Warsaw Gets Blowout Victory Over Lady SquiresWednesday night’s girls basketball game between visiting Manchester and Warsaw was a study in the principle of cause and effect. The Lady Tigers caused a bunch of turnovers and played about as well as they could for November, and the effect was a 83-29 blowout at the Tiger Den.
Midway through the first period the Lady Squires trailed 7-5, but from there is was all Warsaw, all the time.
Beginning with the final minute of the opening stanza, Warsaw went of a six-minute tear where it outscored Manchester 23-1 to take a 39-11 lead. In the middle two quarters, the Lady Tigers outscored the visitors 53-11.
And they did it in a variety of ways. For the game, it was 30-6 in the paint, 38-8 off of turnovers, 17-4 in second-chance points and led by Kensie Ryman’s 6-of-8 effort, the Tigers hit 14 three-pointers to Manchester’s three treys. The Lady Tigers hit better than 60 % of thier shots before halftime before “cooling off” and finishing at 55% for the game.
Every other number on the stat sheet was equally out of balance in Warsaw’s favor; rebounds was 32-18 and Manchester committed twice as many turnovers, 30 to 15.
Despite the difference, Warsaw head coach Lenny Krebs said he felt like the slow start was a detriment, but his team made up for it as the game went along.
“I thought we came out a little bit flat, and we didn’t have the energy we needed right at the beginning,” he said. “We talked about that prior to the game. I had a feeling we were just a little flat, and we talked about how we can’t wait for something good to happen before we generate that energy; we have to produce it prior to anything happening.
“And now, by golly, I look like the coach of the year. When they shoot 70% from the three-point line, they make me look good. That’s all on them. We have some people who can shoot the daylights out of the ball.”
The Lady Tiger defense had a lot to do with creating plenty of good scoring opportunities. Ryman finished with a game-high 22 points, with Kacelyn Krebs adding 14 and Audrey Grimm tossing in a dozen points for the home team. Nine Lady Tigers grabbed at least two rebounds, led by Bailie Stephens’ six boards.
“I think we have a team that can get out and run. Even our bigs can run the floor, and that’s something we want to take advantage of. Few people can run the floor with Abby Sanner, or Brielle Harrison.
“I want us to be able to generate points with defensive intensity, and that’s what we were able to do tonight. Now we need to be able to do that consistently; on a day-to-day basis. If we can do that, I like where we’re at.”
Manchester was coming off a 30-point win Tuesday night at Lewis Cass. Head coach Josh Troyer, while giving Warsaw plenty of credit for its effort, said he wondered if the long bus ride to and from Walton that night, in sub-freezing temperatures, then getting up and heading to school before the game Wednesday wouldn’t have an effect on his team’s effectiveness.
“Warsaw’s good. They’re a well-coached program; Coach Krebs does a great job with the girls and they were focused tonight,” Troyer said. “It was a hard schedule for us, to be back-to-back with a little over an hour’s drive getting back late (Tuesday) night.
“Our legs just weren’t with us. And we haven’t seen that kind of a team. They were aggressive all night, and we were on our heels and didn’t respond.
“It was a good test for us. Afterward, the girls made a lot of good comments about pushing each other harder in practice and to be better prepared. So if nothing else, we saw where we need to go. We’ll use this as a learning experience and go from there.”
The Lady Squires were led by Ranissa Shambarger with nine points and Emma Garriott with seven points.
Manchester (1-2) opens Three Rivers Conference play Saturday, hosting Maconaquah at 7:45 p.m. Warsaw (2-0) travels to Akron to take on Tippecanoe Valley at 7:45 p.m. Saturday. The game was originally scheduled for Friday, but was moved when Warsaw’s football team qualified for Friday’s regional championship game at Merrillville.
