4-11 1-2 9, Kaylee Davis 5-8 1-2 13, Collena Reeves 3-7 0-0 8, Callie Ripperger 1-4 0-0 3, Ashlie Needler 7-11 1-2 15, Kaylea Coffel 2-5 0-0 5, Kyah Thomas 0-0 0-0 0, Kenzie Paxson 0-0 0-0 0, Aubree Mayer 0-1 0-0 0. TOTAL: 22-47 3-6 53.
Three-point shooting: Woodlan 6-23 (Widenhoefer 0-3, Smith 1-1, Kneubuhler 2-8, Goble 1-4, McDaniel 0-2, Scheumann 1-3, Hodson 1-2), Southern Wells 6-18 (Beavans 0-3, Davis 2-3, Reeves 2-4, Ripperger 1-3, Coffel 1-4, Meyer 0-1). Rebounds: Woodlan 28 (Anderson 14), Southern Wells 34 (Needler 8, Reeves 7, Davis 5). Turnovers: Woodlan 13, Southern Wells 26. Personal fouls: Woodlan 11, Southern Wells 10. Fouled out: None. Technical fouls: None.