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Playing their final home game until the second week of December, the Warsaw girls basketball team looked to give their fans something to cheer about before the hiatus as they hosted Fort Wayne Northrop on Tuesday night. It didn’t take long for the Lady Tiger offense to start clicking, as the home side scored the first 10 points of the game on the way to capturing a 63-6 victory for their first win of the season, as well as head coach Kyle Hartman’s first win on the Tiger Den sideline.
“I thought the girls played well tonight. We did a pretty good job of taking care of the ball,” he said after the win. “They saw the extra person tonight, made the extra pass. Great win for the girls, great confidence boost for them.”
A week after struggling to take the lid off of the basket in the home opener, Warsaw had no such difficulties scoring the ball in their return home. Four different players combined to score the first eight points of the game for the Lady Tigers as the team got out to a 10-0 start over the first five minutes. A large factor in the team’s offensive success was its domination on the offensive glass. Warsaw was getting three or four shots on what felt like every trip down the floor as they crashed the glass with purpose.
“I would have liked to see us make a few more layups, but rebounding has been really important for us, we’ve outrebounded our opponent in three straight games which we take pride in,” Hartman said. “Great effort from the girls tonight.”
Defensively, the Lady Tigers were doing a tremendous job of taking good looks away from their opponent. The Lady Bruins managed just two points in the first quarter, coming on a breakaway layup off of a turnover. When attempting to run the halfcourt offense, Warsaw’s length and speed was clearly bothering Northrop, as the visitors were struggling to create enough space to get any open looks up in the first place. After the home side’s best eight-minute stretch of the season thus far, they led 14-2.
Things slowed down a tad for the Warsaw offense to begin the second quarter, but with the way the defense was playing, it wasn’t having much of an effect on the game. It wasn’t until around the midway point of the quarter that the Lady Tigers’ leading scorer in the previous game, Cassie Jackson, went on a 5-0 run of her own to extend the lead to 19.
The lead ballooned to over 20 as nearly five minutes came off the clock before the Lady Bruins were able to manage their second basket of the night and first of the quarter. As Jackson headed to the bench, junior Charlotte Kessler picked up where she left off on the offensive end, taking the team lead with nine points. It was a pretty balanced attack otherwise, as the Lady Tigers were moving the ball well and getting everybody involved. By the time the halftime buzzer sounded, Warsaw was in complete control, holding a 31-5 advantage.
“Flying around was our key for tonight. Being solid, and being smart. If we can apply pressure and maintain solid defensive principles, we can be a really good defensive team,” Hartman said.
Sophomore Josie Lovette of Warsaw uses her height to work under the basket during Tuesday night's home game against Norwell...NIeter
The game trend continued into the second half, and less than two minutes into the third quarter, the Lady Tiger lead had grown to 35, ensuring the rest of the game would be played with a running clock. After not hitting a single three pointer over the first 16 minutes, the home side hit two early in the third, as Anya Puthucode and Addie Weidenbenner each connected from deep to help extend the lead to past 40.
Up by nearly 50 heading into the fourth quarter, the lopsided score allowed Hartman to empty his bench a bit and allowed the reserves to get some extended run. Senior Preslet Andrews had gotten some decent minutes to this point, but got her first bucket of the night here. Eden Gackenheimer did the same. The starters, who were enjoying their extra rest on the bench, were loving every minute of it, jumping up and down as their teammates continued to put points on the board until the final buzzer.
“I can see our culture of family and togetherness blossoming,” Hartman said. “Happy for the girls that got in at the end, they have the same expectations as the starters do and they showed it. They were locked in tonight.”
Kesler led all scorers with 15 points.
Warsaw (1-2) is at Valparaiso on Saturday.
