Lady Tigers Too Much For Class 4A No. 10 Lake Central

December 23, 2021 at 4:00 a.m.
Lady Tigers Too Much For Class 4A No. 10 Lake Central
Lady Tigers Too Much For Class 4A No. 10 Lake Central


Playing in the Tiger Den for the first time in nearly a month, Warsaw’s varsity girls basketball team gave the home fans plenty to cheer about Wednesday night, and gave the scouts in attendance from Northridge and Goshen something to think about.

Behind a stifling defense and an efficient offense, the Lady Tigers dominated from start to finish as they humbled Class 4A No. 10 Lake Central 66-39.

Warsaw led 21-4 after one quarter of play and 37-10 at halftime.

The Lady Tigers held Lake Central - a team that entered Wednesday’s game with a 10-2 record and that took No. 1 Crown Point to OT before falling 51-48 - to a 3-of-17 effort from the field in the first and just 15 of 44 on the night.

“I’ve told the kids all year long, our defense right now is good enough to win championships,” said Warsaw coach Lenny Krebs, whose team improved to 10-4 on the season.

“We held Crown Point to 40, we held Penn to 37. Defensively, we have been solid all year long, and for the most part we’ve been able to find a defense that we can use that will eventually work.

“That’s a tribute to Coach (Jim) Speicher, he’s our defensive coach and he continues to help us get better defensively. If you would have told me we’d hold them to 10 points in the first half, I’d have thought no way. That’s an explosive offense, and a Lake Central team that just took Crown Point to overtime.

“Defensively, from top to bottom, I can’t say enough. It was just an all-around great effort on the defensive end.”

The Lady Tigers weren’t too shabby on offense either, as they were 14 of 24 from the field overall in the first half en route to the 27-point lead at the intermission.

Warsaw ended the night 26 of 45 from the field (58 percent), a performance that included an 8-of-13 effort from three-point range.

Senior Kacilyn Krebs made six of the Lady Tigers’ eight treys, pouring in a career-high 24 points.

Frontliner Abby Sanner, also a senior, posted a double-double of 17 points and 15 rebounds, while classmate Bailie Stephens added nine points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals.

“We have to stop using our defense to create offense, because against the good teams you can’t always just get steals and layups,” said Krebs.

“We want to continue to create as many offensive points as we can from our defense, but we have to become better in a halfcourt set offensively, and I think tonight you started to see those pieces come together. We’ve been working a lot lately on our offense, and it’s starting to come together.”

Aniyah Bishop led Lake Central with 12 points, while Katelyn Zajeski chipped in with nine points and 11 rebounds.

Warsaw is in action again Dec. 30 when it hosts the annual Lady Tiger Tournament.

Lake Central won Wednesday’s JV game 32-27.

Playing in the Tiger Den for the first time in nearly a month, Warsaw’s varsity girls basketball team gave the home fans plenty to cheer about Wednesday night, and gave the scouts in attendance from Northridge and Goshen something to think about.

Behind a stifling defense and an efficient offense, the Lady Tigers dominated from start to finish as they humbled Class 4A No. 10 Lake Central 66-39.

Warsaw led 21-4 after one quarter of play and 37-10 at halftime.

The Lady Tigers held Lake Central - a team that entered Wednesday’s game with a 10-2 record and that took No. 1 Crown Point to OT before falling 51-48 - to a 3-of-17 effort from the field in the first and just 15 of 44 on the night.

“I’ve told the kids all year long, our defense right now is good enough to win championships,” said Warsaw coach Lenny Krebs, whose team improved to 10-4 on the season.

“We held Crown Point to 40, we held Penn to 37. Defensively, we have been solid all year long, and for the most part we’ve been able to find a defense that we can use that will eventually work.

“That’s a tribute to Coach (Jim) Speicher, he’s our defensive coach and he continues to help us get better defensively. If you would have told me we’d hold them to 10 points in the first half, I’d have thought no way. That’s an explosive offense, and a Lake Central team that just took Crown Point to overtime.

“Defensively, from top to bottom, I can’t say enough. It was just an all-around great effort on the defensive end.”

The Lady Tigers weren’t too shabby on offense either, as they were 14 of 24 from the field overall in the first half en route to the 27-point lead at the intermission.

Warsaw ended the night 26 of 45 from the field (58 percent), a performance that included an 8-of-13 effort from three-point range.

Senior Kacilyn Krebs made six of the Lady Tigers’ eight treys, pouring in a career-high 24 points.

Frontliner Abby Sanner, also a senior, posted a double-double of 17 points and 15 rebounds, while classmate Bailie Stephens added nine points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals.

“We have to stop using our defense to create offense, because against the good teams you can’t always just get steals and layups,” said Krebs.

“We want to continue to create as many offensive points as we can from our defense, but we have to become better in a halfcourt set offensively, and I think tonight you started to see those pieces come together. We’ve been working a lot lately on our offense, and it’s starting to come together.”

Aniyah Bishop led Lake Central with 12 points, while Katelyn Zajeski chipped in with nine points and 11 rebounds.

Warsaw is in action again Dec. 30 when it hosts the annual Lady Tiger Tournament.

Lake Central won Wednesday’s JV game 32-27.
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