DUNLAP – To compete for conference titles, a team must win the games they’re supposed to. Warsaw did just that on Saturday night, getting out to a big lead and never looking back in a 52-18 win at Concord. With the win, Warsaw moved to 12-8 overall, and 5-1 in the Northern Lakes Conference, and can finish no worse than a tie for second place in the NLC race. Warsaw currently a half-game behind league-leader NorthWood. The Lady Tigers will travel to Nappanee Saturday for a 7:30 p.m. contest, with at least a share of the conference title on the line. Warsaw head coach Michelle Harter said one of the team’s points of emphasis was beginning the game well. After giving up the first basket of the game, Warsaw led 15-5 at the end of the first quarter. Another point was strong defense. Concord came in averaging a little over 41 points per game, but never scored more than six points in a quarter Saturday, and only managed seven points in the second half. The Lady Minutemen made just 7 of 35 shots from the field (20 percent). “One thing we’d been struggling is getting off to a quick start, and that’s one thing we talked about this week,” Harter said. “We wanted to make sure we came out defensively and play disciplined. We talked about ‘what type of fouls are we giving them? Is it because we’re reaching and those types of things?’ We wanted to make sure we were disciplined on defense, and allow them to turn the ball over, which would create some easy opportunities for us. I think we had something like 20 deflections in the first half, which turned into some easy baskets, which helped get our offense going. “I really did like our defensive effort (Saturday). We talked about making sure we didn’t allow second or third opportunities. We did a great job of boxing out, rebounding and being strong with the ball. “Offensively I thought early on we were a little impatient, not looking to reverse the ball. But in the second half we did a better job of looking to attack, getting the ball reversals, and working a little bit to get the ball into the short corner to the high post area. They did a good job of reading what defense they were in, and then starting our offense.” Warsaw had balance in its scoring, with only Dayton Groninger reaching double figures with 13 points. Kenzie Welk and Madi Graham had seven points each, and Jodie Carlson and Erin Clemens posted six points each. Mariah Rivera had five, Pam Miller and Mary Marandet three each, and Vicki Harris two points for the Lady Tigers.
