Warsaw Community High School senior Maddie Ryman celebrated her 18th birthday in style Tuesday.
In a 59-46 nonconference girls basketball victory over Columbia City, the 5-foot-6 Grace College recruit found her shooting touch early and went on to score a career-high 23 points.
She was 4 of 6 from three-point range – all in the first half – and added four assists, three rebounds and three steals to her final statline.
Junior Brielle Harrison’s double-double of a career-high 15 points and 10 rebounds, and freshman Abby Sanner’s 11 points and eight rebounds were the icing on the cake for the Lady Tigers, who have won six in a row and seven of eight.
“We started the game out shooting really well,” said Warsaw coach Lenny Krebs, whose team improved to 4-1 in the Tiger Den this season.
“We’re spending a lot of time in practice now just getting shots up, and you’re starting to see the results of that. Maddie Ryman was 4 of 6 on three-pointers ... you’re starting to see her shooting better. We’re spending a lot of time just fine-tuning some of the things we want to do, and getting shots up.
“That’s something that early in the year is tough to do when you’re trying to get everything put in, you don’t get as many shots up. We were talking the other day about how much we’ve been shooting, and the girls were like ‘oh, another shooting drill.’ But we’re starting to see the results of it. You can’t make up for that repetition.”
As team, the Lady Tigers were 19 of 31 (61 percent) from the field overall, 6 of 9 from the arc, and 15 of 21 at the free throw line.
Columbia City (5-6), on the other hand, was 15 of 50 (30 percent) from the field overall and 5 of 18 from three-point range, though the Lady Eagles did make all 11 of their free throw attempts.
Warsaw, now 9-4, led 22-14 after one quarter of play, 32-26 at halftime and 43-36 heading into the final frame.
Though the Lady Tigers won by 13, they had to grind it out.
Columbia City cut the deficit to three at 45-42 early in the fourth quarter, and the hosts pulled away for the final score with a 13-4 run.
Most of Warsaw’s points late in the game came from the free throw line, where they were 15 of 19 in the second half.
Sophomore Kensie Ryman tallied five points and four assists in the win, while senior Halle Shipp and junior Kaylee Patton rounded out Warsaw’s scoring with three and two points, respectively.
“Unfortunately we put ourselves in a position by not being as sharp defensively as we needed to be that we had to pull one out,” said Krebs.
“But that’s what we wanted. We want to be able to get in those close games where we have to pull one out, so that we can draw on this experience come tourney time. I don’t want to do it with self-inflicted wounds on the defensive end at times, but to be able to play a tight game and know that we can pull it out is something that we’re gonna draw on in the future.”
Among Krebs’ biggest concerns Tuesday night were that Columbia City’s 23 total rebounds included 12 on the offensive glass, and the Lady Eagles scored 17 points off Warsaw turnovers.
Junior Olivia Shearer led Columbia City with 18 points, while classmate Carly Mabie finished with 15 points.
The Lady Tigers have won 15 of their last 17 meetings with Columbia City and upped their record in the series to 34-20.
In the JV game, Mackenzie Sokol scored 10 points and Bailie Stephens chipped in with seven points, as Warsaw won 42-21.
The Lady Tigers are in action again Saturday when they host Northern Lakes Conference rival Wawasee.
