NAPPANEE - As it turns out, according to NorthWood senior basketball player Natalie Will, the Panthers' 48-38 conference loss at Warsaw earlier in the season was one of the best things that could have happened to them.

"That loss to Warsaw was such a wake-up call," said Will. "Since then our defense has only gone up and that's the way it should be."

Will's statement is true and then some.

Since that 10-point loss to Warsaw, their first loss to the Tigers in six years, the Panthers have won six consecutive games. In those six games they've outscored the opposition by an average of nearly 35 points per game. NorthWood won its seventh game in a row Saturday when they hosted and defeated fifth-ranked 19-2 South Bend Washington 79-41 in the 3A regional championship.

NorthWood (21-3) came into the game ranked sixth in the latest 3A poll and had only been held under 50 points twice this season.

"Congratulate Washington, they had a great year," said NorthWood coach Steve Neff. "This was a tremendous year for them. They'll come back even better next year, but have to prepare to move up a class. Our girls have been through this before, and playing at home was an advantage."

NorthWood, who has won the regional championship four consecutive years, was led in scoring by Amy Zercher's game-high 27 points on a 10-of-15 shooting performance. Zercher also made good on 7 of 10 free throws. Natalie Will and freshman center Carol Duncan added 21 and 10 points respectively. Washington's Jacqueline Batteast scored 10 points; Nicole Burnett contributed eight points to the Panthers' season finale.

Angie Callander put NorthWood on the board at the 6:55 mark of the opening frame and the host Panthers never looked back. On the strength of six first-quarter points from Duncan, NorthWood held a 16-7 advantage after Washington made it close toward the end of quarter one. The Panthers led at one point by a count of 10-1.

NorthWood's two Division I recruits, Zercher and Will, only scored six points combined in the first quarter but exploded in the second stanza. Zercher totaled 10 points in the frame while Will added eight.

After the game Zercher was asked if she found herself in some sort of zone in the second quarter, and where her offense was in the first quarter.

"I had a sinus infection last week," said Zercher. "I went to the doctor on Thursday and he cured me right up. In the first quarter we ran an offense where everyone got the ball, my time came and I was happy I was there and could put them in."

When Zercher wasn't putting them in, the rest of the team was, NorthWood shot 31 of 59 (52.5 percent) from the field as a team. Washington, on the other hand, shot a respectable 43.2 percent but that was only out of 37 total attempts. The Panthers made almost as many shots as the opposition attempted.

"We moved the ball around and got good looks," said Neff. "When you get good looks they'll go in most of the time."

Not only did NorthWood's defense limit Washington's shot attempts, it also limited its time of possession. The Panthers caused 25 Washington turnovers, while they themselves were victim to just 16 turnovers. At the end of two quarters NorthWood had stretched its lead to 40-22.

NorthWood also won the war on the boards. The host team outrebounded Washington 35-16.

"In practice we worked on the boards all week long," said Zercher. "If we could do that (rebound), then the game was ours."

And the game definitely belonged to the Panthers in the second half of play. NorthWood started the third quarter with a Duncan field goal and two field goals and a free throw from Zercher to push its advantage to 47-22 with 4:52 remaining in the third quarter. When all was said and done NorthWood outscored Washington 22-6 in the quarter to take a commanding 62-28 lead heading into the final frame.

NorthWood outscored Washington 17-13 in the final frame to account for the 38-point win.

This is the ninth regional championship for the Panthers, yet, with the tradition NorthWood has, the Panthers aren't satisfied.

"You work hard to win a sectional and people want more, and to move on," said Neff. "I don't want to win the sectional and have the girls come up to me asking for championship T-shirts."

NorthWood will play Andrean at noon Saturday in the Peru semistate. Andrean defeated Twin Lakes 80-67 to claim the Merrillville Regional championship.

The Panthers have been in the semistate four consecutive years, and after their regional victory Saturday, the attitude of the NorthWood seniors was of having unfinished business to take care of.

"We're not done yet," said Zercher. "There's more to go and we look forward to it, we're ready to battle."

NORTHWOOD 79

SB WASHINGTON 41

NorthWood 3A Regional

NorthWood 16 24 22 17 - 79

SB Washington 7 15 6 13 -Ê41

NorthWood FG FT S R Pts.

Zercher (F) 10-15 7-10 3 10 27

Will (F) 9-12 3-4 2 7 21

Duncan (C) 5-9 0-1 3 9 10

Kas. Chamberlain (G) 3-11 2-2 4 0 8

Callander (G) 2-7 2-4 1 1 6

Newcomer 1-2 0-0 0 0 3

Sandy 1-1 0-0 0 0 2

Kat. Chamberlain 0-0 2-2 0 0 2

Haney 0-1 0-0 0 0 0

Zell 0-0 0-0 0 2 0

Stichter 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Totals 31-59 16-23 12 35 79

SB Washington FG FT S R Pts.

Batteast (F) 6-11 2-2 1 2 14

Burnett 3-8 2-2 3 1 8

Ludwig (G) 3-5 0-0 1 0 7

Gunn (G) 2-7 2-4 0 0 6

Benion (C) 1-1 0-0 0 4 2

Williams 1-1 0-0 0 0 0

Wright 0-4 0-0 0 3 0

Lang 0-0 0-0 1 1 0

Wilson 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Totals 16-37 8-12 6 16 41

Three-pointers - NorthWood 1 (Newcomer), S.B. Washington 1 (Ludwig). Turnovers - NorthWood 16, S.B. Washington 25. Fouls - NorthWood 12, S.B. Washington 18. [[In-content Ad]]