In a girls basketball game that lasted just over an hour, the outcome of Tuesday's Warsaw/Northridge matchup in the first round of the Northern Lakes Conference/Lake City Bank Holiday Tournament was in doubt little more than eight minutes.

Trailing the Raiders 15-13 after one quarter of play, the No. 6 (4A) Tigers outscored their opponents 25-8 in the second stanza and 16-4 in the third en rout to a convincing 60-37 win.

"I felt going in we had to play our game and be able to make adjustments," Warsaw coach Will Wienhorst said. "Northridge made cuts to the basket in the first quarter. We made adjustments and they no longer got those shots."

The 23-point win improves the sixth-ranked Tigers to 9-1 on the season and gives them a 15-0 lead in the overall series. Northridge, which entered Tuesday's game on a three-game win streak, falls to 4-8.

Warsaw advanced to Thursday's semifinal round where it will play No. 4 (4A) Wawasee, a 64-30 winner over NorthWood, at 8 p.m. at Plymouth High School. Plymouth and Goshen will play at 6 p.m.

Thursday's semifinal round battle will be a rematch of a regular season contest played Saturday, a game won 61-57 by Wawasee to hand Warsaw its only loss of the year.

Wienhorst says his Tigers took that loss hard, and that Tuesday's play in the first quarter may have been a result of that.

"Our first quarter play was a reaction to Saturday's loss," Wienhorst said. "There was a little down play, but overall I thought we played pretty good."

With a well-balanced attack, four players scored in double figures for Warsaw. Senior Hilary O'Connell scored a game-high 13, while sophomore Jaclyn Leininger added 12 and seniors Ashley Wyatt and Janna Knisely 10 each.

The visiting Raiders trailed 40-25 early in the third quarter, but three-pointers by O'Connell and Knisely and a field goal from O'Connell put the Tigers well on their way to a 54-27 lead going into the fourth.

Just as the score indicates, Warsaw had the game in control. The Tiger bench outscored Northridge's 14-2. Warsaw got 15 points off 17 Raider turnovers. The Tigers made just six turnovers and shot 15 of 21 from the free throw line and 20 of 49 from the field overall.

Clearly the taller, more physical team in the post, the Tigers also had nine blocked shots, including three by Leininger and two by senior Natalie Chabot.

Junior Gessica Hufnagle led the Raiders in the scoring column with 12 points, eight of which came in the first quarter when the game went back and forth. Samantha Sline added six, while Laura Carlson had five and Alli Pozeznik and Anne Miller four each.

NO. 6 (4A) WARSAW 60

NORTHRIDGE 37

Northridge (4-8) 15 8 4 10 - 37

Warsaw (9-1) 13 25 16 16 - 60

Northridge FG FT R S Pts.

* Sliney 3-4 0-0 1 0 6

* Carlson 2-12 0-0 6 1 5

* Pozeznik 2-4 0-0 3 1 4

* Oesch 0-0 0-0 2 0 0

* Hufnagle 5-10 2-2 4 1 12

Gingerich 0-0 0-0 1 1 0

Weirich 1-1 0-0 0 0 3

Moses 0-0 1-2 1 0 1

Herto 0-1 0-0 3 0 0

Schrock 1-6 0-2 4 1 2

Miller 2-3 0-0 2 0 4

Pohl 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Team 0-0 0-0 4 0 0

Totals 16-43 3-6 31 5 37

Warsaw FG FT R S Pts.

* Wyatt 2-5 4-6 1 0 10

* O'Connell 5-14 2-2 7 3 13

* Leininger 5-11 2-2 3 1 12

* DeGeeter 3-4 0-3 5 0 6

* Knisely 4-7 0-0 3 0 10

DeRenzo 1-5 4-4 3 3 6

Franklin 0-0 0-0 2 0 0

McGriff 0-1 0-0 1 0 0

Allen 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Team 0-0 0-0 1 0 0

Totals 20-49 15-21 30 10 60

Three-point goals - Northridge 2-8 (Carlson 1-4, Weirich 1-1, Oesch 0-2, Schrock 0-1), Warsaw 5-15 (Wyatt 2-4, Knisely 2-3, O'Connell 1-5, Leininger 0-2, DeRenzo 0-1). Turnovers - Northridge 17, Warsaw 6. Fouls - Northridge 16, Warsaw 8. Fouled out - none. [[In-content Ad]]