Carroll Wins Rematch, Ends Warsaw Girls Season In Sectionals
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
COLUMBIA CITY - The smallest girl on the court, 5-foot-3 Carroll senior Abby Noll played the biggest role in downing fifth-ranked Warsaw Friday in the semifinal round of the Columbia City 4A Sectional.
With Warsaw leading 21-20 at the half, Noll ignited the Chargers with a barrage of second-half three-pointers, leading Carroll to a 66-57 victory over the Tigers.
Noll, who finished the evening 7 of 12 from the field overall, shot 4 of 5 from the arc in the second half, including a deep three with 2:08 remaining that gave the Chargers a 53-47 lead.
"Noll's three that put them back up by six in the fourth was a big play," Wienhorst said. "She's a very good basketball player. To go 5 of 9 (from the arc) at any level is remarkable, nonetheless to do it from where she was shooting from. Her toes weren't on the line, they were three or four feet back."
Noll finished the game with 25 points, eight rebounds, five assists and two steals.
Carroll improved to 19-3 with the nine-point victory, while Warsaw's season ends at 21-2. The Chargers play Columbia City in Saturday's title tilt after the host Eagles downed East Noble 57-49 in Friday's bye game.
A team that downed Carroll 61-58 in the regular season after trailing by 12 in the third quarter, Warsaw led 10-7 after one and 21-20 at the half Friday.
For the game, Warsaw shot 44 percent from the field and only committed 10 turnovers.
Generally, these are numbers good enough to win a high school girls basketball game, much the way the Tigers went 20-1 through the regular season.
Wienhorst, who sits four wins away from his 400th career coaching victory, said after Friday's loss that his team played good enough to win.
Plain and simple though, Carroll just played better, hitting 63 percent from the field in the second half and 50 percent for the game.
"It's not that we did anything wrong, we played well enough to win," Wienhorst said. "They shot 63 percent from the field in the second half, 14 of 18 from the line. It's hard to beat a team that shoots like that."
After Noll's three halted any further Warsaw comeback, the Chargers scored just one more field goal, as an 11-of-12 performance at the free throw line over the final 1:38 secured Carroll's chance at a third straight sectional crown.
The Tigers got as close as five, 62-57 in the final 10 seconds, but Warsaw called a timeout it didn't have with 6.5 seconds left, leading to a technical foul and two Noll free throws. Amanda Ponsot scored the game's final two points at the charity stripe with 3.6 seconds left to play, accounting for the nine-point margin.
Junior Jaclyn Leininger led Warsaw in the scoring column with 19 points, while freshman point guard Julie Seiss added 18, sophomore Rebekah Reichard 10 and junior Michelle DeGeeter nine.
Warsaw's only other point came at the free throw line from junior Holly Durcholz.
To go with its outside threat in Noll, the Chargers got 17 and 15 points, respectively, from insiders Tamesha Scotton and Ponsot.
The duo went a combined 12 of 23 from the field and shot a 7 of 10 from the charity stripe.
Ten of Scotton's points came in the third quarter when the Chargers outscored Warsaw 25-14, closing the eight-minute frame with a 10-2 run to turn a one-point deficit into a 45-35 lead.
"Carroll played us better than any team has all year," Wienhorst said. "We played well enough to win, but Carroll was the better team tonight. These girls never gave up, we spent a lot of energy chasing them early and that hurt. In the second half when Carroll got the lead they spread it out, it's hard to defend a team with someone like Noll shooting outside and then Scotton on the baseline."
Carroll shot 15 of 24 from the field in the second half, 23 of 46 for the game. Warsaw was 8 of 23 in the first half and 23 of 52 for the game.
Generally a strength for Warsaw, the Tigers hit just 9 of 17 free throw attempts, as well as going just 2 of 10 from the three-point arc.
Carroll finished the game 14 of 18 at the free throw line and 6 of 13 at the arc.
CARROLL 66, NO. 5 (4A) WARSAW 57
Carroll (19-3) 7 13 25 21 - 66
Warsaw (21-2) 10 11 14 22 - 57
Carroll FG FT R S Pts.
* Noll 7-12 6-6 8 2 25
* Yoder 2-3 0-0 3 2 4
* Ponsot 4-7 6-6 3 0 15
* Scotton 8-16 1-4 6 0 17
* Meiklejohn 1-4 0-0 7 0 2
Petrie 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Pape 1-1 1-2 6 1 3
Easterhaus 0-3 0-0 2 0 0
Felger 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Totals 23-46 14-18 35 6 66
Warsaw FG FT R S Pts.
* Seiss 8-17 1-1 4 3 18
* Reichard 5-8 0-3 8 2 10
* Hepler 0-3 0-0 1 0 0
* Leininger 6-16 6-8 1 1 19
* DeGeeter 4-6 1-3 6 1 9
Mayer 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Durcholz 0-0 1-2 2 0 1
Harman 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Franklin 0-2 0-0 1 0 0
Totals 23-52 9-17 24 7 57
Three-point goals - Carroll 6-13 (Noll 5-9, Ponsot 1-3, Scotton 0-1), Warsaw 2-10 (Leininger 1-4, Seiss 1-2, Hepler 0-2, Franklin 0-2). Turnovers - Carroll 16, Warsaw 10. Fouls - Carroll 18, Warsaw 16. Fouled out - none. [[In-content Ad]]
COLUMBIA CITY - The smallest girl on the court, 5-foot-3 Carroll senior Abby Noll played the biggest role in downing fifth-ranked Warsaw Friday in the semifinal round of the Columbia City 4A Sectional.
