Lady Tigers Use Incredible Start To Punch Ticket To Final Four
February 22, 2025 at 1:55 p.m.
Two wins away from an appearance in the state finals, the Warsaw girls basketball team began its quest to get both of them at Frankfort Saturday with a meeting with McCutcheon. The Lady Tigers came to play, opening up a 19-0 lead in the first quarter and never looking back from there. Warsaw will play in a Final Four game on Saturday night after winning 66-48.
“These kids prove to be so tough, so locked in, so ready to play each and every game,” head coach Lenny Krebs said after the win, “They got on the bus this morning and they were ready to go. They were excited for this opportunity.”
The win was No. 25 for Warsaw this season, one shy of the school record.
The Lady Tigers began the game incredibly aggressive on defense, deflecting the first two passes thrown by the Lady Mavericks out of bounds. On the other side, McCutcheon was doing a good job frustrating Warsaw as well, forcing two turnovers on the team’s first three possessions.
The first three points of the game belonged to Joslyn Bricker, as she split a pair at the line and hit her signature spinning runner in the lane to give the visitors on the scoreboard an early 3-0 lead. She’d add a triple moments later as well as another free throw to give her and Warsaw seven straight points to begin the game.
She wasn’t done there. The junior pulled up for three in transition after yet another stop by the Lady Tiger defense and buried it to give her 10 quick points. Midway through the first quarter, Warsaw had opened up an 11-0 lead.
Bricker remained unstoppable, adding her third triple of the game as the lead continued to grow for the Lady Tigers. On the other end, the Lady Mavericks had no answers. Not particularly great at shooting from distance, those were the only attempts McCutcheon was getting. It was clear early on that Warsaw had done its homework on its opponent and was exploiting every weakness they had.
“There hasn’t been a big game this year that she hasn’t shown up to, she has big game DNA,” Krebs said. “Hat off to Joslyn for getting us off to that start.”
Warsaw continued to pour it on. A pair of turnovers by the home side resulted in easy buckets for Bricker and Brooke Zartman, the latter extended the lead to 19-0 with 2:30 left in the opening quarter and forced another timeout. Finally, with two minutes left in the first, McCutcheon finally got a triple to fall for its first points of the game.
“I was so proud of our fight today,” Bricker said. “Once we went up we just kept focusing on getting stops and trying to grow that lead even larger.”
McCutcheon’s sophomore sensation Lillie Graves scored just two points in the first eight minutes, both at the foul line. Abbey Peterson scored the final points of the quarter for Warsaw with five seconds left, draining a three in the corner to make it a 22-5 game after one.
Warsaw senior Joslyn Bricker fades back for a shot during Saturday morning's Semi-State game against McCutcheon...NieterThings were a tad quieter to begin quarter number two, as a layup by Alexis Neely were the only points on the board for the Lady Tigers for nearly three minutes. The defense was still clicking for Warsaw though, as the visitors had only allowed one bucket of their own and remained in control of the game.
“Our defense today was firing on all cylinders. It was a total team effort,” Krebs said. “Not only were we able to prevent them from scoring but we kept them off of the offensive glass for the most part too.”
Near the midway point of the quarter, a three by Winchester extended the lead past 20 as McCutcheon continued to struggle putting the ball in the basket. Zartman’s first make from distance came shortly after, and was quickly followed by a second for the sharpshooter to make it a 25-point game.
Needing something to go their way, the Lady Mavericks responded to the burst with a spurt of their own, scoring five straight to get back within 20. Those would be the final points scored in the quarter, as the Lady Tigers took a 35-15 lead into the locker room at halftime. Bricker led all scorers with 17.
McCutcheon came out strong to begin the second half, scoring seven straight points to get to within 13. Nearly two minutes into the quarter, Bricker was able to put her team on the board and seize some of that momentum back. A massive put back layup for Neely moments later helped the cause and got the lead back up to 17 momentarily.
After braving that initial storm, Warsaw was able to get back on track, with some big buckets getting the lead back up to 19. Another massive development was Graves picking up her fourth foul of the afternoon for the Lady Mavericks, causing the team’s leader in steals to play a little more conservatively on the defensive end.
