Warsaw advances to sectional final after 38-9 win over Blue Blazers
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Dale Hubler-dhubler@timesuniononline.com
GOSHEN – The better team on paper was certainly the better team on the court Friday night. No magical tournament upsets in this one. In a Class 4A Sectional 4 semifinal at Goshen High School, the Warsaw Lady Tigers dominated the Elkhart Central Blue Blazers from start to finish. The end result was a 38-9 victory for Warsaw that was every bit as lopsided as the score indicates. The Lady Tigers, who improved to 14-10 on the season with their school-record defensive performance, will play the host Lady Redskins in tonight’s 7:30 p.m. sectional final. Goshen advanced by beating Elkhart Memorial 40-39 in Friday’s second semifinal, as former Warsaw player Tahya Bruce converted a game-winning free throw. “It’s been our goal all season long to play for a sectional championship,” said Warsaw coach Michelle Harter, whose team beat Goshen 44-37 on Jan. 17 in the Tiger Den. “This has been an exceptional group to work with. We have a group of seniors and sophomores, but they’ve meshed together and become like family.” In their 29-point win over Central, the Lady Tigers led 11-0 after one quarter of play, 16-1 at halftime and 29-5 at the end of the third quarter. Freshman Rayeya Ross scored the Blue Blazers’ only point of the first half with 6:45 remaining in the second quarter. Sophomore Jordan Ware scored Central’s first points from the field, a two-point bucket with 5:17 left in the third quarter that cut the Lady Tigers’ advantage to 19-3. Giving up just nine points, Warsaw set a new program record. The previous mark for fewest points given up in a game was 11 in a 50-point win over Elkhart Memorial during the 1994-95 season. “Our goal was to not let them dribble penetrate,” said Harter. “If they did get inside, we didn’t want to bail them out by fouling.” Mission accomplished. The Lady Tigers were whistled for just seven fouls in the contest. Central, which concluded its season with a 5-17 mark and with losses in 11 of its final 12 games, was just 4 of 24 from the field overall, 0 of 10 from the arc, and 1 of 10 from the free throw line. Ross led Central with five points, while Ware and junior Jasmine Cotton scored two points each. For Warsaw, sophomore Madi Graham led the way with 18 points, as she finished the game 5 of 6 from the field overall, 4 of 4 from the arc, and 4 of 5 at the charity stripe. “She hit some shots and made plays tonight,” Harter said of Graham. Sophomore Dayton Groninger scored 10 points in the win, while seniors Erin Clemens and Vicki Harris scored three points each, and senior Pam Miller and sophomore Page Desenberg chipped in with two points each. Clemens led Warsaw on the boards with six, as the Lady Tigers outrebounded Central 25-18. Warsaw was 10 of 26 from the field overall, struggling at times, but did make 6 of 9 shots from the arc and 12 of 16 attempts at the free throw line.
