Defensive Pressure Takes Lady Tigers To Semifinals
Warsaw avenges NLC loss to Memorial with postseason rout
Defensive Pressure Takes Lady Tigers To Semifinals
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Steve Krah-
Defensive Pressure Takes Lady Tigers To SemifinalsGOSHEN – Turning up the tournament tenacity, Warsaw’s Lady Tigers rolled to a 58-32 victory against Elkhart Memorial Wednesday in the quarterfinals of the Class 4A Goshen Sectional basketball tournament. “You can’t play tentative,” Warsaw head coach Michelle Harter said. “This is the tournament time. You have to leave it on the floor and play with that confidence. That’s what you play the 22 (regular-season) games for, to get yourselves prepared.” Three weeks after suffering a 35-31 loss to Memorial in Northern Lakes Conference play, Warsaw (20-3) got 19 points from senior Madi Graham, 16 from senior Dayton Groninger (who pushed her career total to 994), eight from senior Page Desenberg and seven from senior Kenzie Welk in running past the Crimson Chargers (13-10). Graham, making her 73rd career start, has now scored in double digits in eight of her last 11 games, including 11 of her last 14 and 14 total times this season. Warsaw reached the 20-win mark for the first time since the 2012-13 squad went 24-2. Harter and her coaching staff had stressed the importance getting quick reversals and cutting hard and finding the open person. “We were able to attack with confidence and have a plan when we attacked,” Harter said. “They didn’t rush themselves. They looked to see what was open. “That’s just understanding the flow of the game.” On defense, the Lady Tigers got Memorial shooters out of their offensive rhythm. Hassled by defenders rushing at them, Memorial went 4-of-27 from behind the 3-point arc. “We just had active hands and played up instead of looking down like we did a couple of weeks ago while giving them good looks,” Harter said. “The girls did a tremendous job of listening to our scouting report and what we wanted to take away from them.” Warsaw (20-3) earned the right to meet Northridge (24-1) in the second semifinal Friday. The 6 p.m. game pits Elkhart Central (12-10) against defending state champion. Penn (19-4). The sectional championship is slated for 7:30 p.m. on Saturday. The Tigers, ranked No. 17 in the final Indiana Basketball Coaches Association poll, led the Chargers led 22-13 at halftime. Warsaw was up by as many as 12 points in the second quarter at 22-10. Graham tallied three baskets for six points to help Warsaw lead 11-6 at the end of the first period. Bolstered by six points each from Graham and Groninger, the Tigers pushed the margin as high as 21 and led 40-19 at the end of the third period. The spread jumped up to 48-22 in the first 2 1/2 minutes of the fourth quarter and led by as many as 33. Junior Kambria Dale scored seven points while junior Sierra Peete and freshman Mya Reeves had six apiece for Memorial.
