Leininger, Tiger Girls Hoops Team Continues To Roll
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
HUNTINGTON - Though they hung a stuffed tiger in the entrance to their locker room, it was the Huntington North Vikings that had the life snuffed out of them Saturday evening.
Warsaw's varsity girls basketball team, currently ranked No. 9 in Class 4A, raced out to a 12-0 lead to start the game and never trailed en route to a 57-44 win.
In all reality, it was the Tigers who had Huntington North on the ropes, and the Vikings tried to hang on but couldn't.
Huntington North cut the lead to as little as eight, 45-37, at the end of the third quarter but trailed by 18 in the final frame when Miss Basketball candidate Jaclyn Leininger hit back-to-back treys for a 55-37 Tiger lead with 3:51 remaining.
"In the first half I thought we played the best 12 minutes of basketball we have all year," veteran Tiger coach Will Wienhorst said. "But for four minutes we also played as poor as we have all year. We beat an excellent basketball team tonight. Huntington North has a lot of experienced players."
After trailing 12-0 midway through the first, the Vikings used the final four minutes of the opening quarter to cut Warsaw's lead to 20-15 heading into the second stanza. Huntington North outscored Warsaw 7-0 in the final 1:04 of the first quarter.
Behind the scoring of sophomore point guard Julie Seiss and junior frontliner Rebekah Reichard, the Tigers bumped the lead back up to 11, 28-17, and held a nine-point advantage at halftime.
"There's two things we want to do," Wienhorst said. "Our No. 1 goal is to prove to whoever we're playing we're better than them. It's not about the other games. We're taking them one at a time. We're also playing better basketball right now.
Though it's been two weeks, Wienhorst again briefly mentioned the season opener at Tippecanoe Valley.
The Tigers lost the game and the state's No. 1 ranking, and it seems to have been the wake up call they needed.
Since then, the Tigers have won by 15, 25, 26 and 13. All four wins have come over respected 4A programs.
Starting the fourth quarter Saturday with a 45-37 lead, the Tigers went on a 10-0 run to open the final eight minutes of play, getting a pair of free throws from Seiss, and two charity tosses and a pair of nothing-but-net treys from Leininger.
After scoring seven in the first half, all of which came in the first quarter, Leininger put on a scoring clinic in the second half, scoring 13 in the third and eight in the fourth.
All totaled, the Miami of Ohio-bound 6-footer shot 11 of 15 from the field, 3 of 4 from three-point range, for 28 points. She also tallied five assists and two steals.
"She played like an Indiana All-Star tonight," Wienhorst said of Leininger, who has scored in double figures 45 of her last 49 games and needs 16 points to reach 1,000 for her career. "Tonight she played like our leader."
To go with Leininger's 28, Seiss added 13, Reichard seven, Kara Mayer five and Michelle DeGeeter four.
As a team, the Tigers shot 21 of 40 (52.5 percent) from the field.
Huntington North, on the other hand, shot 18 of 50 (36 percent) from the field.
Melissa Hawkins led the Vikings in the scoring column with 12, while Beth Freiburger added 11 and Chelsea Kilty 10.
The Tigers, who beat Huntington North for the third straight time, improved to 4-1 on the season and open Northern Lakes Conference play Saturday at Plymouth.
Huntington North, which holds a 10-6 overall series lead over the Tigers, lost its second straight game and fell to 4-2.
NO. 9 (4A) WARSAW 57, HUNTINGTON NORTH 44
Warsaw 20 8 17 12 - 57
Hunt. North 15 4 18 7 - 44
Warsaw FG FT R S Pts.
* Mayer 1-8 2-2 1 1 5
* Seiss 4-7 4-5 4 2 13
* Reichard 3-5 1-3 7 0 7
* Leininger 11-15 3-4 2 2 28
* DeGeeter 2-3 0-1 6 1 4
Braddock 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Durcholz 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Clay 0-1 0-0 1 1 0
Smith 0-1 0-0 1 0 0
Sand 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Heiman 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Kindig 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 21-40 10-15 23 8 57
Hunt. North FG FT R S Pts.
* Davenport 1-4 2-2 5 1 4
* Miller 3-11 1-3 3 4 7
* Wolf 0-4 0-0 2 0 0
* Hawkins 5-15 0-0 8 1 12
* Freiburger 5-7 1-2 4 0 11
Hanson 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Stetzel 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Stoffel 0-1 0-0 2 0 0
Kilty 4-8 0-0 3 2 10
Armstrong 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Smelser 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Jenkins 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 18-50 4-7 27 9 44
Three-point goals - Warsaw 5-12 (Leininger 3-4, Mayer 1-5, Seiss 1-3), Hunt. North 4-15 (Hawkins 2-8, Kilty 2-3, Wolf 0-3, Miller 0-1). Fouls - Warsaw 11, Hunt. North 15. Fouled out - none.
