Photos by Gary Nieter/Times-Union Warsaw senior Audrey Grimm takes a hard foul while attempting a second quarter shot in their sectional game against host team Goshen last night.
Photos by Gary Nieter/Times-Union Warsaw senior Audrey Grimm takes a hard foul while attempting a second quarter shot in their sectional game against host team Goshen last night.
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Revenge round one was exacted by the Warsaw Lady Tigers against Goshen last night.

Warsaw employed a triangle-and-two defense, a more patient offense, and perfect fourth quarter free throw shooting to win their IHSAA Class 4A Sectional 4 opener 33-29 over the RedHawks.

Warsaw Head Coach Lenny Krebs talked about the adjustments his team made last Wednesday following their regular season finale.

“Brynn (Shoup-Hill) and Tyra (Marcum) beat us on the offensive boards the last time,” the Tiger mentor said. “We tried to come up with something we could play to prevent that. We had the triangle-and-two in our back pockets and spent the last couple days learning it and working on it, and you saw that today.”

Shoup-Hill, a 6’3” senior and University of Dayton commit, rattled the Tigers with 23 points, while the 6’0” Marcum added 14 of her own in Warsaw’s lone conference 48-38 in their January showdown at the Tiger Den.

Last night, however, the triangle-and-two limited the twin towers to 9 and 6 points, respectively. The entire Goshen squad was held to 11-40 shooting, a paltry 27.5% click.

Warsaw wasn’t setting the nets afire either. Their 9-26 (34.6%) accuracy wouldn’t ordinarily secure a sectional win against an 18-3 team, but the Tigers did not.

“I’m glad I don’t gamble. I thought we were due to have a good shooting game,” Krebs said.

The Tigers were much more accurate at the charity stripe instead, hitting 10 of 10 freebies in the fourth period, and all 12 of their shots at the line for the night: the most crucial shots coming in the final 36.5 seconds.



Kacilyn Krebs, a Warsaw junior, sunk the first two with 36.5 ticks left in the contest after Shoup-Hill’s lone trey brought Goshen within one, 25-24. Tiger teammate Kensie Ryman added two more free throws with 21.1 seconds remaining to put Warsaw up 29-24. The RedHawks’ Marcum’s, who only had three points at that point in the game, hit a trey to keep the RedHawks’ hope alive closing the gap on Warsaw’s 29-27.



It was time for junior Abby Sanner to get in on the final stanza’s free throw practice. Goshen’s defenders ran a full-court press, and targeted Sanner to get her to the free throw line. However, the tourney hosts’ plan went afoul as Sanner sunk four free throws among the final 12 seconds of the game to stretch the Tiger lead to 33-27. Goshen’s Meagan Gallagher scored at the buzzer to finish up the night’s scoring in the Warsaw win.



Krebs knew his squad would face trouble trying to beat Goshen in an up-tempo game. Tuesday night’s adjustment was a calculated risk for the orange and black taken just six days ago.



“We played an up-tempo, aggressive style of offense against Goshen last time.” Krebs said. “That didn’t work for us. If you would have told me I was going to come in here, score 33 points, and win, I would have told you, you need locked up in a self-hugging jacket because that’s not my style of play.”



The Tigers made a 5-0 run to take charge at the end of the first quarter 7-6. They maintained their lead 15-11 when the two teams closed out the first half.

Shoup-Hill’s free throws at 4:49 in the third period tied the game at 15, but senior Kendall Wayne found Sanner open in the paint for a tie-breaking layup. Sanner added a put-back for another bucket and the Tigers never trailed nor tied thereafter. The third period ended with Warsaw up 19-17.



Sanner’s line for the game. 10 points, 8 rebounds, 3 blocked shots led the Tigers’ effort. Ryman added 7 points, 2 assists and a steal, and solid second-half floor leadership. Junior Bailie Stephens, the only player from the bench seeing action last night, added five points. Krebs and Audrey Grimm added four points apiece, and Kendall Wayne added three tallies to round out the evening’s offensive output.



Warsaw (17-5) will face Northridge (16-7) following the Penn (18-3) vs. Elkhart (9-13) opening game of the sectional semifinal round. Goshen finished their season at 18-4.





Manchester, Triton Get Upset Wins

Manchester scored a surprising victory over Carroll (Flora) by a score of 76-69 in the Sectional 37, Class 2A hosted by the Lady Squires. Carroll was 18-4 coming into the game while Manchester was only 10-12. They will face an 8-12 Lewis Cass squad on Friday.

Triton (8-11) scored a mild upset over host school Oregon-Davis (10-9) in Sectional 50, Class 2A, winning handily 56-41. They move on to play 4-16 LaCross on Friday.

Wawasee was the victim of an upset in the Sectional 20, Class 3A tournament they hosted. NorthWood doubled their win total for the season (now 2-13) with a shocking 51-48 win over the Lady Warriors (now 6-11.) NorthWood advances to play Tippecanoe Valley (13-8) on Friday.

Whitko’s season ended with a 60-37 loss to Churubusco (now 6-16) in the Sectional 36, Class 2A tournament. Bluffton is up next for Churubusco on Friday. Whitko closes out the year at 2-19.

In Sectional 53, Class A action at Northfield, Lakeland Christian Academy will take on the winner of  host school Northfield who take care of Southwood 76-45.