— Winamac’s girls basketball team is used to being at a height disadvantage. But it usually doesn’t bother the Warriors.

Friday night, though, the Warriors dropped their second straight game to a taller opponent as visiting Rensselaer handed them a 65-62 defeat.

Rensselaer senior guard Allie Mattocks torched Winamac (2-2) with 32 points that included four 3-pointers.

“The defense was not there [Friday],” Winamac coach Jeff Wagner said. “Once again we face somebody big, and we’re struggling. We’re struggling with big girls. It’s gotta be good help-side defense down there low. I think the big girl hurt us inside quite a bit so we couldn’t concentrate on the outside, No. 32 [Mattocks]. She’s a heck of a shooter. Hat’s off to Rensselaer. They did a nice job.”

Mattocks came into the game averaging 18 points per game in the early season, and her 32 points tied a career record set last year against North White.

“To come over here against Jeff’s team that you know is going to play hard and really play good defense and at some point maybe chase her with some kind of gimmick or junk defense, I thought was huge,” Rensselaer coach Jeff Marlow said. “And then the other kids stepped up. Once they realized that Allie was helping them get open, they hit shots.”

Five-foot-11 Emilie Ziese had 10 points for the Bombers (3-1), and 5-9 Laura Tonner added eight.

Sarah Redweik led the Warriors with 15 points despite not playing in the first half for precautionary measures because of a knee injury.

“She hyperextended her knee a little bit up in Culver,” Wagner said. “And [Thursday] at practice she went down and she was in a whale of pain. I was just leery. I don’t want to lose her for a longer period of time. I was waiting to see if we could handle it without her and then I would turn around and just give her a few minutes and see what we could do to test it out a little bit. So she did pretty good but I’m sure she’ll be good and sore [today] though.”

Redweik gave the Warriors a spark at the end of the third quarter, scoring their last nine points of the frame to help turn a nine-point deficit into a 46-45 lead entering the fourth. Wagner said Redweik is giving the Warriors the same kind of “guard presence” that Jordan Brandt provided the team last year.

“She’s taking charge and frankly we need that,” he said.

Mattocks hit back-to-back threes to give the Bombers a 55-50 lead with 4:30 left in the game. She hit 1 of 2 free throws with 2:01 left to make it 59-56.

It was 63-56 when Ellie Kiser hit her third 3-pointer of the game to draw the Warriors within four with :40 left. After a Ziese free throw, Allie DeFries hit a 3-pointer to make it 64-62 with :18 remaining.

Ziese again hit 1 of 2 free throws to make it 65-62 with :12 left. Wagner called a timeout with :09 remaining. Winamac was not yet in the bonus, and Mattocks fouled with 4.3 seconds left and had to leave the game with a knee injury. The Warriors’ best chance at tying the game was with a desperation three, and a Redweik attempt from 35 feet fell short and Rensselaer was able to leave town with its first win over Winamac in five years.

Marlow hopes and thinks Mattocks’ knee is OK.

“She’s a little gimpy right now. I don’t know if she fell on it or if she twisted it a little bit, but obviously the heart beat’s a little quicker right now,” he said.

The Warriors started out of the gates slow, falling in a 9-2 hole. They trailed 15-10 after one quarter but bounced back in the second and led 33-32 at halftime.

Kiser, DeFries and Katy Sommers each finished with nine points for the Warriors. DeFries, Winamac’s top post player, battled a hand injury and foul trouble most of the night. Stef McGovern added eight points and Stephanie Shorter chipped in six.

Wagner wasn’t real pleased with several aspects of the game.

“We didn’t push the ball up the floor. We were a little bit out of sync with Sarah not in there in the first half,” he said. “We got kind of pushed around in there and that’s notorious for the Rensselaer game. ... We can’t allow somebody to score that many points and expect to win.

“It’s early. We’ve got to fill those voids and figure out our roles on the team and what we are.”

Winamac hosts Manchester Tuesday.

Delphi 65, N. White 20

Jordayn Jargstorf led the Oracles with 18 points, and Whitney Arion added 12 in the victory over visiting North White.

Delphi (3-1) led 33-8 at halftime and cruised to the 65-20 final.

The Vikings (0-3) struggled shooting from behind the 3-point line (0 of 12), from the free throw line (6 of 31) and overall (7 of 46).

Wrestling

Caston 51, S. Newton 18

The Comets opened their season with a win on the road Thursday night.

Cole Nilson (119 pounds), Wil Holloway (135), Graham Redweik (145) and Myles Hardel (189) all won by pin for Caston. Kyle Harvey (125) won by decision, and Andy Wert (140), Jeremy Gonzalez (152), Josh Andrade (171) and Taylor Ground (215) each won by forfeit.