The Lady Tigers took advantage. Another three for Zartman made it a 20-point game once again with just 10 minutes left in the contest. Outside of the last few minutes of the first half and the first three of the second, McCutcheon was struggling mightily to put points on the boar at a quick enough rate to get back into the contest.
Even with the 7-0 run against them to start the third, the Lady Tigers still found themselves in an incredibly favorable position up by 19 at 49-30 heading into the final quarter of play.
Junior Kyra Kiser of Warsaw backs her way to the basket while looking for an open teammate...NieterIncredibly quiet by her standards to this point, Graves came alive for the home side to begin the fourth, scoring five straight points for her team. The only problem for her was that Bricker was even better, scoring seven straight to neutralize all the sophomore was doing. That was the theme early in the fourth, as each time the Lady Mavericks added a big bucket, Waraw went right down to the other end and matched it. With six minutes left, the visitors still led by 20.
“We knew they were going to make a run. They didn’t make it this far in the tournament without making runs. That’s one of the most resilient team’s I’ve played against,” Krebs said. “But we take such pride in answering baskets with ones on the other end. It’s really demoralizing when you work so hard to score and you’ve actually lost a point on the board right afterwards.”
“When you’re out there competing, you kind of just lose yourself in the game,” Bricker said. “I was just doing whatever I could to help my teammates out and we all played well today.”
With three minutes left, the Warsaw advantage was still comfortable at 16, but things were not over yet. The defensive intensity of McCutcheon had finally appeared in the fourth, and the home side was finding ways to trap the Lady Tigers and force turnovers.
With two minutes now remaining, the lead still sat at 16. With a little over a minute left, the Lady Mavericks waved the white flag, making a group substitution that took their starters out of the game. Warsaw did the same, allowing every player on the roster to appear in a semi-state game.
Bricker finished the game with a double-double, scoring 35 points and grabbing eleven rebounds. She also added seven assists. Zartman had eleven and Neely had nine.
Warsaw (25-1) will take on undefeated No. 1 Hamilton Southeastern Saturday night for a spot in next week’s state finals.
“This game hung a banner. The next game determines what goes on that banner. This is a special group,” Krebs said. “We’ll take one shot at a team that hasn’t lost yet and see what we’ve got.”
Two wins away from an appearance in the state finals, the Warsaw girls basketball team began its quest to get both of them at Frankfort Saturday with a meeting with McCutcheon. The Lady Tigers came to play, opening up a 19-0 lead in the first quarter and never looking back from there. Warsaw will play in a Final Four game on Saturday night after winning 66-48.
“These kids prove to be so tough, so locked in, so ready to play each and every game,” head coach Lenny Krebs said after the win, “They got on the bus this morning and they were ready to go. They were excited for this opportunity.”
The win was No. 25 for Warsaw this season, one shy of the school record.
The Lady Tigers began the game incredibly aggressive on defense, deflecting the first two passes thrown by the Lady Mavericks out of bounds. On the other side, McCutcheon was doing a good job frustrating Warsaw as well, forcing two turnovers on the team’s first three possessions.
The first three points of the game belonged to Joslyn Bricker, as she split a pair at the line and hit her signature spinning runner in the lane to give the visitors on the scoreboard an early 3-0 lead. She’d add a triple moments later as well as another free throw to give her and Warsaw seven straight points to begin the game.
She wasn’t done there. The junior pulled up for three in transition after yet another stop by the Lady Tiger defense and buried it to give her 10 quick points. Midway through the first quarter, Warsaw had opened up an 11-0 lead.
Bricker remained unstoppable, adding her third triple of the game as the lead continued to grow for the Lady Tigers. On the other end, the Lady Mavericks had no answers. Not particularly great at shooting from distance, those were the only attempts McCutcheon was getting. It was clear early on that Warsaw had done its homework on its opponent and was exploiting every weakness they had.
“There hasn’t been a big game this year that she hasn’t shown up to, she has big game DNA,” Krebs said. “Hat off to Joslyn for getting us off to that start.”
Warsaw continued to pour it on. A pair of turnovers by the home side resulted in easy buckets for Bricker and Brooke Zartman, the latter extended the lead to 19-0 with 2:30 left in the opening quarter and forced another timeout. Finally, with two minutes left in the first, McCutcheon finally got a triple to fall for its first points of the game.
