Lady Tigers Extend Defense, Homecourt Win Streak
November 16, 2017 at 3:32 p.m.
Lady Tigers Extend Defense, Homecourt Win Streak
By Dale [email protected]
In a 49-39 win over the Wabash Lady Apaches, Warsaw switched to a full-court pressure defense after trailing 22-20 at halftime.
The Lady Tigers, who turned the ball over 13 times in the first half, forced 13 turnovers in the third quarter, finished the eight-minute frame on a 13-2 run with Kennedy Patton’s buzzer-beating trey and pushed their Tiger Den win streak to 16 games.
Warsaw is 3-1 this season with its third straight win, while Wabash fell to 2-2 with its second consecutive loss.
“That’s part of what we want to be able to do,” first-year Warsaw coach Lenny Krebs said of switching defenses. “If you go back to Huntington North, you saw us sit in a 1-2-2 or 3-2 halfcourt defense. We played a 1-3-1, we played man-to-man. We want to be able to switch some things up and eventually find your weakness in how we attack you defensively.
“We continuously to use that phrase ‘defensive intensity leads to offensive confidence.’ We were trying to find that adjustment that we needed to make defensively, and a part of picking up fullcourt and pressuring them is to get us aggressive as well. I thought in the first half we were pretty passive on the defensive end and gave them way too many looks on what they wanted to do.
“I wish we could have put a few more points on the board with those 13 turnovers in the third quarter. Against a good team, with 13 turnovers you need to turn that into more points.”
Despite their own turnover problems, the Lady Tigers trailed just 10-8 after one quarter of play and 22-20 at halftime before outscoring Wabash 17-9 in the third quarter to take a 37-31 advantage into the final frame.
“The first thing we said in the locker room at halftime was, ‘do you guys understand how fortunate we are to be in this situation, down two? We should be buried right now. We should have been down 15. We should have been down more,’” said Krebs.
“We just have to eliminate those careless mistakes. I can live with turnovers when people are pressuring you, but this goes back to our preparation. I don’t think we prepared well yesterday. I told the girls in the locker room, ‘when you don’t prepare properly for someone that’s the biggest disrespect you can pay to someone. Whether it’s Tippy Valley, or whoever, we have to do a better job of preparing for people and showing them the respect that they deserve.”
Junior Kacy Bragg led Warsaw with 16 points and nine rebounds, while classmate Maddie Ryman chipped in with eight points, four boards and four assists.
Junior Halle Shipp and sophomore Kaylee Patton scored seven points each in the win.
The Lady Tigers shot 33 percent in the first half, but were 45 percent from the field over the final 16 minutes. Warsaw made 10 of 16 free throw attempts
Wabash finished the game 14 of 34 from the field overall and 9 of 21 at the free throw line.
Sophomore Carmen Higdon led Wabash with 16 points, while senior Bailey Yoakum scored 14 points and pulled down six rebounds.
Warsaw won the junior varsity game 32-14, as Kensie Ryman led the way with 12 points.
The Lady Tigers are in action again Friday when they travel to Class 3A No. 3 Tippecanoe Valley, followed by a home game Tuesday against 4A No. 10 Penn.
“The thing I’m taking from tonight is the grit and determination to find a way to win,” said Krebs. “That’s something we’ll take, because we’re definitely gonna need it over this next stretch.
“We have Tippy Valley on Friday, we have Penn on Tuesday, we have some tough games coming up. As a head coach, it’s something I want. I want to see where we’re at against the best teams. There’s no point in having a false sense of how good we are by not playing the best teams.
“That’s something that Friday is going to present us. We’re gonna have to handle the pressure better than we did tonight, because Tippy Valley is gonna come after us and pressure us.”
In a 49-39 win over the Wabash Lady Apaches, Warsaw switched to a full-court pressure defense after trailing 22-20 at halftime.
The Lady Tigers, who turned the ball over 13 times in the first half, forced 13 turnovers in the third quarter, finished the eight-minute frame on a 13-2 run with Kennedy Patton’s buzzer-beating trey and pushed their Tiger Den win streak to 16 games.
Warsaw is 3-1 this season with its third straight win, while Wabash fell to 2-2 with its second consecutive loss.
“That’s part of what we want to be able to do,” first-year Warsaw coach Lenny Krebs said of switching defenses. “If you go back to Huntington North, you saw us sit in a 1-2-2 or 3-2 halfcourt defense. We played a 1-3-1, we played man-to-man. We want to be able to switch some things up and eventually find your weakness in how we attack you defensively.
“We continuously to use that phrase ‘defensive intensity leads to offensive confidence.’ We were trying to find that adjustment that we needed to make defensively, and a part of picking up fullcourt and pressuring them is to get us aggressive as well. I thought in the first half we were pretty passive on the defensive end and gave them way too many looks on what they wanted to do.
“I wish we could have put a few more points on the board with those 13 turnovers in the third quarter. Against a good team, with 13 turnovers you need to turn that into more points.”
Despite their own turnover problems, the Lady Tigers trailed just 10-8 after one quarter of play and 22-20 at halftime before outscoring Wabash 17-9 in the third quarter to take a 37-31 advantage into the final frame.
“The first thing we said in the locker room at halftime was, ‘do you guys understand how fortunate we are to be in this situation, down two? We should be buried right now. We should have been down 15. We should have been down more,’” said Krebs.
“We just have to eliminate those careless mistakes. I can live with turnovers when people are pressuring you, but this goes back to our preparation. I don’t think we prepared well yesterday. I told the girls in the locker room, ‘when you don’t prepare properly for someone that’s the biggest disrespect you can pay to someone. Whether it’s Tippy Valley, or whoever, we have to do a better job of preparing for people and showing them the respect that they deserve.”
Junior Kacy Bragg led Warsaw with 16 points and nine rebounds, while classmate Maddie Ryman chipped in with eight points, four boards and four assists.
Junior Halle Shipp and sophomore Kaylee Patton scored seven points each in the win.
The Lady Tigers shot 33 percent in the first half, but were 45 percent from the field over the final 16 minutes. Warsaw made 10 of 16 free throw attempts
Wabash finished the game 14 of 34 from the field overall and 9 of 21 at the free throw line.
Sophomore Carmen Higdon led Wabash with 16 points, while senior Bailey Yoakum scored 14 points and pulled down six rebounds.
Warsaw won the junior varsity game 32-14, as Kensie Ryman led the way with 12 points.
The Lady Tigers are in action again Friday when they travel to Class 3A No. 3 Tippecanoe Valley, followed by a home game Tuesday against 4A No. 10 Penn.
“The thing I’m taking from tonight is the grit and determination to find a way to win,” said Krebs. “That’s something we’ll take, because we’re definitely gonna need it over this next stretch.
“We have Tippy Valley on Friday, we have Penn on Tuesday, we have some tough games coming up. As a head coach, it’s something I want. I want to see where we’re at against the best teams. There’s no point in having a false sense of how good we are by not playing the best teams.
“That’s something that Friday is going to present us. We’re gonna have to handle the pressure better than we did tonight, because Tippy Valley is gonna come after us and pressure us.”
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