With Warsaw leading 21-20 at the half, Noll ignited the Chargers with a barrage of second-half three-pointers, leading Carroll to a 66-57 victory over the Tigers.
Noll, who finished the evening 7 of 12 from the field overall, shot 4 of 5 from the arc in the second half, including a deep three with 2:08 remaining that gave the Chargers a 53-47 lead.
"Noll's three that put them back up by six in the fourth was a big play," Wienhorst said. "She's a very good basketball player. To go 5 of 9 (from the arc) at any level is remarkable, nonetheless to do it from where she was shooting from. Her toes weren't on the line, they were three or four feet back."
Noll finished the game with 25 points, eight rebounds, five assists and two steals.
Carroll improved to 19-3 with the nine-point victory, while Warsaw's season ends at 21-2. The Chargers play Columbia City in Saturday's title tilt after the host Eagles downed East Noble 57-49 in Friday's bye game.
A team that downed Carroll 61-58 in the regular season after trailing by 12 in the third quarter, Warsaw led 10-7 after one and 21-20 at the half Friday.
For the game, Warsaw shot 44 percent from the field and only committed 10 turnovers.
Generally, these are numbers good enough to win a high school girls basketball game, much the way the Tigers went 20-1 through the regular season.
Wienhorst, who sits four wins away from his 400th career coaching victory, said after Friday's loss that his team played good enough to win.
Plain and simple though, Carroll just played better, hitting 63 percent from the field in the second half and 50 percent for the game.
"It's not that we did anything wrong, we played well enough to win," Wienhorst said. "They shot 63 percent from the field in the second half, 14 of 18 from the line. It's hard to beat a team that shoots like that."
After Noll's three halted any further Warsaw comeback, the Chargers scored just one more field goal, as an 11-of-12 performance at the free throw line over the final 1:38 secured Carroll's chance at a third straight sectional crown.
The Tigers got as close as five, 62-57 in the final 10 seconds, but Warsaw called a timeout it didn't have with 6.5 seconds left, leading to a technical foul and two Noll free throws. Amanda Ponsot scored the game's final two points at the charity stripe with 3.6 seconds left to play, accounting for the nine-point margin.
Junior Jaclyn Leininger led Warsaw in the scoring column with 19 points, while freshman point guard Julie Seiss added 18, sophomore Rebekah Reichard 10 and junior Michelle DeGeeter nine.
Warsaw's only other point came at the free throw line from junior Holly Durcholz.
To go with its outside threat in Noll, the Chargers got 17 and 15 points, respectively, from insiders Tamesha Scotton and Ponsot.
The duo went a combined 12 of 23 from the field and shot a 7 of 10 from the charity stripe.
Ten of Scotton's points came in the third quarter when the Chargers outscored Warsaw 25-14, closing the eight-minute frame with a 10-2 run to turn a one-point deficit into a 45-35 lead.
"Carroll played us better than any team has all year," Wienhorst said. "We played well enough to win, but Carroll was the better team tonight. These girls never gave up, we spent a lot of energy chasing them early and that hurt. In the second half when Carroll got the lead they spread it out, it's hard to defend a team with someone like Noll shooting outside and then Scotton on the baseline."
Carroll shot 15 of 24 from the field in the second half, 23 of 46 for the game. Warsaw was 8 of 23 in the first half and 23 of 52 for the game.
Generally a strength for Warsaw, the Tigers hit just 9 of 17 free throw attempts, as well as going just 2 of 10 from the three-point arc.
Carroll finished the game 14 of 18 at the free throw line and 6 of 13 at the arc.
CARROLL 66, NO. 5 (4A) WARSAW 57
Carroll (19-3) 7 13 25 21 - 66
Warsaw (21-2) 10 11 14 22 - 57
Carroll FG FT R S Pts.
* Noll 7-12 6-6 8 2 25
* Yoder 2-3 0-0 3 2 4
* Ponsot 4-7 6-6 3 0 15
* Scotton 8-16 1-4 6 0 17
* Meiklejohn 1-4 0-0 7 0 2
Petrie 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Pape 1-1 1-2 6 1 3
Easterhaus 0-3 0-0 2 0 0
Felger 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Totals 23-46 14-18 35 6 66
Warsaw FG FT R S Pts.
* Seiss 8-17 1-1 4 3 18
* Reichard 5-8 0-3 8 2 10
* Hepler 0-3 0-0 1 0 0
* Leininger 6-16 6-8 1 1 19
* DeGeeter 4-6 1-3 6 1 9
Mayer 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Durcholz 0-0 1-2 2 0 1
Harman 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Franklin 0-2 0-0 1 0 0
Totals 23-52 9-17 24 7 57
Three-point goals - Carroll 6-13 (Noll 5-9, Ponsot 1-3, Scotton 0-1), Warsaw 2-10 (Leininger 1-4, Seiss 1-2, Hepler 0-2, Franklin 0-2). Turnovers - Carroll 16, Warsaw 10. Fouls - Carroll 18, Warsaw 16. Fouled out - none. [[In-content Ad]]