Warsaw Holding Heads High After Sectional Loss To Penn
February 6, 2022 at 9:27 p.m.
Warsaw Holding Heads High After Sectional Loss To Penn
By Anthony Anderson-
And just in case you’re not sure, coach Lenny Krebs spoke it, too.
“That is a special group of kids in there,” Krebs said, glancing toward the locker room once he emerged from inside nearly 30 minutes after Warsaw’s 42-30 Penn Sectional girls basketball semifinal loss to the host Kingsmen on Saturday night.
“Disappointed to come up short, can’t lie about that,” Krebs said, “but you know, as I told the kids, I don’t have any idea what my high school basketball record was. Maybe part of that is old age and the fact I can’t remember 30 years ago, but you do remember the journey you had, you remember the experiences you had, you remember your teammates, you remember how you treated each other, and that group in there, they established a culture of Warsaw girls basketball that’s going to have a ripple effect for years to come.”
Explained Krebs, “It’s in how they loved each other, how they pushed each other, how they held each other accountable, how they competed. They set the bar pretty high.”
Among their achievements, this collection of Tigers secured the program’s first unbeaten Northern Lakes Conference season in 18 years and its first NLC title in nine.
“Penn was the better ballclub tonight,” Krebs said, “but that isn’t going to change how I feel about those girls in that locker room. I love them dearly. Most of them are friends of my daughter (senior guard Kacilyn Krebs) and have spent time at my house. Neither is this one loss going to diminish what we accomplished this year.”
Instead, it’s just going to sting, admittedly deep, for a while.
The Kingsmen (18-6) notched their eight straight win and advanced to Tuesday’s Class 4A sectional final at Penn against Elkhart (13-12), while Warsaw closed 16-7.
The Tigers fell into a 16-4 hole through one quarter.
They eventually clawed out, blanking the Kingsmen 9-0 in the second period, then even took a lead at 19-18 with 5:09 remaining in the third quarter.
The Kingsmen, though, responded with an 8-0 spurt to go on top for good.
Warsaw scrapped to as close as 32-28 midway through the final period, but was outscored 10-2 over the final 3:39.
Turnovers were the primary culprit all night, with the Tigers coughing up 24, including a whopping 16 steals by the ball-hawking hosts. Penn committed just 12 turnovers.
“They pressured us, got us to panic, and I can’t make an excuse for why,” Krebs said. “We weren’t always in position to receive the ball where we needed to be. … I don’t think Penn did anything that we weren’t expecting. They did a great job mixing things up defensively to keep us guessing a little bit what was going on, but we did not execute.”
“Warsaw’s a great defensive team,” Kingsmen coach Kristi Ulrich said. “They’ve done an excellent job all season, so we knew there were stretches we might go a little dead, but our defense allowed us to maintain our lead and create a little bit of separation at the end of the game, because we did struggle to score for a big stretch there.”
Penn junior forward Julia Economou led all players with 17 points and added four steals. Senior forward Jada Patton chipped in 10 points and four steals.
Just three players scored for the Tigers, all of them seniors in Bailie Stephens with 14 points, Abby Sanner 10 and the younger Krebs with six.
Stephens also snagged four of her team’s six steals, while Sanner grabbed 10 rebounds to lead all players.
“That’s a special group of seniors we had this year,” Krebs said, “all five of them.”
Both sides labored from the field, with Warsaw making 10-of-31 for 32% and the Kingsmen 14-of-41 for 34%. Penn, though, hit four triples to two by the Tigers, and managed 22 free throws (converting 10) to Warsaw’s 11 (eight).
“Penn’s a great ballclub defensively,” Krebs said. “Every time Abby caught the ball, there were three people around her, and they made Kacilyn work for everything. They did things to us defensively that teams haven’t been able to do consistently, so hats off to them.”
The Kingsmen defeated the Tigers for the eighth straight time over the last five seasons and eliminated them for the third straight year in postseason.
