Rarely does a buzzer-beating basket seemingly cause two losses. But it just might have been the case for the Warsaw girls' basketball team in its own Tiger Tournament Saturday.

When Mt. Vernon's Courtney Howell nailed her shot from the top of the key in overtime it led directly to the Tigers' 55-53 loss in the semifinals, then indirectly to Warsaw's 57-36 loss to Valparaiso in the consolation game as well.

Howell's shot, which appeared to have come after the buzzer to end overtime with the score tied at 53, drained a lot of the Tigers' fight and appeared to have left them lifeless for the third-place game against the No. 11 Vikings.

"They put it on the line this afternoon," Warsaw coach Will Wienhorst said. "To get beat that way took the air out of them, even though they knew in their hearts that it didn't count. Then you have to come back and play No. 11 Valpo."

No. 3 Perry Meridian, led by 21 points from tourney Most Valuable Player and Miss Basketball candidate Katie Douglas, raced to a 72-62 win over Mt. Vernon to capture the championship game.

Valparaiso, the winner of this tourney the past five seasons, had just come off an emotional game of its own in the semifinals against Perry Meridian, and the Vikings' physical style seemed to benefit them as they made 26 of 35 free throws, compared to only 11 of 21 for the Tigers.

"In the 11 years I have been here, it was the most physical game I have been involved with," Wienhorst said. "The key tonight was the foul situation. When you get beat 15 points at the line, that is the key. If we hit some of our front ends of one and ones, we are shooting about the same amount of foul shots."

Valpo shot out of the gates to take a 29-15 halftime lead. The Tigers appeared to show some life in the second quarter, but had their timing disrupted when starting guards Sheila Whitaker (ankle) and Emily Niemier (eye) went out with injuries. Whitaker returned later in the game, but Niemier required stitches in her cheek after catching a wayward elbow from teammate Sarah Calhoun.

"It is tough because you have kids playing in different positions when your point guard and 2-guard goes out right away and you are playing different people in different places," Wienhorst said. "When it got down to it, we matched them blow for blow for the rest of the game. That is the fire I like in these young ladies. We just have to learn that when we play that way, we have to finish our bunnies and make our foul shots."

The margin stayed right around the 20-point area the entire second half.

Megan Parker did the most damage against the Tigers, hitting on 11 of 16 freebies en route to a game-high 19 points.

"I told the kids I was ready to play another game," Wienhorst said. "We learned an awful lot. We put in an entirely new offense, and we ran it for two games. I am not down on these young ladies. We are going to get much better."

Sherri Ross scored eight points to lead Warsaw.

Mt. Vernon 55, Warsaw 53

After Katie Elliott's layup with five seconds left tied the game in overtime at 53, the Marauders raced down the court and got the ball into the hands of Howell, who appeared to have taken the shot after the buzzer. The officials counted the basket, and Mt. Vernon was off to the championship game.

"We had our shots, they just didn't go," Wienhorst said. "It was a good game. You hate to see it get down to a call here and there, but that is part of it."

Warsaw trailed 44-39 when the Tigers got their first points of the fourth quarter with just 3:05 left on the clock to make it 44-41.

Mt. Vernon proceeded to turn the ball over on three straight trips down the court with under two minutes left and Warsaw capitalized by getting a Sherri Ross jumper and a free throw from Whitaker to tie the score.

Warsaw had the ball with 30 seconds left and the score tied when it worked the clock down and got a jumper from the baseline from Elliott with five seconds left. Whitaker rebounded the miss, but missed the ensuing layup as time expired.

Mt. Vernon opened up a 51-47 lead when freshman Johna Goff hit a trey and two free throws. Warsaw closed the gap to 52-51 on an Elliott free throw and Goff gave Mt. Vernon a 53-51 lead on a free throw of her own.

The Tigers had their chances in the fourth quarter and overtime, but made only four of 11 freebies in those two periods.

"We did everything we needed to and had the opportunity to win, we just didn't finish," Wienhorst said. "We learned an awful lot today, different things that we need to improve."

Tiffany Ross led the Tigers with 16 points and was named to the All-Tournament team. Elliott added 15.

Warsaw (7-4) is at Wawasee Thursday to face the Warriors in a big Northern Lakes Conference matchup. [[In-content Ad]]