Lady Tigers Fall To NLC Foe NorthridgeIn the words of first-year Warsaw girls basketball coach Lenny Krebs, you can't spot a team like Northridge a big lead and expect a good result.
The Lady Tigers found that out the hard way Saturday night.
In a clash of Northern Lakes Conference unbeatens, the Northridge Lady Raiders went on a 17-2 run in the second quarter and led 26-9 at halftime en route to a 49-33 win over the host Lady Tigers.
Warsaw junior Halle Shipp hit a three-pointer to cut Northridge's lead to 9-7 early in the second stanza, but that's as close as the Lady Tigers got the rest of the way.
Northridge, led by the dynamic duo of senior Brooke McKinley and junior Morgan Litwiller, built a big lead and maintained it, improving to 17-3 overall and 4-0 in the NLC.
Warsaw, now 11-6 and 2-1, went toe-to-toe with the Lady Raiders and outscored them 24-23 in the second half, but the first-half deficit proved too much to overcome.
“A team like Northridge, they're going to force you into mistakes,” said Krebs, whose team outlasted Plymouth 68-60 in three overtimes Wednesday. “My frustration is I don't feel we played with the passion and energy that we need to to be successful in the first half. I think it was clear we just didn't have that fire.
“I think in the second half we came out and played with much more fire and energy, but you can't spot a team like Northridge a 15 or 17-point lead and expect a good result. We have to do a better job of making sure we have that passion and energy the whole game. That starts with me ... I'll take responsibility and make sure that doesn't happen again.”
McKinley was 6 of 9 from the field overall and 4 of 4 at the free throw line on the way to a game-high 20 points.
Litwiller made 6 of 8 attempts from the field and all four of her charity tosses en route to 16 points.
As a team, Northridge finished the game 18 of 30 from the field overall, 5 of 7 from three-point range, and 8 of 8 at the line.
Northridge has won the NLC title in three of the last four years, and Saturday night the Lady Raiders proved they are once again the conference front runner.
“Players like McKinley and Litwiller, you have to keep track of them for 32 minutes if they're on the floor,” said Krebs. “By golly, you should probably keep track of them on the bench, too, they might be able to score from there.
“We talked before this game, and the practices leading up to this game, those two are good enough to beat you. I pointed out in the locker room after the game those two scored 36 and we had 33 ... they're good enough to beat us. We didn't do the job defensively, and that doesn't come down to any one person that's a team problem that we have to fix. McKinley and Litwiller are great players, but at the same time they have a great supporting cast that gets them the ball.”
Warsaw made 12 of 37 attempts from the field overall, 2 of 10 from the arc, and 7 of 8 at the charity stripe.
Shipp and classmate Kacy Bragg scored eight points each for the Lady Tigers, while junior Maddie Ryman and sophomore Kaylee Patton chipped in with five and four points, respectively. Senior Emma Bohnenkamper and sophomore Brielle Harrison scored three points each, while senior Kennedy Patton rounded out the hosts' scoring with two points.
Warsaw won the JV game 30-27.
Kensie Ryman led the Lady Tigers with 11 points, with Kendall Wayne and Madelyn Smith scoring eight and five points, respectively.
The Lady Tigers are in action again Wednesday when they host NLC?foe Elkhart Memorial.
