MONTAGUE — Whitehall sputtered a bit in the first half of Monday's first-round district game against Orchard View, but a big boost from two underclassmen helped the Vikings pull away and pick up a 49-34 win.
The victory earned Whitehall (11-12) a date with rival Montague in Wednesday's district semifinal.
Sophomore Clare Westerlund and freshman Peyton Schultz were the driving forces behind the Vikings' strong third quarter. Each of the duo scored seven points in that quarter, helping Whitehall outscore OV 19-7 and build a five-point halftime lead out to 17 points.
"That (production) is nice to get from underclassmen," Whitehall coach Brian Milliron said. "But if we're going to win on
Wednesday, we can't just do that for a half. We have to do it for the
full four quarters."
Whitehall suffered a lengthy scoring drought in the second quarter until Westerlund hit a three-pointer. Luckily for the Vikings, their defensive play was very good and the Cardinals didn't score in that span either, taking nearly five minutes into the frame to score a point until Kadence Day connected on her own trey. Day had a team-best 11 points for the Cardinals.
The slow start, Schultz said, was similar to the one the Vikings had last week in a regular-season win over the Cardinals, and the team hoped to avoid it this time. However, Orchard View played well in half-court defense and limited its own mistakes to stay close early, though Whitehall took the lead for good on a first-quarter jumper by Schultz.
Schultz ran the offense a good portion of the game and displayed impressive shooting touch on jump shots throughout, hitting five of them, including a pair of three-pointers. Her five quick points early in the third were instrumental in Whitehall taking command of the game.
Whitehall's Peyton Schultz (right) looks to make a pass as Orchard View's Elexia Wilson defends during Monday's district first-round game at Montague. Schultz scored 17 points in the Vikings' 49-34 win.
Schultz said she works on her shot often. It can be difficult for smaller players like Schultz to get shots up with so much height around them, but she's displayed a knack at times for getting herself free for open looks.
"Since I was really little, I've been practicing basketball with my dad in the driveway," Schultz said. "I've just been working on it for a long time, since I was eight."
Whitehall won lopsided games over OV in both regular-season meetings, but Milliron said he emphasized the single-elimination nature of the tournament to ward off any potential overconfidence heading into the game.
"The
mentality going in was, this is March and anything can happen," Milliron said. "That can
be good or bad. If you are looking past Orchard View, then
you're wrong. We prepared for this like we did everything else. We
don't look ahead."
Once Westerlund converted a three-point play to expand Whitehall's lead to 34-18 late in the third, though, the contest was pretty well in hand and Viking fans' thoughts began turning to the battle with Montague. The last time the two teams met in the postseason, it was on the same floor in the 2023 district finals, and the Vikings upset Montague to win the title.
It'll take maybe the Vikings' best game of the year to repeat that performance, but as Miliron noted, "it only takes one game."
"I'm hoping that we are able
to come out and play a hard 32 minutes, because if we come out sluggish
against a team on their home court that has five seniors, that will be
problematic for us," Milliron said. "We'll have practice (Tuesday), and we'll get them
ready for Wednesday."
