Tigers Win Semistate Thriller, Head To State Championship Game
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
The name of the band whose hit song came blaring through the speakers Saturday, Warsaw's varsity girls basketball team knows about being a survivor.
Playing with the eye of the tiger and the heart of a champion, second-ranked Warsaw came from eight points down with four minutes left in regulation and then got two clutch free throws with 9.8 seconds remaining in overtime from Miss Basketball candidate Jaclyn Leininger to knock off Valparaiso 53-51 and win the Warsaw 4A Semistate championship.
The thrilling two-point overtime win advanced the Tigers to the state championship game Saturday against fifth-ranked Indianapolis North Central, a 60-44 winner over Mooresville in the Southport Semistate. The Tigers and Panthers square off at approximately 8:30 p.m. Saturday at Conseco Fieldhouse.
"This feels awesome," said Leininger, who scored 23 points against a Valparaiso team that allowed its opponents an average of just 32 points. "We came out and never gave up, we knew we had to lay it on the line."
The Tigers certainly layed it on the line, turning up the defensive pressure and outscoring the Vikings 12-4 in the final four minutes of regulation.
Six-foot-1 senior center Michelle DeGeeter converted a three-point play with 4:00 remaining in regulation to cut Valparaiso's lead to five, 45-40.
After senior Breanne Gustke pushed the Vikings' lead back to seven, Leininger swished a pair of charity tosses and then hit a field goal to draw the Tigers within three, 47-44, with 2:07 left.
After a 30-second Warsaw time out, the Vikings turned the ball over and DeGeeter rebounded a teammate's shot and put it in, cutting the Valpraiso lead to 47-46 with 1:21 remaining.
Nine seconds later Warsaw point guard Julie Seiss made a steal and was then fouled on her drive to the basket by Erica Humes, who picked up her fifth foul on the play.
Seiss sank both free throws to give the Tigers their first lead since the 5-9 sophomore made a steal and bucket for a 37-36 lead at the 6:54 mark of the third quarter.
"Michelle DeGeeter's putback and Julie Seiss' steal were huge," said Warsaw coach Will Wienhorst, who led the Tigers to a state runner-up finish in 1991. "We got outplayed in the third quarter, give Valpo credit, but I think my team played with a lot of heart today. We were eight points down with four minutes to go, I don't think anything will rattle these girls."
Seiss gave Warsaw a 49-47 lead with 23 seconds left in regulation after hitting the second of two free throws, and then Valparaiso senior Leslie Bryan forced overtime with her bucket with two seconds left.
Valpraiso had to play the extra session with starters Gustke and Humes fouled out, and with Warsaw in the double-bonus.
And the Tigers certainly cashed in at the charity stripe, where they hit 15 of 17 attempts on the day. Valpraiso hit just 1 of 4 free throws in the 36-minute battle of girls basketball powers.
Leininger gave Warsaw a 51-49 lead with 2:10 left in overtime, and then 6-3 senior Cassie Kerns tied the game with her rebound and basket at the 1:55 mark.
Neither team scored again until Leininger hit a pair of free throws with 9.8 seconds left, accounting for the final score and Warsaw's 26th win of the season.
Hutton got a shot off in the lane before the buzzer went off, but it clanked off the iron and Tiger junior Rebekah Reichard boxed out Kerns and got the rebound.
The nearly 3,000 Tiger fans in attendence then went into a frenzied celebration, with the cheering sections rushing the court and Leininger being hoisted above the crowd as the lyrics to Survivor's hit song "Eye of the Tiger" rang through the overhead speakers.
"This team always pulls together when we need to," DeGeeter said. "We've always been able to pull things out when we need to."
The Tigers trailed Carroll after three quarters in the sectional championship on a night Leininger took just five shots from the field, but held Carroll to one point in the fourth quarter to win the sectional title.
Warsaw has now won 18 straight games in the Tiger Den and boast a 42-4 record there in the four-year varsity careers of DeGeeter and Leininger.
And for DeGeeter, Leininger and fellow senior Holly Durcholz, their final game in the Tiger Den couldn't have been sweeter.
"I can't put in to words," DeGeeter said when asked what it felt like to win her last home game in that fashion and advance to the state championship game. "I just can't explain it, but it's awesome."
Leininger led all scorers with 23 points, shooting 7 of 15 from the field and 9 of 9 at the free throw line. The 6-0 senior now has a school-record 715 points this season and 1,589 in her career.