Warsaw won eight of its final 11 games with its only two losses before Saturday coming against overall No. 1 Homestead (23-1), 59-46, and 3A No. 2 Garrett (25-1), 63-57.
And just in case you’re not sure, coach Lenny Krebs spoke it, too.
“That is a special group of kids in there,” Krebs said, glancing toward the locker room once he emerged from inside nearly 30 minutes after Warsaw’s 42-30 Penn Sectional girls basketball semifinal loss to the host Kingsmen on Saturday night.
“Disappointed to come up short, can’t lie about that,” Krebs said, “but you know, as I told the kids, I don’t have any idea what my high school basketball record was. Maybe part of that is old age and the fact I can’t remember 30 years ago, but you do remember the journey you had, you remember the experiences you had, you remember your teammates, you remember how you treated each other, and that group in there, they established a culture of Warsaw girls basketball that’s going to have a ripple effect for years to come.”
Explained Krebs, “It’s in how they loved each other, how they pushed each other, how they held each other accountable, how they competed. They set the bar pretty high.”
Among their achievements, this collection of Tigers secured the program’s first unbeaten Northern Lakes Conference season in 18 years and its first NLC title in nine.
“Penn was the better ballclub tonight,” Krebs said, “but that isn’t going to change how I feel about those girls in that locker room. I love them dearly. Most of them are friends of my daughter (senior guard Kacilyn Krebs) and have spent time at my house. Neither is this one loss going to diminish what we accomplished this year.”
Instead, it’s just going to sting, admittedly deep, for a while.
The Kingsmen (18-6) notched their eight straight win and advanced to Tuesday’s Class 4A sectional final at Penn against Elkhart (13-12), while Warsaw closed 16-7.
The Tigers fell into a 16-4 hole through one quarter.
They eventually clawed out, blanking the Kingsmen 9-0 in the second period, then even took a lead at 19-18 with 5:09 remaining in the third quarter.
The Kingsmen, though, responded with an 8-0 spurt to go on top for good.
Warsaw scrapped to as close as 32-28 midway through the final period, but was outscored 10-2 over the final 3:39.
Turnovers were the primary culprit all night, with the Tigers coughing up 24, including a whopping 16 steals by the ball-hawking hosts. Penn committed just 12 turnovers.
“They pressured us, got us to panic, and I can’t make an excuse for why,” Krebs said. “We weren’t always in position to receive the ball where we needed to be. … I don’t think Penn did anything that we weren’t expecting. They did a great job mixing things up defensively to keep us guessing a little bit what was going on, but we did not execute.”
“Warsaw’s a great defensive team,” Kingsmen coach Kristi Ulrich said. “They’ve done an excellent job all season, so we knew there were stretches we might go a little dead, but our defense allowed us to maintain our lead and create a little bit of separation at the end of the game, because we did struggle to score for a big stretch there.”
Penn junior forward Julia Economou led all players with 17 points and added four steals. Senior forward Jada Patton chipped in 10 points and four steals.
Just three players scored for the Tigers, all of them seniors in Bailie Stephens with 14 points, Abby Sanner 10 and the younger Krebs with six.
Stephens also snagged four of her team’s six steals, while Sanner grabbed 10 rebounds to lead all players.
“That’s a special group of seniors we had this year,” Krebs said, “all five of them.”
Both sides labored from the field, with Warsaw making 10-of-31 for 32% and the Kingsmen 14-of-41 for 34%. Penn, though, hit four triples to two by the Tigers, and managed 22 free throws (converting 10) to Warsaw’s 11 (eight).
“Penn’s a great ballclub defensively,” Krebs said. “Every time Abby caught the ball, there were three people around her, and they made Kacilyn work for everything. They did things to us defensively that teams haven’t been able to do consistently, so hats off to them.”
The Kingsmen defeated the Tigers for the eighth straight time over the last five seasons and eliminated them for the third straight year in postseason.
Warsaw won eight of its final 11 games with its only two losses before Saturday coming against overall No. 1 Homestead (23-1), 59-46, and 3A No. 2 Garrett (25-1), 63-57.
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