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A new era of Warsaw girls basketball began on Tuesday night, as the Lady Tigers, boasting almost a completely new roster as well as new head coach in Kyle Harman, opened up the season against Fort Wayne Snider at the Tiger Den. Points were hard to come by all night long, and it was the Lady Panthers that took control of the game in the fourth quarter to hand the home team its first loss of the season 41-31.
“It’s a great first game for us. I know the scoreboard doesn’t represent that but those girls played their hearts out,” Hartman said following the loss. “We looked inexperienced at times, but if that effort looks the way it did tonight all season long, it’ll be a good year.”
The opening-night jitters were in full effect early on, as both teams spent the first few minutes struggling to take care of the basketball, which meant not a whole lot of points were being put on the board either. Through four minutes, the two sides had combined for just four points, and the length of the Snider defense was making things awfully difficult for the new-look Lady Tigers. The Lady Panthers were instituting a full-court press, getting in the way of passing lanes and even blocking a few shots.
The Warsaw defense was just as effective. While the home side wasn't generating turnovers at the rate of their opponent, Snider was struggling to get looks that weren’t heavily contested by defenders. Even on fast breaks following giveaways, the Lady Tigers were doing a great job of getting back on D and preventing anything easy. After a very slow start to the game, a pair of baskets by Addison Weidenbenner and Cassie Jackson in the final minute of the quarter were the catalyst of a 6-0 run to end the first quarter up 10-7.
Just as quickly as the offense had found the home side, it disappeared to begin the second quarter, as the young Warsaw team struggled to regain momentum following the break. Scoring just two points in the second at the midway point of the period, Warsaw found itself in a tie game once again. The orange and white were doing a bit better at taking care of the basketball at this point, but were still struggling mightily at getting shots to fall.
In the final minutes of the first half, it looked as if the Lady Panthers might make a move to seize control of the game after getting a couple of quick baskets off of turnovers, but the Lady Tigers did well to sharpen up defensively from that point to prevent things from getting away from them. Charlotte Kesler’s second bucket of the night tied things up at 16 all, which is where they stood when the buzzer sounded. Even though the shooting was not there from the home side, they were finding ways to make do, as 14 of their points had come in the paint.
“For us, we need to find our spots on the outside, so we’re going to be living in the paint and at the free throw line early on this season,” Hartman said. “We need to be better in the half court at finding open looks around the perimeter, that’s going to be a work and progress for us.
Anya Puthucode splashed in the first Lady Tiger three of the season early in the third quarter, giving her team its biggest lead of the night at five. Both defenses were still playing really well at this point in the game, but the home side was now playing much more aggressively, and they were being rewarded for it in the turnover department. It was now Warsaw who was able to play quickly after coming up with a steal.
Senior Lucy Andrew of Warsaw breaks away to the basket during Tuesday night's home game against Fort Wayne Snider...Nieter
The advantage held at five for quite some time, as Snider was only able to manage two points over the first five minutes of the quarter. However, the Lady Panthers played the second half of the third quarter a whole lot better than the first, going on a 7-0 run in under 90 seconds to storm in front and force a timeout by the Warsaw bench. The home side’s inability to take care of the ball during this stretch was a large factor in the lead change, as two of the three baskets scored came in transition.
The game that had been neck-and-neck for the entire contest entered the fourth quarter the same way, with the visitors holding onto a slim 27-25 lead. A massive and-one by McKenzie White put her in double figures, the first player in the game to reach that mark, while also putting the Lady Panthers up by four with a little over six minutes left. Now facing their largest deficit of the evening, it was the Lady Tigers’ turn to come up with a response.
With three minutes left in the contest the lead had been cut in half to two, and Snider hadn't scored in over three minutes. It had been a while since the last Warsaw bucket as well, but the home side had the advantage of being in the bonus for the last two and a half minutes. Down the stretch, the Lady Panther gameplan was clear: give the ball to White down low and let her go to work. Work she did, as she came up with points on four straight crucial possessions late to extend the lead to eight with just over a minute to go. That was the dagger in the contest, as the home side was unable to match this late avalanche.
Warsaw (0-1) is at Norwell on Saturday.