Seiss added 14 points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals in the win.
DeGeeter scored seven, while Reichard had six points and seven boards. Junior Kara Mayer rounded out the Tiger scoring with a three-pointer in the second quarter.
The win improved Warsaw to 26-2 on the season, while Valparaiso's season ended with a 23-3 mark.
Kerns led a balanced Viking attack with 17 points and nine rebounds, while Gustke added 13 points and Hutton 10 points.
"I can't say enough about these girls, they play with so much heart," said Wienhorst, whose career win total improved to 420. "Valparaiso is a very good basketball team. They are very well coached and play very good defense."
In 14 years at the helm of Valparaiso's program, veteran coach Greg Kirby has four semistate championships and a coaching record of 290-48. In 23 years overall, Kirby boasts a record of 405-133.
WARSAW SEMISTATE
NO. 2 (4A) WARSAW 53,
VALPARAISO 51 OT
Valparaiso (23-3) 7 13 14 15 2 - 51
Warsaw (26-2) 8 19 6 16 4 - 53
Valparaiso FG FT R S Pts.
* Hutton 4-8 0-0 1 3 10
* Bryan 2-8 0-0 3 0 4
* Gustke 6-9 1-2 3 0 13
* Humes 3-6 0-0 6 4 7
* Kerns 8-11 0-2 9 1 17
Doane 0-2 0-0 0 0 0
Lang 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 23-45 1-4 22 8 51
Warsaw FG FT R S Pts.
* Mayer 1-4 0-0 1 2 3
* Seiss 5-7 3-4 5 4 14
* Reichard 2-2 2-2 7 0 6
* Leininger 7-15 9-9 2 3 23
* DeGeeter 3-9 1-2 3 1 7
Durcholz 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Clay 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Totals 18-37 15-17 19 10 53
Three-point goals - Valparaiso 4-10 (Hutton 2-4, Humes 1-1, Kerns 1-1, Bryan 0-3, Doane 0-1), Warsaw 2-5 (Mayer 1-3, Seiss 1-1, Leininger 0-1). Turnovers - Valparaiso 16, Warsaw 11. Fouls - Valparaiso 19, Warsaw 9. Fouled out - Gustke, Humes. [[In-content Ad]]
The name of the band whose hit song came blaring through the speakers Saturday, Warsaw's varsity girls basketball team knows about being a survivor.
Playing with the eye of the tiger and the heart of a champion, second-ranked Warsaw came from eight points down with four minutes left in regulation and then got two clutch free throws with 9.8 seconds remaining in overtime from Miss Basketball candidate Jaclyn Leininger to knock off Valparaiso 53-51 and win the Warsaw 4A Semistate championship.
The thrilling two-point overtime win advanced the Tigers to the state championship game Saturday against fifth-ranked Indianapolis North Central, a 60-44 winner over Mooresville in the Southport Semistate. The Tigers and Panthers square off at approximately 8:30 p.m. Saturday at Conseco Fieldhouse.
"This feels awesome," said Leininger, who scored 23 points against a Valparaiso team that allowed its opponents an average of just 32 points. "We came out and never gave up, we knew we had to lay it on the line."
The Tigers certainly layed it on the line, turning up the defensive pressure and outscoring the Vikings 12-4 in the final four minutes of regulation.
Six-foot-1 senior center Michelle DeGeeter converted a three-point play with 4:00 remaining in regulation to cut Valparaiso's lead to five, 45-40.
After senior Breanne Gustke pushed the Vikings' lead back to seven, Leininger swished a pair of charity tosses and then hit a field goal to draw the Tigers within three, 47-44, with 2:07 left.
After a 30-second Warsaw time out, the Vikings turned the ball over and DeGeeter rebounded a teammate's shot and put it in, cutting the Valpraiso lead to 47-46 with 1:21 remaining.
Nine seconds later Warsaw point guard Julie Seiss made a steal and was then fouled on her drive to the basket by Erica Humes, who picked up her fifth foul on the play.
Seiss sank both free throws to give the Tigers their first lead since the 5-9 sophomore made a steal and bucket for a 37-36 lead at the 6:54 mark of the third quarter.
"Michelle DeGeeter's putback and Julie Seiss' steal were huge," said Warsaw coach Will Wienhorst, who led the Tigers to a state runner-up finish in 1991. "We got outplayed in the third quarter, give Valpo credit, but I think my team played with a lot of heart today. We were eight points down with four minutes to go, I don't think anything will rattle these girls."
