The Warsaw girls basketball team hit the road to take on rival Columbia City in a contest featuring two top 20 teams looking to keep one streak alive, the undefeated start to the season, while also breaking another. The Lady Eagles had won the last three matchups in the longstanding rivalry, but the most recent matchup belonged to the Lady Tigers. Using some suffocating defense and another efficient night scoring the basketball, Warsaw was able to come away with yet another victory, 65-50, to start the season 12-0.
“I’m proud of these kids and how hard they battled, how hard they fought,” head coach Lenny Krebs said. “I wasn’t happy with how we started the game defensively but to give our kids credit, they made the adjustments.”
Scoring was not difficult for either side coming out of the gate, as both teams hit shots on their first two trips down the court. Addison Baxter proved to be a problem for the Warsaw defense throughout the first quarter, scoring eight of the home team’s first nine points. The visitors used a much more balanced approach, with three players combining for their first nine.
After becoming the first player in Warsaw history to hit 200 three pointers over the weekend, Brooke Zartman continued her fantastic play by hitting her first two shots from deep in this one. Offense continued to be on full display in the opening eight minutes, with the two teams trading the lead back and forth by hitting shot after shot.
With three minutes to go in the first, things were knotted up at 14 all. Brooke Winchester started to take control of the game here, coming up with some big rebounds on the defensive end while also hitting some big shots to put her team back in front. Some highly questionable calls at the end of the period gave the Lady Eagles a chance to tie things up at the free throw line, but the two freebie shots were split, keeping Warsaw in front 18-17 after one.
Another three for Zartman extended the lead to four early in the second, the largest for either team thus far. A layup by Joslyn Bricker the possession afterwards made it a six-point affair and caused a quick timeout call by Columbia City. The defense for Warsaw was starting to show up too, as the Lady Tigers blocked three shots and drew a charge on consecutive possessions. The Lady Eagle D did well to prevent things from getting out of hand here, jumping in passing lanes to create turnovers and stay within striking distance.
Midway through the second quarter, Columbia City had still not scored a basket. The Lady Tiger lead was now eight, and with three minutes left, a Braylie Chastain layup made it a 10-point game. Warsaw didn’t stop there, forcing another timeout after a breakaway layup made it an 11-0 run through six and a half minutes of quarter number two.
The defensive pressure continued to shine for Warsaw as Columbia City still had not managed any points with a minute remaining in the first half. The Lady Tigers, however, were having no such problem, extending the lead all the way to 16 at one point. With 45 seconds to go, the Lady Eagles finally were able to get on the board, following it up with a steal on the inbounds pass to put together four quick points. The visitors would do the final damage of the quarter though, as Zartman beat the buzzer with a floater to put her team up 35-21 at halftime.

    Senior Brooke Winchester looks to score during Tuesday night's game at Columbia City...Nieter
“I think those two baskets at the end of the half could have shifted the momentum in their favor, but Brooke hitting that shot kind of swung it back for us,” Krebs said. “We knew this was going to be a hard game, this is a hard place to win.”
A solid start to the third quarter for Columbia City saw the home side shrink the lead down to 10 while the Lady Tigers now struggled to get shots to fall. Three minutes into the second half, Bricker banked in a jumper to finally put the visitors on the board. The Warsaw defense continued to do just enough to keep the lead around the 10-point threshold, maintaining a comfortable advantage over the home side.
With a minute and a half to go in the third, Alexis Neely hit a big three to put the Lady Tigers back up by 14 after another scoring drought. That lead stayed at 14 at the end of the quarter, as while Zartman did not beat the buzzer this time around, she did hit a mid range jumper with less than five seconds in the quarter to send things to the fourth with the Lady Tigers up 45-31.
With a little over six minutes left in the game, Columbia City was finally able to get to within single digits thanks to five straight points for Baxter. As they had done all game long, the Lady Tigers came up with an answer, as Neely and Zartman hit shots on back to back possessions to go back up by 13 just 45 seconds later.
“Big time teams show up to win big time games, and I think we did that today,” Krebs said.
A layup by Winchester gave her a double-double and put Warsaw up by 15 with five minutes remaining to become the third Lady Tiger in double figures. Time was beginning to become a factor now, as time kept ticking off of the clock and the Lady Tigers continued to hold a sizable advantage. With 1:30 to go in the contest, the visitors were still up 11.
They wouldn’t come any closer, as the visitors were able to close things out at the charity stripe to pick up their first win against Columbia City in four tries.
Bricker led the team in scoring with 26 points. Zartman added 16, while Neely and Winchester each had 10. Winchester also pulled in 18 rebounds.
Warsaw (12-0) will take on Wawasee at home Saturday night.
“We’re going to enjoy this one tonight, but we’ve got another big conference game on Saturday,” Krebs said.