Goshen Upends Lady Tigers
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Anthony [email protected]
"If you go back to the history, it's been back to 1982 when we beat Warsaw," Goshen coach Lenny Krebs said. "I joke with the girls every year about how I was 9 years old at that time. I let them know what was going on back then, like 'Eye of the Tiger' was No. 1 (on the billboard chart). They were determined that they were going to step up and break that streak."
The loss was the Warsaw Lady Tigers' (12-3, 3-1 Northern Lakes Conference) first loss to Goshen (11-3, 3-1 NLC) in 30 years, and also resulted in five-way tie for first place in the NLC, as Elkhart Memorial, NorthWood and Northridge also sit at 3-1.
"It's a big loss, but it doesn't define our season," Warsaw coach Michelle Harter said. "It helps us to get ready to go. If we finish out here with our last three conference games with a win, that leaves us with one loss, which leaves everyone else with one loss as well. It's big, because we could have finished out and won it outright, but now, we're going to have to come back and battle against three conference teams."
In their first conference loss of the season, Warsaw was punched early by Goshen, who used an 11-0 run in the first quarter to go in front 14-4, before pushing its lead 22-8 following two free throws to open the second quarter.
"We weren't putting ball pressure on like we had been," Harter said. "We were watching the pass instead of moving as the ball was in flight. We were just a step slow."
All season long, the Lady Tigers have been able to fight back from big deficits and it happened again Saturday, as a15-0 run gave Warsaw a 23-22 lead with 2:16 remaining in the first half.
"We can make it a lot easier on ourselves if we can eliminate those runs," Krebs said. "We talked about that during a timeout. We wanted to stop putting pressure on our offense but giving up score on the (defensive) end. We just wanted to get a stop, just to take some pressure off our offense."
Just when things were looking good for the Lady Tigers, Goshen sophomore Deja Felder hit her third of five three-pointers of the night, finishing with 17 points, four assists, four steals and two rebounds.
"Deja was huge in the first half," Krebs said of Felder, who went 4 of 7 from behind the three-point arc in the first half. "She knocked down four three-pointers early and got us going. She had been struggling to shoot, but we got her going."
Following Felder's trey, Warsaw senior Lauren Burish made a couple of free throws to tied it up again, but after that, Goshen regained the lead and never trailed.
"I've never been more proud and happy for a group of girls than I am right now," Krebs said. "They stepped up and made plays."
The atmosphere was a lot less jovial in the Warsaw locker room.
"The big thing tonight was they were able to speed us up," Harter said. "We didn't run our offense. We weren't strong with the basketball. We didn't value each possession and we didn't block out. We had an opportunity, getting to the foul line, and it's been our Achilles heel all year long, and the foul line killed us tonight."
At the charity stripe, Warsaw did make just 14 of 23, but Goshen didn't fair much better, making 16 of 26.
Warsaw still had four girls score in the double digits, led by junior Jennifer Walker-Crawford's 16, followed by senior Sarah Heagy's 12, junior Lindsay Baker's 11 and sophomore Nikki Grose's 10.
Heagy also had 10 rebounds in the loss, while Grose had seven and Burish finished with a game-high four steals.
Warsaw is back on the court Wednesday, hosting Class 4A No. 2 Penn.
"This definitely helps us refocus," Harter said. "The girls understand that with each practice, we come out and be focused and committed on getting better."
GOSHEN 62, WARSAW 58
W 8 17 9 24 – 58
G 20 10 13 19 – 62
Goshen – Deja Felder 5-10 2-2 17, Liana Yoder 6-7 4-8 16, Aimee Swihart 4-13 7-11 16, Yesenia Montanez 0-3 1-2 1, Hailey Warrick 2-4 2-3 6, Christina Gipson 0-2 0-0 0, Yadira Cabrales 2-2 0-0 6, Diamond Kelly 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 19-42 16-26 62.
Warsaw – Sarah Ray 0-2 1-2 1, Lauren Burish 1-5 3-5 6, Jennifer Walker-Crawford 5-11 6-8 16, Lindsay Baker 4-7 0-0 11, Sarah Heagy 5-8 2-4 12, Ashley Ousley 1-6 0-0 2, Madison Davis 0-1 0-0 0, Melanie Holladay 0-0 0-0 0, Eryn Leek 0-0 0-0 0, Nikki Grose 3-6 2-4 10. Totals 19-46 14-23 58.
Three-point goals – Goshen 8-17 (Yoder 5, Cabrales 2, Swihart), Warsaw 6-15 (Baker 3, Grose 2, Burish); Team Fouls – Goshen 20, Warsaw 21 (Baker); Turnovers – Goshen 24, Warsaw 23; Rebounds – Goshen 21 (Yoder 5), Warsaw 25 (Heagy 10); Assists – Goshen 10 (Swihart 5), Warsaw 10 (Ray 2, Baker 2, Holladay 2); Steals – Goshen 9 (Felder 4), Warsaw 13 (Burish 4); Blocks – Goshen 0, Warsaw 1; Records: Goshen 11-3 (3-1 NLC), Warsaw 12-3 (3-1 NLC).
