Warsaw, Valley Set For Girls Hoops Showdown
November 16, 2016 at 5:32 p.m.
By Roger Grossman-
Warsaw, a year removed from the worst start in 41 seasons of Lady Tiger Basketball, has three wins in three tries this year. All three wins were by double-digits, and all three avenged losses suffered during that 0-9 start last season.
The difference: team play wins out. Warsaw has more assists as a team after three games than they did through eight games last year – no joke. They get a “+” on their report card for “shares well with others.” They look like a completely different outfit than the one that took the court last season. Their ball movement is much better. Their energy level is better. Their defense has taken two or three big steps forward.
Tippecanoe Valley came flying out of the starting gate with easy wins over Bremen and Culver Academy in the first week. The Lady Vikings added Logansport to their schedule, which gave them a road game against a bigger school, but not currently a strong program (7 wins in their last 50 games). Valley dismantled Logansport 94-29 Tuesday night.
But, given the experience they bring back on the floor in players like Indiana All-Star candidate Anne Secrest and on the bench in Coach Chris Kindig, the Lady Vikings are pretty comfortable in knowing who they are and what they are about.
Friday night, Warsaw and Valley meet in the Tiger Den for the 52nd time. For the first 30 years this series was dominated by the Lady Tigers, who won 37 of the first 38 meetings and had a 30 game-winning streak snapped at the beginning of the 2003-04 season. Warsaw started that year No. 1 in Class 4A and eventually went to the state championship game.
Since then, Valley has won 5 of the last 13 games, including the last three. But those three games were really good games and all came down to the last two minutes. Valley made its free throws in 2014 to win by seven, Secrest hit a 10-footer in the lane with two seconds left to beat Warsaw two years ago, and Warsaw had the ball in the lane with a chance for the lead in the final 20 seconds in last year’s three-point loss.
So as we countdown to the clash of Warsaw and Valley Friday, we ask these questions about these teams and this game:
• How does Warsaw go about trying to at least slow down Secrest? Warsaw has proven that you don’t have to be tall to be effective in half-court defense or getting rebounds. But Secrest gives Valley something that most teams don’t have – versatility. She is an excellent passer, she has great court vision, and she is not afraid to pass the ball out of the post because she trusts her teammates. She is unpredictable, which makes her that much harder to defend.
• Can Dayton Groninger keep it going? Warsaw’s senior wing player is off to as good a start as any Lady Tiger ever. She’s scored points in the first three games, pretty hard to top, which is saying a lot since Warsaw has three Miss Basketballs to its resumé. The difference in Groninger’s game is her willingness to attack defenses with a long first step to the basket. Taller girls aren’t quick enough to keep up, and quicker girls need two strides to make one of Groninger’s.
• What will happen in a close game? In the last two seasons the Lady Vikings won a total of 50 games, but only 13 of those wins came in games that were decided by 10 points or less. They won a lot of games by 30 points or more, which is very much to their credit. On the other side, Warsaw has been blown out an unusual number of times in the last two years. Like Valley, Warsaw hasn’t played in a lot of white-knuckler-type games. If Friday’s game comes down to the final minute, it might be a good thing for both teams in the long run.
• How deep are these teams? Warsaw has played a lot of players in meaningful and significant minutes in the first three games this season. The score has allowed Kindig to pretty much manage his rotations exactly the way he wants. When the bright lights of the Tiger Den shine down on these two teams in an early season showdown between two experienced squads, how far down the bench will Kindig and Warsaw’s Michelle Harter go?
• Will they have to open all of the bleachers to accommodate the crowd? I sure hope so. It should be an epic night.
It’s hard to imagine a local sports world in which Warsaw and Valley don’t play each other.
Friday night will be an example of why.
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Warsaw, a year removed from the worst start in 41 seasons of Lady Tiger Basketball, has three wins in three tries this year. All three wins were by double-digits, and all three avenged losses suffered during that 0-9 start last season.
The difference: team play wins out. Warsaw has more assists as a team after three games than they did through eight games last year – no joke. They get a “+” on their report card for “shares well with others.” They look like a completely different outfit than the one that took the court last season. Their ball movement is much better. Their energy level is better. Their defense has taken two or three big steps forward.
Tippecanoe Valley came flying out of the starting gate with easy wins over Bremen and Culver Academy in the first week. The Lady Vikings added Logansport to their schedule, which gave them a road game against a bigger school, but not currently a strong program (7 wins in their last 50 games). Valley dismantled Logansport 94-29 Tuesday night.
But, given the experience they bring back on the floor in players like Indiana All-Star candidate Anne Secrest and on the bench in Coach Chris Kindig, the Lady Vikings are pretty comfortable in knowing who they are and what they are about.
Friday night, Warsaw and Valley meet in the Tiger Den for the 52nd time. For the first 30 years this series was dominated by the Lady Tigers, who won 37 of the first 38 meetings and had a 30 game-winning streak snapped at the beginning of the 2003-04 season. Warsaw started that year No. 1 in Class 4A and eventually went to the state championship game.
Since then, Valley has won 5 of the last 13 games, including the last three. But those three games were really good games and all came down to the last two minutes. Valley made its free throws in 2014 to win by seven, Secrest hit a 10-footer in the lane with two seconds left to beat Warsaw two years ago, and Warsaw had the ball in the lane with a chance for the lead in the final 20 seconds in last year’s three-point loss.
So as we countdown to the clash of Warsaw and Valley Friday, we ask these questions about these teams and this game:
• How does Warsaw go about trying to at least slow down Secrest? Warsaw has proven that you don’t have to be tall to be effective in half-court defense or getting rebounds. But Secrest gives Valley something that most teams don’t have – versatility. She is an excellent passer, she has great court vision, and she is not afraid to pass the ball out of the post because she trusts her teammates. She is unpredictable, which makes her that much harder to defend.
• Can Dayton Groninger keep it going? Warsaw’s senior wing player is off to as good a start as any Lady Tiger ever. She’s scored points in the first three games, pretty hard to top, which is saying a lot since Warsaw has three Miss Basketballs to its resumé. The difference in Groninger’s game is her willingness to attack defenses with a long first step to the basket. Taller girls aren’t quick enough to keep up, and quicker girls need two strides to make one of Groninger’s.
• What will happen in a close game? In the last two seasons the Lady Vikings won a total of 50 games, but only 13 of those wins came in games that were decided by 10 points or less. They won a lot of games by 30 points or more, which is very much to their credit. On the other side, Warsaw has been blown out an unusual number of times in the last two years. Like Valley, Warsaw hasn’t played in a lot of white-knuckler-type games. If Friday’s game comes down to the final minute, it might be a good thing for both teams in the long run.
• How deep are these teams? Warsaw has played a lot of players in meaningful and significant minutes in the first three games this season. The score has allowed Kindig to pretty much manage his rotations exactly the way he wants. When the bright lights of the Tiger Den shine down on these two teams in an early season showdown between two experienced squads, how far down the bench will Kindig and Warsaw’s Michelle Harter go?
• Will they have to open all of the bleachers to accommodate the crowd? I sure hope so. It should be an epic night.
It’s hard to imagine a local sports world in which Warsaw and Valley don’t play each other.
Friday night will be an example of why.
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