02-02-2004Playing for a conference championship, Warsaw’s varsity girls basketball team used a championship-type effort in the third quarter Saturday to pull away from what coach Will Wienhorst called a dangerous NorthWood team.
Hanging on to a 22-18 halftime lead, the 4A No. 2 Tigers turned up the defensive pressure in the third quarter and used a 16-0 run to pull away from the visiting Panthers and win 57-37.
“NorthWood is a good team, that showed in the first half,” Wienhorst said. “We came out in the third quarter after not playing as well as we wanted to and played very good defense. I thought we focused on defense and played good basketball in the the second half. NorthWood is a dangerous team, give them credit.”
The win improved Warsaw to 20-2 overall and 6-0 in Northern Lakes Conference action, giving the Tigers at least a share of conference championship. Warsaw can win the outright title Thursday with a senior night win over Elkhart Memorial, which is 13-5 overall and 5-1 in NLC play.
NorthWood had its six-game win streak snapped and fell to 11-7 overall and 3-3 in the NLC.
Clinging to the four-point halftime lead, Warsaw came out of the locker room a different team, making steal after steal in the opening minutes of the third quarter and turned a 22-18 lead in to a 38-18 advantage in just three minutes.
Miss Basketball candidate Jaclyn Leininger scored eight of Warsaw’s 16 points in the run, while junior Rebekah Reichard and sophomore Julie Seiss scored four each.
“We didn’t play as well as we wanted to in the first half,” Wienhorst said. “We came out in the third quarter and played about as complete as we could.”
All totaled, the Tigers hit 9 of 14 shots in the third quarter and outscored NorthWood 20-5.
The Panthers were just 2 of 12 from the field in the third quarter and trailed 42-23 going in to the final frame.
Leininger, Seiss and Reichard all finished in double figures to lead the Tiger offensive output.
The 6-foot Leininger scored a team-high 19 points, all the while adding seven rebounds, seven assists, four blocked shots and four steals.
Seiss, who finished 7 of 11 from the field, scored 14 points, while Reichard added 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting. She made good on her only free throw attempt.
“I was really pleased to hold them to 37 points,” Wienhorst said. “And I think we proved tonight we’re not a one-person team. We had three girls in double figures, and then I was very proud of the fact we held (Lauren) Zeltwanger scoreless.”
Zeltwanger, whom along with frontliner Audrey Duncan Panther coach Steve Neff considers a strong candidate for the junior all-star team, was 0 of 6 from the field.
Duncan, whose sister Carol starts at Purdue, led all scorers with 21 points on a 7-of-10 effort from the field and a 7-of-9 mark at the charity stripe. The 6-0 junior also added 11 rebounds.
“Duncan is a very good basketball player,” Wienhorst said. “To get 21 points and 11 rebounds against us, I have to give her a lot of credit.”
Jessica Focht added seven points for NorthWood, while Carrie Egging had five.
Warsaw finishes the regular season Thursday with a senior night contest with Elkhart Memorial.
NO. 2 (4A) WARSAW 57, NorthWood 37
NorthWood 8 10 5 14 – 37
Warsaw 15 7 20 15 – 57
NorthWood FG FT R S Pts.
* Focht 3-7 0-0 4 1 7
* Egging 2-8 0-0 4 1 5
* Zeltwanger 0-6 0-0 4 1 0
* Yoder 1-4 0-0 4 1 2
* Duncan 7-10 7-9 11 1 21
Shively 1-6 0-0 4 2 2
Wisler 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Kurtz 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Hall 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 14-43 7-9 31 7 37
Warsaw FG FT R S Pts.
* Mayer 1-6 0-0 4 0 2
* Seiss 7-11 0-0 1 3 14
* Reichard 5-7 1-1 2 1 11
* Leininger 7-15 3-6 7 4 19
* DeGeeter 2-7 3-5 7 4 7
Abbitt 0-0 0-1 0 0 0
Braddock 1-1 0-0 0 1 2
Durcholz 0-1 0-0 1 0 0
Clay 0-1 0-0 0 2 0
Smith 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Sand 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Heiman 1-1 0-0 0 0 2
Kindig 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 24-50 7-13 23 15 57
Three-point goals – NorthWood 2-8 (Egging 1-3, Focht 1-2, Zeltwanger 0-2, Yoder 0-1), Warsaw 2-8 (Leininger 2-2, Seiss 0-3, Mayer 0-3). Turnovers – NorthWood 26, Warsaw 14. Fouls – NorthWood 13, Warsaw 13. Fouled out – none.
JV – Warsaw 48, NorthWood 22
Warsaw scoring – DeGeeter 13, Scherer 11, Wood 10, Hathaway 6, Clark 4, Kiser 2, Logan 2
Warsaw JV record: 15-2