While the Warsaw girls basketball team’s record hasn’t looked fantastic on paper, the tough teams that they have played have geared the team up for conference play and beyond. That was evidenced Wednesday night by the Lady Tigers’ 79-36 thrashing of Mishawaka, Warsaw’s fifth Northern Lakes Conference win in as many tries.
“This group understands the opportunity in front of them to win three straight conference titles,” head coach Lenny Krebs said after the game. “We had a long stretch where we finished second quite a few years in a row. I don’t want them to take the opportunity to win a championship lightly because you don’t know when you’re going to do it again, and I think they know that.”
Warsaw hit 15 three pointers in the game, a new school record. The previous record was 13 in last year’s game against Mishawaka.
Outside of the opening few minutes, in which points were hard to come by for both teams, the Lady Tiger offense was the story of the game. Warsaw wasted little time getting going, with their weapon of choice being the deep ball. Throughout the game, the home side was able to find plenty of successes from three, using the long-range shot to balloon their point total in a hurry.
Leading the charge was Brooke Zartman, who hit her first shot of the game and exploded from there, scoring 14 points in the first quarter alone while draining four threes. As a team, the Lady Tigers sank six shots from deep in the first quarter, a period in which they scored 24 points.
“We saw a version of Zartman we haven't seen in a while. She was attacking the basket, getting to the rim and to the line,” Krebs said. “When she’s attacking from all angles she’s a really hard player to stop. She’s capable of so much.”

    Warsaw sophomore Brooke Zartman hits one of her seven three-pointers for the game. Photo by Gary Nieter

The defense was equally as efficient, making life incredibly difficult for Mishawaka players trying to get settled in the offense. Warsaw players jumped passing lanes like ballhawks, coming away with a series of steals and turning those into easy transition buckets.
Despite this, the Lady Cavemen were persistent in the early going, often hitting big shots when the Lady Tigers were on the verge of bursting the game open with a huge run. After a quarter, the Warsaw lead sat at 13 points.
The lead would expand greatly in the second, but not as much as it could have. The Lady Tigers had a hard time holding onto the basketball in the second quarter, resulting in a series of possessions and transition chances going by the wayside. Luckily for Warsaw, the defense was still firing on all cylinders, and more times than not, the turnovers would not come back to bite them.
“There were a few times that I thought we weren’t competing as well as we should have,” Krebs said. “A few plays that I thought should have gone our way with a little more effort.”
Eventually, the offense would get going once again, and this time, Mishawaka did not have the firepower to stop the run in its tracks. Alexis Neeley got going with a couple of tough shots, Brooke Winchester hit her second three of the night and Zartman continued to fill up the scoreboard. After turning it on in the final half of the second quarter, the Lady Tigers headed into their locker room with a 24-point advantage.
Both teams were able to find success on the offensive end at the beginning of the third quarter, resulting in a stalemate of sorts. Warsaw wasn’t able to extend its lead by much, while the Lady Cavemen struggled to cut into it.
Around the midway point in the third, the Lady Tigers would up the pressure, which would have some favorable results. Mishawaka was now unable to match the scoring of the home side with the defensive intensity kicked up a notch, which led to a series of turnovers and easy baskets for Warsaw. Zartman continued her excellent night, making another pair of three pointers to bring her total to 27. Around this time, the Lady Tigers were finally able to get the lead extension they were looking for, going up by 35 at the end of the third on a pair of steals and layups for Joslyn Bricker.
The points continued to pile up in the fourth, as Winchester and Kelsey Wrenn each hit another three pointer. Bricker, who was quiet offensively in the first half, continued what was an explosive second with a couple more tough layups.
At around the midway point of the quarter, both benches emptied and the remainder of the game was played by athletes from the JV roster. After being the leading scorer in the junior varsity game, Cayleigh Goheen had a highlight-worthy and-one finish.
Zartman’s 27 points were a game high. The sophomore hit seven threes on her way to the total. Winchester ended the game with a double-double, finishing her night with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Bricker also finished with 14 while Neely added nine. Wrenn scored seven to round out the top five.
Warsaw (10-7, 5-0) is on the road Saturday evening at Goshen.