Tigers Win Season Opener Over Tippecanoe Valley
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
A series as lopsided as a two-wheeled tricycle, the outcome of Warsaw's girls basketball game with county rival Tippecanoe Valley Friday was the same as it has been for 20-plus years.
With a 57-43 season-opening win, the Tigers upped their dominance of the Vikings to 30 straight games. Warsaw is now 37-1 all-time against Valley, which downed the Tigers in 1981.
After playing Warsaw to the wire a year ago, only to lose by 10 in the final minute, Valley coach Gary Teel said he thought his team could get it done this year as Warsaw had limited experience and the Vikings were loaded with it.
That wasn't the case, as a young Tiger team - one that started two juniors, two sophomores and a freshman - shot 50 percent from the floor and had three scorers in double figures. The experienced Vikings, on the other hand, shot 31 percent from the floor, including 1 of 11 from three-point range one game after dismantling Wabash with their long-range shooting.
"The kids wanted to do so well," said Teel, who guided the Vikings to an 18-5 record last year. "But a lot of times that works the opposite, inadvertently it works backwards."
With Valley going toe-to-toe with the Tigers and the scored knotted at 30 midway through the third quarter, junior Jaclyn Leininger and freshman Julie Seiss led Warsaw on a run that put Valley down 40-32, forcing the Vikings to muster yet another comeback. A comeback the Vikings didn't have in them.
"This year we felt was our opportunity," Teel said. "We felt we had the players to get it done. You can only get down so many times in a game and come back, we'd already gone to the well once. The kids wanted to do so well, and that usually works opposite. I can't fault their efforts though."
The loss drops the Vikings to 2-1 on the young season.
While Valley struggled both handling the ball and shooting it, the host Tigers put together a fine second half, turning an 11-all game after one quarter and a 26-all game at halftime into a double-digit win.
"I thought we played a very good game in the second half," veteran Warsaw coach Will Wienhorst said. "The first half we were in foul trouble, and Valley scored 14 of their 26 points from the free throw line. This isn't Christmas time, and it's not sectional time, but we had a great team effort in the second half."
A team that returned just three players with major varsity experience from last year's 17-4 squad, Warsaw got 22 points from Leininger, 17 from Seiss and 10 from sophomore Rebekah Reichard.
Only the second freshman to start at point guard for Wienhorst, Seiss made the jump from eighth-grade action to varsity competition look like a small step, shooting 60 percent from the field.
"She did a lot of nice things, she's very athletic," Wienhorst said of Seiss. "She got the ball where it needed to go, the points were a bonus."
Reichard's performance was a bonus as well, as the sophomore tallied 10 points and seven rebounds in her first varsity start.
Mallory Hepler and Michelle DeGeeter, both starters, rounded out the Warsaw scoring with four points each.
The only Viking in double figures, junior Rebekah Parker scored 18 points to go with her seven rebounds, three steals and three assists. Reserve Kara Kramer scored seven points, while starters Holly Green and Kathy Prater had four each.
Prater had seven board as well, while Kramer had six.
Warsaw is in action Nov. 29 at Crown Point, while Valley hosts Culver tonight.
WARSAW 57,
TIPPECANOE VALLEY 43
Valley (2-1) 11 15 6 11 - 43
Warsaw (1-0) 11 15 14 17 - 57
Valley FG FT R S Pts.
Shafer * 0-1 3-5 1 1 3
Denny * 1-7 0-0 1 1 3
Green * 1-6 2-2 4 0 4
Parker * 6-15 6-7 7 3 18
Prater * 1-6 2-2 7 0 4
Kramer 3-8 1-1 6 1 7
Leckrone 1-1 0-0 0 0 2
Patterson 1-1 0-0 1 0 2
Totals 14-45 14-17 28 6 43
Warsaw FG FT R S Pts.
Seiss * 6-10 5-9 3 1 17
Reichard * 5-10 0-0 7 4 10
Hepler * 2-2 0-2 3 2 4
Leininger * 8-16 6-8 7 2 22
DeGeeter * 2-5 0-0 8 1 4
Mayer 0-2 0-0 0 1 0
Braddock 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Durcholz 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Harman 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Franklin 0-1 0-0 1 1 0
Heiman 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 23-46 11-19 31 12 57
Three-point goals - Valley 1-11 (Denny 1-7, Parker 0-3, Green 0-1), Warsaw 0-2 (Franklin 0-1, Leininger 0-1). Turnovers. - Valley 21, Warsaw 18. Fouls - Valley 17, Warsaw 17. Fouled out - Parker. Team rebounds - Valley 1, Warsaw 1.
JV - Valley 33, Warsaw 30
Warsaw scoring - Jennifer Scherer 9, Tasia Smith 9, Kayla Templin 5, Rachel Braddock 2, Kim Clay 2, Karen Sand 2, Laura Heiman 1
Valley scoring - Emily Weaver 10, Holli Jackson 8, Jenna McFadden 6, Carli Anglin 3, Lisa Moore 3, Heather Rathbun 2, Danielle Howard 1 [[In-content Ad]]
A series as lopsided as a two-wheeled tricycle, the outcome of Warsaw's girls basketball game with county rival Tippecanoe Valley Friday was the same as it has been for 20-plus years.