Seiss gave Warsaw a 49-47 lead with 23 seconds left in regulation after hitting the second of two free throws, and then Valparaiso senior Leslie Bryan forced overtime with her bucket with two seconds left.
Valpraiso had to play the extra session with starters Gustke and Humes fouled out, and with Warsaw in the double-bonus.
And the Tigers certainly cashed in at the charity stripe, where they hit 15 of 17 attempts on the day. Valpraiso hit just 1 of 4 free throws in the 36-minute battle of girls basketball powers.
Leininger gave Warsaw a 51-49 lead with 2:10 left in overtime, and then 6-3 senior Cassie Kerns tied the game with her rebound and basket at the 1:55 mark.
Neither team scored again until Leininger hit a pair of free throws with 9.8 seconds left, accounting for the final score and Warsaw's 26th win of the season.
Hutton got a shot off in the lane before the buzzer went off, but it clanked off the iron and Tiger junior Rebekah Reichard boxed out Kerns and got the rebound.
The nearly 3,000 Tiger fans in attendence then went into a frenzied celebration, with the cheering sections rushing the court and Leininger being hoisted above the crowd as the lyrics to Survivor's hit song "Eye of the Tiger" rang through the overhead speakers.
"This team always pulls together when we need to," DeGeeter said. "We've always been able to pull things out when we need to."
The Tigers trailed Carroll after three quarters in the sectional championship on a night Leininger took just five shots from the field, but held Carroll to one point in the fourth quarter to win the sectional title.
Warsaw has now won 18 straight games in the Tiger Den and boast a 42-4 record there in the four-year varsity careers of DeGeeter and Leininger.
And for DeGeeter, Leininger and fellow senior Holly Durcholz, their final game in the Tiger Den couldn't have been sweeter.
"I can't put in to words," DeGeeter said when asked what it felt like to win her last home game in that fashion and advance to the state championship game. "I just can't explain it, but it's awesome."
Leininger led all scorers with 23 points, shooting 7 of 15 from the field and 9 of 9 at the free throw line. The 6-0 senior now has a school-record 715 points this season and 1,589 in her career.
Seiss added 14 points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals in the win.
DeGeeter scored seven, while Reichard had six points and seven boards. Junior Kara Mayer rounded out the Tiger scoring with a three-pointer in the second quarter.
The win improved Warsaw to 26-2 on the season, while Valparaiso's season ended with a 23-3 mark.
Kerns led a balanced Viking attack with 17 points and nine rebounds, while Gustke added 13 points and Hutton 10 points.
"I can't say enough about these girls, they play with so much heart," said Wienhorst, whose career win total improved to 420. "Valparaiso is a very good basketball team. They are very well coached and play very good defense."
In 14 years at the helm of Valparaiso's program, veteran coach Greg Kirby has four semistate championships and a coaching record of 290-48. In 23 years overall, Kirby boasts a record of 405-133.
WARSAW SEMISTATE
NO. 2 (4A) WARSAW 53,
VALPARAISO 51 OT
Valparaiso (23-3) 7 13 14 15 2 - 51
Warsaw (26-2) 8 19 6 16 4 - 53
Valparaiso FG FT R S Pts.
* Hutton 4-8 0-0 1 3 10
* Bryan 2-8 0-0 3 0 4
* Gustke 6-9 1-2 3 0 13
* Humes 3-6 0-0 6 4 7
* Kerns 8-11 0-2 9 1 17
Doane 0-2 0-0 0 0 0
Lang 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 23-45 1-4 22 8 51
Warsaw FG FT R S Pts.
* Mayer 1-4 0-0 1 2 3
* Seiss 5-7 3-4 5 4 14
* Reichard 2-2 2-2 7 0 6
* Leininger 7-15 9-9 2 3 23
* DeGeeter 3-9 1-2 3 1 7
Durcholz 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Clay 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Totals 18-37 15-17 19 10 53
Three-point goals - Valparaiso 4-10 (Hutton 2-4, Humes 1-1, Kerns 1-1, Bryan 0-3, Doane 0-1), Warsaw 2-5 (Mayer 1-3, Seiss 1-1, Leininger 0-1). Turnovers - Valparaiso 16, Warsaw 11. Fouls - Valparaiso 19, Warsaw 9. Fouled out - Gustke, Humes. [[In-content Ad]]