JV – Warsaw 32, Goshen 28 (OT)
Warsaw JV – Vicki Harris 18, Morgan Holsclaw 4, Pam Miller 4, Jackie Ferguson 2, Hannah Boal 2, Gabby Monroy 2[[In-content Ad]]
"If you go back to the history, it's been back to 1982 when we beat Warsaw," Goshen coach Lenny Krebs said. "I joke with the girls every year about how I was 9 years old at that time. I let them know what was going on back then, like 'Eye of the Tiger' was No. 1 (on the billboard chart). They were determined that they were going to step up and break that streak."
The loss was the Warsaw Lady Tigers' (12-3, 3-1 Northern Lakes Conference) first loss to Goshen (11-3, 3-1 NLC) in 30 years, and also resulted in five-way tie for first place in the NLC, as Elkhart Memorial, NorthWood and Northridge also sit at 3-1.
"It's a big loss, but it doesn't define our season," Warsaw coach Michelle Harter said. "It helps us to get ready to go. If we finish out here with our last three conference games with a win, that leaves us with one loss, which leaves everyone else with one loss as well. It's big, because we could have finished out and won it outright, but now, we're going to have to come back and battle against three conference teams."
In their first conference loss of the season, Warsaw was punched early by Goshen, who used an 11-0 run in the first quarter to go in front 14-4, before pushing its lead 22-8 following two free throws to open the second quarter.
"We weren't putting ball pressure on like we had been," Harter said. "We were watching the pass instead of moving as the ball was in flight. We were just a step slow."
All season long, the Lady Tigers have been able to fight back from big deficits and it happened again Saturday, as a15-0 run gave Warsaw a 23-22 lead with 2:16 remaining in the first half.
"We can make it a lot easier on ourselves if we can eliminate those runs," Krebs said. "We talked about that during a timeout. We wanted to stop putting pressure on our offense but giving up score on the (defensive) end. We just wanted to get a stop, just to take some pressure off our offense."
Just when things were looking good for the Lady Tigers, Goshen sophomore Deja Felder hit her third of five three-pointers of the night, finishing with 17 points, four assists, four steals and two rebounds.
"Deja was huge in the first half," Krebs said of Felder, who went 4 of 7 from behind the three-point arc in the first half. "She knocked down four three-pointers early and got us going. She had been struggling to shoot, but we got her going."
Following Felder's trey, Warsaw senior Lauren Burish made a couple of free throws to tied it up again, but after that, Goshen regained the lead and never trailed.
"I've never been more proud and happy for a group of girls than I am right now," Krebs said. "They stepped up and made plays."
The atmosphere was a lot less jovial in the Warsaw locker room.
"The big thing tonight was they were able to speed us up," Harter said. "We didn't run our offense. We weren't strong with the basketball. We didn't value each possession and we didn't block out. We had an opportunity, getting to the foul line, and it's been our Achilles heel all year long, and the foul line killed us tonight."
At the charity stripe, Warsaw did make just 14 of 23, but Goshen didn't fair much better, making 16 of 26.
Warsaw still had four girls score in the double digits, led by junior Jennifer Walker-Crawford's 16, followed by senior Sarah Heagy's 12, junior Lindsay Baker's 11 and sophomore Nikki Grose's 10.
Heagy also had 10 rebounds in the loss, while Grose had seven and Burish finished with a game-high four steals.
Warsaw is back on the court Wednesday, hosting Class 4A No. 2 Penn.
"This definitely helps us refocus," Harter said. "The girls understand that with each practice, we come out and be focused and committed on getting better."
GOSHEN 62, WARSAW 58
W 8 17 9 24 – 58
G 20 10 13 19 – 62
Goshen – Deja Felder 5-10 2-2 17, Liana Yoder 6-7 4-8 16, Aimee Swihart 4-13 7-11 16, Yesenia Montanez 0-3 1-2 1, Hailey Warrick 2-4 2-3 6, Christina Gipson 0-2 0-0 0, Yadira Cabrales 2-2 0-0 6, Diamond Kelly 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 19-42 16-26 62.
Warsaw – Sarah Ray 0-2 1-2 1, Lauren Burish 1-5 3-5 6, Jennifer Walker-Crawford 5-11 6-8 16, Lindsay Baker 4-7 0-0 11, Sarah Heagy 5-8 2-4 12, Ashley Ousley 1-6 0-0 2, Madison Davis 0-1 0-0 0, Melanie Holladay 0-0 0-0 0, Eryn Leek 0-0 0-0 0, Nikki Grose 3-6 2-4 10. Totals 19-46 14-23 58.
Three-point goals – Goshen 8-17 (Yoder 5, Cabrales 2, Swihart), Warsaw 6-15 (Baker 3, Grose 2, Burish); Team Fouls – Goshen 20, Warsaw 21 (Baker); Turnovers – Goshen 24, Warsaw 23; Rebounds – Goshen 21 (Yoder 5), Warsaw 25 (Heagy 10); Assists – Goshen 10 (Swihart 5), Warsaw 10 (Ray 2, Baker 2, Holladay 2); Steals – Goshen 9 (Felder 4), Warsaw 13 (Burish 4); Blocks – Goshen 0, Warsaw 1; Records: Goshen 11-3 (3-1 NLC), Warsaw 12-3 (3-1 NLC).
JV – Warsaw 32, Goshen 28 (OT)
Warsaw JV – Vicki Harris 18, Morgan Holsclaw 4, Pam Miller 4, Jackie Ferguson 2, Hannah Boal 2, Gabby Monroy 2[[In-content Ad]]
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