With a 57-43 season-opening win, the Tigers upped their dominance of the Vikings to 30 straight games. Warsaw is now 37-1 all-time against Valley, which downed the Tigers in 1981.
After playing Warsaw to the wire a year ago, only to lose by 10 in the final minute, Valley coach Gary Teel said he thought his team could get it done this year as Warsaw had limited experience and the Vikings were loaded with it.
That wasn't the case, as a young Tiger team - one that started two juniors, two sophomores and a freshman - shot 50 percent from the floor and had three scorers in double figures. The experienced Vikings, on the other hand, shot 31 percent from the floor, including 1 of 11 from three-point range one game after dismantling Wabash with their long-range shooting.
"The kids wanted to do so well," said Teel, who guided the Vikings to an 18-5 record last year. "But a lot of times that works the opposite, inadvertently it works backwards."
With Valley going toe-to-toe with the Tigers and the scored knotted at 30 midway through the third quarter, junior Jaclyn Leininger and freshman Julie Seiss led Warsaw on a run that put Valley down 40-32, forcing the Vikings to muster yet another comeback. A comeback the Vikings didn't have in them.
"This year we felt was our opportunity," Teel said. "We felt we had the players to get it done. You can only get down so many times in a game and come back, we'd already gone to the well once. The kids wanted to do so well, and that usually works opposite. I can't fault their efforts though."
The loss drops the Vikings to 2-1 on the young season.
While Valley struggled both handling the ball and shooting it, the host Tigers put together a fine second half, turning an 11-all game after one quarter and a 26-all game at halftime into a double-digit win.
"I thought we played a very good game in the second half," veteran Warsaw coach Will Wienhorst said. "The first half we were in foul trouble, and Valley scored 14 of their 26 points from the free throw line. This isn't Christmas time, and it's not sectional time, but we had a great team effort in the second half."
A team that returned just three players with major varsity experience from last year's 17-4 squad, Warsaw got 22 points from Leininger, 17 from Seiss and 10 from sophomore Rebekah Reichard.
Only the second freshman to start at point guard for Wienhorst, Seiss made the jump from eighth-grade action to varsity competition look like a small step, shooting 60 percent from the field.
"She did a lot of nice things, she's very athletic," Wienhorst said of Seiss. "She got the ball where it needed to go, the points were a bonus."
Reichard's performance was a bonus as well, as the sophomore tallied 10 points and seven rebounds in her first varsity start.
Mallory Hepler and Michelle DeGeeter, both starters, rounded out the Warsaw scoring with four points each.
The only Viking in double figures, junior Rebekah Parker scored 18 points to go with her seven rebounds, three steals and three assists. Reserve Kara Kramer scored seven points, while starters Holly Green and Kathy Prater had four each.
Prater had seven board as well, while Kramer had six.
Warsaw is in action Nov. 29 at Crown Point, while Valley hosts Culver tonight.
WARSAW 57,
TIPPECANOE VALLEY 43
Valley (2-1) 11 15 6 11 - 43
Warsaw (1-0) 11 15 14 17 - 57
Valley FG FT R S Pts.
Shafer * 0-1 3-5 1 1 3
Denny * 1-7 0-0 1 1 3
Green * 1-6 2-2 4 0 4
Parker * 6-15 6-7 7 3 18
Prater * 1-6 2-2 7 0 4
Kramer 3-8 1-1 6 1 7
Leckrone 1-1 0-0 0 0 2
Patterson 1-1 0-0 1 0 2
Totals 14-45 14-17 28 6 43
Warsaw FG FT R S Pts.
Seiss * 6-10 5-9 3 1 17
Reichard * 5-10 0-0 7 4 10
Hepler * 2-2 0-2 3 2 4
Leininger * 8-16 6-8 7 2 22
DeGeeter * 2-5 0-0 8 1 4
Mayer 0-2 0-0 0 1 0
Braddock 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Durcholz 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Harman 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Franklin 0-1 0-0 1 1 0
Heiman 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 23-46 11-19 31 12 57
Three-point goals - Valley 1-11 (Denny 1-7, Parker 0-3, Green 0-1), Warsaw 0-2 (Franklin 0-1, Leininger 0-1). Turnovers. - Valley 21, Warsaw 18. Fouls - Valley 17, Warsaw 17. Fouled out - Parker. Team rebounds - Valley 1, Warsaw 1.
JV - Valley 33, Warsaw 30
Warsaw scoring - Jennifer Scherer 9, Tasia Smith 9, Kayla Templin 5, Rachel Braddock 2, Kim Clay 2, Karen Sand 2, Laura Heiman 1
Valley scoring - Emily Weaver 10, Holli Jackson 8, Jenna McFadden 6, Carli Anglin 3, Lisa Moore 3, Heather Rathbun 2, Danielle Howard 1 [[In-content Ad]]