JV - Huntington North 45, Warsaw 26 [[In-content Ad]]
HUNTINGTON - Though they hung a stuffed tiger in the entrance to their locker room, it was the Huntington North Vikings that had the life snuffed out of them Saturday evening.
Warsaw's varsity girls basketball team, currently ranked No. 9 in Class 4A, raced out to a 12-0 lead to start the game and never trailed en route to a 57-44 win.
In all reality, it was the Tigers who had Huntington North on the ropes, and the Vikings tried to hang on but couldn't.
Huntington North cut the lead to as little as eight, 45-37, at the end of the third quarter but trailed by 18 in the final frame when Miss Basketball candidate Jaclyn Leininger hit back-to-back treys for a 55-37 Tiger lead with 3:51 remaining.
"In the first half I thought we played the best 12 minutes of basketball we have all year," veteran Tiger coach Will Wienhorst said. "But for four minutes we also played as poor as we have all year. We beat an excellent basketball team tonight. Huntington North has a lot of experienced players."
After trailing 12-0 midway through the first, the Vikings used the final four minutes of the opening quarter to cut Warsaw's lead to 20-15 heading into the second stanza. Huntington North outscored Warsaw 7-0 in the final 1:04 of the first quarter.
Behind the scoring of sophomore point guard Julie Seiss and junior frontliner Rebekah Reichard, the Tigers bumped the lead back up to 11, 28-17, and held a nine-point advantage at halftime.
"There's two things we want to do," Wienhorst said. "Our No. 1 goal is to prove to whoever we're playing we're better than them. It's not about the other games. We're taking them one at a time. We're also playing better basketball right now.
Though it's been two weeks, Wienhorst again briefly mentioned the season opener at Tippecanoe Valley.
The Tigers lost the game and the state's No. 1 ranking, and it seems to have been the wake up call they needed.
Since then, the Tigers have won by 15, 25, 26 and 13. All four wins have come over respected 4A programs.
Starting the fourth quarter Saturday with a 45-37 lead, the Tigers went on a 10-0 run to open the final eight minutes of play, getting a pair of free throws from Seiss, and two charity tosses and a pair of nothing-but-net treys from Leininger.
After scoring seven in the first half, all of which came in the first quarter, Leininger put on a scoring clinic in the second half, scoring 13 in the third and eight in the fourth.
All totaled, the Miami of Ohio-bound 6-footer shot 11 of 15 from the field, 3 of 4 from three-point range, for 28 points. She also tallied five assists and two steals.
"She played like an Indiana All-Star tonight," Wienhorst said of Leininger, who has scored in double figures 45 of her last 49 games and needs 16 points to reach 1,000 for her career. "Tonight she played like our leader."
To go with Leininger's 28, Seiss added 13, Reichard seven, Kara Mayer five and Michelle DeGeeter four.
As a team, the Tigers shot 21 of 40 (52.5 percent) from the field.
Huntington North, on the other hand, shot 18 of 50 (36 percent) from the field.
Melissa Hawkins led the Vikings in the scoring column with 12, while Beth Freiburger added 11 and Chelsea Kilty 10.
The Tigers, who beat Huntington North for the third straight time, improved to 4-1 on the season and open Northern Lakes Conference play Saturday at Plymouth.
Huntington North, which holds a 10-6 overall series lead over the Tigers, lost its second straight game and fell to 4-2.
NO. 9 (4A) WARSAW 57, HUNTINGTON NORTH 44
Warsaw 20 8 17 12 - 57
Hunt. North 15 4 18 7 - 44
Warsaw FG FT R S Pts.
* Mayer 1-8 2-2 1 1 5
* Seiss 4-7 4-5 4 2 13
* Reichard 3-5 1-3 7 0 7
* Leininger 11-15 3-4 2 2 28
* DeGeeter 2-3 0-1 6 1 4
Braddock 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Durcholz 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Clay 0-1 0-0 1 1 0
Smith 0-1 0-0 1 0 0
Sand 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Heiman 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Kindig 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 21-40 10-15 23 8 57
Hunt. North FG FT R S Pts.
* Davenport 1-4 2-2 5 1 4
* Miller 3-11 1-3 3 4 7
* Wolf 0-4 0-0 2 0 0
* Hawkins 5-15 0-0 8 1 12
* Freiburger 5-7 1-2 4 0 11
Hanson 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Stetzel 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Stoffel 0-1 0-0 2 0 0
Kilty 4-8 0-0 3 2 10
Armstrong 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Smelser 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Jenkins 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 18-50 4-7 27 9 44
Three-point goals - Warsaw 5-12 (Leininger 3-4, Mayer 1-5, Seiss 1-3), Hunt. North 4-15 (Hawkins 2-8, Kilty 2-3, Wolf 0-3, Miller 0-1). Fouls - Warsaw 11, Hunt. North 15. Fouled out - none.
JV - Huntington North 45, Warsaw 26 [[In-content Ad]]