By RYAN WALKER

PONETO — The Southern Wells girls’ basketball team fell to Woodlan 61-31 Thursday night at the Raiderdome, but that wasn’t the story of the night.

Southern Wells hosted its “Box Out Cancer” night, covering the arena in pink streamers, balloons, and both schools wore t-shirts during warm-ups with the slogan on the front.

Senior Faith Blair (right) for Southern Wells prepares to take a shot over defender Addie Goheen (left) of Woodlan Thursday night at the Raiderdome. (Photo by Lauren Mann)

What wasn’t visible to those in attendance was that the two head coaches had lost loved ones to cancer. Woodlan’s head coach, Gary Cobb, lost his wife, Sheryl Cobb, and Southern Wells’ head coach Jessica Killingbeck lost her mother, Gina Walker.

Before the game, Killingbeck put together a presentation for her team, talking about being thankful for the gifts in life and learning how to compete. She said she showed videos of her mother, Gina, struggling to talk, walk, and eat, and she chose the word “compete” to describe her battle with cancer.

“In that situation, you have to compete, you’ve got to fight, and not necessarily for yourself, but the people around you. So tonight, you’ve got to go compete for the people around you. If you can compete in basketball, you graduate high school, marriage, getting a job, being a parent, those hard things are going to be easier, and learn how to compete.”

For the first five minutes of the game, the Raiders did exactly that — compete.

The Warriors (9-3) came in as one of the area’s best teams and are looking to place second in the Allen County Athletic Conference again this year behind No. 1 Jay County.

The Raiders (4-8), however, came out swinging after Ashley Needler scored her second bucket in the early going of the night, converting on an and-one to go up 5-3. Avah Smith tied it back up with her second bucket, but then Faith Blair nailed back-to-back three-pointers in between another Woodlan make.

All of a sudden, Southern Wells had a four-point lead.

Killingbeck said that the focus on practice recently contributed to the early success of the game by having more physical practices. She had her players run a no-fouls, no-out-of-bounds game plan throughout the week.

“I think that helped change our mindset for a game,” she said. “If we can do it in practice, then we can do it in a game. They bought into the drills, and they really got after each other. It helped us in the beginning because we dove after loose balls and boxing out, being strong with it, just things we’ve struggled with in the last couple of games.”

At the 3:54 mark, coach Cobb called timeout, and that was the difference for the rest of the game.

The Warriors finished the quarter on a 15-0 run, hitting three from deep thanks to Taylor Kneubuhler and two from Briana Roney.

“I don’t know that he made a ton of adjustments, I think he ripped into his kids in the first quarter like I would have done, and they responded. They’re a good basketball team, and they’re really well-coached. That’s just Woodlan basketball,” Killingbeck said.

The Raiders kept it close in the second quarter as they were outscored by just three points but were down 32-18 at the break.

At halftime, Killingbeck made sure that coach Cobb didn’t go too far as the public address announcer talked over the speaker about the night — more specifically, Sheryl Cobb.

“Tonight, we would like to take the time to honor coach Gary Cobb’s wife, Sheryl. We want to recognize and continue to share the legacy she left on her family and the young women coached by Cobb. More importantly, a man who has been a mentor, leader, father, and coach to many, including coach Killingbeck,” the announcer Jeff Spunger said.

Killingbeck greeted Cobb with three gifts, a pink basketball with each of the Woodlan player’s name and jersey number on it, a certificate with Sheryl Cobb’s name courtesy of Susan G. Komen organization, and a basketball-shaped poster that says ‘coach Cobb, 1983-2023.’

“I appreciate it so much,” Cobb said. “It was a total surprise. The team knew everything that was going on. Everybody knew but me, I knew nothing and everybody kept it a good secret. You can compete hard against people and coach hard against people, and you still do that. It shows a lot of character on her part and her team’s part to be able to do that.”

Woodlan had its own breast cancer awareness night earlier this year, similar to Thursday’s version at the Raiderdome.

“My first thought was my family and my wife,” Cobb said when asked about what the night meant to him before the halftime surprise. “Even though it was 11 years ago, it’s still there at the forefront when you think of cancer all the time. When you lose somebody to cancer, you appreciate when people start raising money to help fight it. So hopefully, people won’t have to feel like I did.”

Killingbeck had this planned ever since the idea was sparked over the summer when Cobb posted a memory on  Facebook of his wife, and she knew the head coach was retiring at the end of the season.

“I was like, ‘you know, let’s go do something special for him,” she said.

She came up with ideas with her best friend and got in contact with Warriors assistant coach, Marc Roney, to keep the secret and give her shirt sizes.

“It wasn’t just me. It took a big group of people to make this special,” Killingbeck said. “The girls did an awesome job of decorating, and it was just a good opportunity.”

Both teams went to the locker rooms afterward and continued the rest of the game.

Woodlan added three field goals each from Avah Smith and Addie Goheen in the third quarter, while Southern Wells got two from Zoey Needler.

Both teams scored three baskets each in the fourth quarter to end the game as Woodlan was victorious. Killingbeck, though, helped find a way for everyone to win.

“We want to win at the end of the night, and I hate that we didn’t, but at the same time, we taught each of the girls from Woodlan to Southern Wells that it’s more than just a basketball game. It’s how you treat people outside, and it’s just being a good person and treating other people right and giving back to people that have given so much to a community.”

Woodlan won the junior varsity game 16-8 (two quarters). Caroline Ripperger scored six points for Southern Wells.

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WOODLAN 61, 

SOUTHERN WELLS 31

At Southern Wells High School

WOODLAN (9-3): Avah Smith 10-18 1-1 22, Taylor Kneubuhler 3-8 1-3 8, Addie Goheen 6-9  0-0 13, Brooke Kneubuhler 2-2 0-0 6, Briana Roney 2-5 0-0 6, Reagan Widenhoefer 1-3 0-0 3, Gabi Klopfenstein 0-1 0-0 0, Zoe Eager 0-1 0-0 0, Leah Elwood 0-0 0-0 0. Kaitlyn Crosby 0-3 2-2 2. TOTALS: 24-48 4-6 61

SOUTHERN WELLS (4-8): Zoey Needler 3-4 0-1 6, Ashley Needler 3-10 1-1 7, Faith Blair 3-7 0-1 8, Avah Miner 1-6 1-1 3, Breanna Leidig 1-1, 0-0 2, Collena Reeves 1-3 0-0 2, Kenzie Paxson 0-1 3-6 3, Gracie Reeves 0-2 0-0 0, Hailey Duncan 0-1 0-0 0, Karlee Warner 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 12-35 5-11 31.

Woodlan       22   10  20   9  ––  61

So. Wells      11    7    6    7   –– 31

Three-point Goals: Woodlan 7-15 (B. Kneubuhler 2-2, Roney 2-4, Widenhoefer 1-2, Goheen 1-1, T. Kneubuhler 1-2, Smith 1-2, Klopfenstein, Crosby 0-1), Southern Wells 2-5 (Blair 2-3, Duncan 0-1, Reeves 0-1). Rebounds: Woodlan 21 (Smith 6, goheen 3, T. Kneubuhler 3, Crosby 2, Widenhoefer, Klopfenstein 1, Roney 1, B. Kneubuhler 1, Eager 1, Elwood 1), Southern Wells 22 (A. Needler 8, Paxson 6, C. Reeves 4, Miner 2, Z. Needler 1, Blair 1). Turnovers: Woodlan 3, Southern Wells 16. Fouls: Woodlan 9, Southern Wells 7. Fouled Out: None. Technicals: None.