They say revenge is a dish best served cold.
After having its season ended by Northridge in last year’s sectional tournament, the Warsaw girls basketball team had a chance to avenge that loss on their home court Saturday night in the championship game of IHSAA 4A Sectional 4. The game was tight for a while, but the second half saw the Lady Tigers explode, capturing the school’s first sectional championship in nine years with a 71-54 win.
The sectional title was the first for head coach Lenny Krebs in his 22 year coaching career.
“I don’t know if it’s really sunk in yet, the fact that we’re one of 16 4A teams in the state still competing will sink in on Monday,” Krebs said. “I’m proud of the girls and how they battled and what they went through to get here. Just an all around team effort.”
Team captain Brooke Winchester was in tears as the final buzzer sounded as she was finally able to add sectional champion to her long list of accomplishments during her senior season.
“It’s awesome. I love the journey I’ve been on and I wouldn’t want to go on it with anyone else,” Winchester said. “When it finally hit me I couldn’t believe it. It’s an incredible feeling.
Northridge enjoyed a blistering hot start to the game, hitting a pair of threes to jump out to an early 6-0 run. Before things could get out of hand, Joslyn Bricker put Warsaw on the board with a three of her own to cut the lead in half. Similar to the semifinal game on Friday night, the Lady Tigers were being forced to play the way their opponent wanted them too early on, and they were paying the price for it as the Lady Raiders jumped out to an early 8-3 lead.
“This is a team that stays the course and does what they do,” Krebs said. “We knew they were going to come out and give us their best shot early and we just kept telling the girls to stay the course and they did exactly that.”
Warsaw was able to shake off the slow start around the midway point in the quarter, taking their first lead of the night on a steal and score by Brooke Zartman. The visitors were quickly able to end the 6-0 run and retake the lead, but the first punch of the game had been answered.
Bricker continued to run the offense throughout the first quarter with a layup that gave her seven of her team’s first 10 points. She wasn’t done yet, hitting a three after a timeout to put herself in double figures and give the Lady Tigers some breathing room with a four-point lead. The junior was adding more than just scoring, playing some great defense and using pressure to create turnovers.
“Northridge is a team that we really want to beat. We know they’re going to take away Zartman with their defense and other players are going to have to step up,” Bricker said. “As a competitor you live for games like this.”

    The Northridge defense could only watch as Warsaw junior Joslyn Bricker had her way en route to scoring 34 points...Nieter

Warsaw dominated the second half of the first quarter, with Bricker carrying most of the load. Kyra Kiser added a layup in the final minute, and after falling behind 6-0 early, the Lady Tigers outscored Northridge 18-6 the rest of the way to take a 18-12 lead after one.
A pair of turnovers early in the second quarter were just what the Lady Raiders needed to get back into the game, as the visitors scored five straight points to make it a one-possession game just two minutes into the period. Outside of another bucket for Bricker, the hosts were having a difficult time getting back on track offensively with just two points in three minutes.
A big three by Abbey Peterson off of the bench ended the drought and extended the lead back up to four. Zartman’s second three of the night a few possessions later brought it to seven. This is where the pace really picked up, with both teams racing up and down the floor while adding points onto the scoreboard. Winchester, who picked up two fouls in the first quarter and was relegated to the bench for a large chunk of time, came back and made her first shot of the night to make it a nine-point game. But with a minute left in the half, she’d pick up her third.
With the offense having found its footing once more, the Lady Tiger defense was doing enough to keep themselves in front. However, the Lady Raiders’ aggressiveness was paying off at the charity stripe, as the visitors were able to get into the bonus and finish the half strong at the line to cut into the deficit. At the half, Warsaw led 34-29.
Winchester got things started in the third quarter with a triple to eclipse her first-half scoring total and push the lead to eight. After getting fouled a possession later, she sank two free throws to push the Warsaw lead to double figures for the first time in the game. But the senior just could not stay out of foul trouble, picking up a crucial fourth just 1:20 into the third.
Northridge was able to answer once Winchester left the court, cutting the deficit to six and taking advantage of the hosts best rim protector being out of the game. Bricker continued to be the main source of offense for the Lady Tigers here, keeping her team in front with some momentum-shifting baskets. A big three pushed the lead to eleven and gave her 21 for the game.
Things got a little chippy as the game wore on, with a warning being issued to Northridge coach Doug Springer for trying to influence the officials one too many times. With so much on the line, fans of both schools were making themselves heard as well. Still, the Lady Tigers remained poised and continued to add on to the lead they were building. With the Lady Raiders looking out of sorts and Bricker continuing to carry the offense, the lead got as large as 16 late in the third.
“When you’re competing in this type of environment you kind of lose yourself in the moment,” Bricker said.
Northridge would find an answer though, going on a run of their own to get the deficit back to single digits. The final minute of the quarter would belong to the Lady Tigers however, with Bricker hitting yet another three and Kiser beating the buzzer down low to extend the lead back up to 16 at 59-43 heading into the fourth.
“Kyra played a lot of minutes with Brooke in foul trouble and did an amazing job defensively, playing aggressive and picking up some huge rebounds,” Krebs said. “She wasn’t going to back down for anything and she gave us all of that momentum at the end of the third.”

    Junior Kyra Kiser cuts down her portion of the net after Warsaw won Saturday night's sectional...Nieter

A fast start to the final period for the visitors brought them to within eleven. Bricker’s first two points of the quarter ended the run and gave her 30 for the game with five minutes to go in the contest. She didn’t stop there, scoring the next four for Warsaw to keep the Lady Raiders out of reach.
The Lady Tigers would have to finish the last 3:30 without Winchester who fouled out with her team up 14. Even out of the game, the senior made her presence felt on the bench, continuously standing and encouraging her teammates from the sideline. She was incredibly engaged when Warsaw was on the defensive end, calling out screens and switches and doing everything in her power to help finish the job.
“I knew I had to do whatever it took to help our team win tonight, whether it was on the court or on the bench,” the senior said. “I wasn’t going to settle for a loss.”
A huge three from Alexis Neely kept that lead large as time continued to wind down. With two minutes left, Warsaw had the ball and a 15-point lead. The crowd was beginning to sense it.
All the Lady Raiders could do in the final minutes was foul to try and extend the game, but by then, it was too late. The lead was too large, the time was too little, and the Lady Tigers were going to cut down the nets.
Warsaw (23-1) will take on South Bend Washington in a top five clash in the regional next Saturday. The game will be held at LaPorte.
“They’re going to be athletic, they’re going to be quick, they’re going to be aggressive,” Krebs said. “We’re going to have to be able to be in attack mode and play our game.”