“I was so proud of our fight today,” Bricker said. “Once we went up we just kept focusing on getting stops and trying to grow that lead even larger.”
McCutcheon’s sophomore sensation Lillie Graves scored just two points in the first eight minutes, both at the foul line. Abbey Peterson scored the final points of the quarter for Warsaw with five seconds left, draining a three in the corner to make it a 22-5 game after one.
Warsaw senior Joslyn Bricker fades back for a shot during Saturday morning's Semi-State game against McCutcheon...NieterThings were a tad quieter to begin quarter number two, as a layup by Alexis Neely were the only points on the board for the Lady Tigers for nearly three minutes. The defense was still clicking for Warsaw though, as the visitors had only allowed one bucket of their own and remained in control of the game.
“Our defense today was firing on all cylinders. It was a total team effort,” Krebs said. “Not only were we able to prevent them from scoring but we kept them off of the offensive glass for the most part too.”
Near the midway point of the quarter, a three by Winchester extended the lead past 20 as McCutcheon continued to struggle putting the ball in the basket. Zartman’s first make from distance came shortly after, and was quickly followed by a second for the sharpshooter to make it a 25-point game.
Needing something to go their way, the Lady Mavericks responded to the burst with a spurt of their own, scoring five straight to get back within 20. Those would be the final points scored in the quarter, as the Lady Tigers took a 35-15 lead into the locker room at halftime. Bricker led all scorers with 17.
McCutcheon came out strong to begin the second half, scoring seven straight points to get to within 13. Nearly two minutes into the quarter, Bricker was able to put her team on the board and seize some of that momentum back. A massive put back layup for Neely moments later helped the cause and got the lead back up to 17 momentarily.
After braving that initial storm, Warsaw was able to get back on track, with some big buckets getting the lead back up to 19. Another massive development was Graves picking up her fourth foul of the afternoon for the Lady Mavericks, causing the team’s leader in steals to play a little more conservatively on the defensive end.
The Lady Tigers took advantage. Another three for Zartman made it a 20-point game once again with just 10 minutes left in the contest. Outside of the last few minutes of the first half and the first three of the second, McCutcheon was struggling mightily to put points on the boar at a quick enough rate to get back into the contest.
Even with the 7-0 run against them to start the third, the Lady Tigers still found themselves in an incredibly favorable position up by 19 at 49-30 heading into the final quarter of play.
Junior Kyra Kiser of Warsaw backs her way to the basket while looking for an open teammate...NieterIncredibly quiet by her standards to this point, Graves came alive for the home side to begin the fourth, scoring five straight points for her team. The only problem for her was that Bricker was even better, scoring seven straight to neutralize all the sophomore was doing. That was the theme early in the fourth, as each time the Lady Mavericks added a big bucket, Waraw went right down to the other end and matched it. With six minutes left, the visitors still led by 20.
“We knew they were going to make a run. They didn’t make it this far in the tournament without making runs. That’s one of the most resilient team’s I’ve played against,” Krebs said. “But we take such pride in answering baskets with ones on the other end. It’s really demoralizing when you work so hard to score and you’ve actually lost a point on the board right afterwards.”
“When you’re out there competing, you kind of just lose yourself in the game,” Bricker said. “I was just doing whatever I could to help my teammates out and we all played well today.”
With three minutes left, the Warsaw advantage was still comfortable at 16, but things were not over yet. The defensive intensity of McCutcheon had finally appeared in the fourth, and the home side was finding ways to trap the Lady Tigers and force turnovers.
With two minutes now remaining, the lead still sat at 16. With a little over a minute left, the Lady Mavericks waved the white flag, making a group substitution that took their starters out of the game. Warsaw did the same, allowing every player on the roster to appear in a semi-state game.
Bricker finished the game with a double-double, scoring 35 points and grabbing eleven rebounds. She also added seven assists. Zartman had eleven and Neely had nine.
Warsaw (25-1) will take on undefeated No. 1 Hamilton Southeastern Saturday night for a spot in next week’s state finals.
“This game hung a banner. The next game determines what goes on that banner. This is a special group,” Krebs said. “We’ll take one shot at a team that hasn’t lost yet and see what we’ve got.”