Lady Tigers Fall In Sectional SemifinalMIDDLEBURY – The Warsaw girls basketball team was so close Saturday.
The Lady Tigers overcame poor first-half shooting to catch up to Elkhart Central, only to fall 32-27 in a Class 4A Sectional 4 semifinal at Northridge Middle School.
“I wasn’t thrilled with our aggressiveness on the offensive end,” said Warsaw coach Lenny Krebs. “There were times we were settling for shots.”
Warsaw (15-9) was 3 of 13 from the floor in the first half, and made just one field goal in the second quarter.
The Lady Tigers came out of the break down 16-9, and slowly chipped away at the Lady Blue Blazers’ lead.
They were down 21-18 heading into the fourth quarter, and twice tied the score.
The second time, a Maddie Ryman three-pointer deadlocked the game at 24.
However, Elkhart Central’s Trinitee Harris made a layup and later hit two free throws for a 28-24 lead. With less than two minutes to play, Kensie Ryman responded with a trey to bring Warsaw within one.
Elkhart Central ate up the clock before Kaitlyn Costner was fouled on her way to the rim with 26.7 seconds left.
She made both charity tosses to give the Lady Blue Blazers a 30-27 lead.
Warsaw brought the ball up the court purposefully, but Costner picked off a pass and jetted to the basket for the game-sealing bucket.
“Everybody’s gonna go back and look at the last couple possessions of that game, and talk about the steal at the end and the layup,” Krebs said. “The game could have been decided before that. We had our opportunities to do that.”
Harris led all scorers with 14 points, while Kacilyn Krebs had a team-high nine points for Warsaw.
Elkhart Central will face Plymouth in today’s sectional championship game.
Coach Krebs was complimentary of Warsaw seniors Maddie Ryman and Halle Shipp.
“Both of those seniors have been great with their leadership, and helping us to get to where we want to go,” he said.
With four returning starters, Coach Krebs is already thinking about next year.
“The coach in me is ready to take a break, but at the same time I’m excited about the future and where we’re going,” he said.
