In a matchup of first-place squads in the Northern Lakes Conference, Warsaw's varsity girls basketball team gave Northridge a dose of its own medicine. Prior to Saturday night, the Northridge Lady Raiders had allowed the opposition to score an average of just 35 points per game en route to a 12-2 record. It was the Lady Tigers', defense, however, that was on display Saturday night, as the hosts gave up just 11 points in the first half and led by as many as 21 points en route to a 54-41 win. "That was one of the big things we talked about, we wanted to come out and be the aggressor on defense," said Warsaw coach Michelle Harter, whose team made more steals (12) than Northridge did field goals (11). With the win, which was more lopsided than the final score indicated, Warsaw improved to 11-2 overall and 3-0 in the NLC. The Lady Tigers have won 10 of their last 11 games, the one defeat in that span being a 62-56 setback against Class 4A No. 1 Hamilton Southeastern. Northridge (12-3) fell to 2-1 in conference action. Warsaw and NorthWood are the only teams unbeaten in NLC play. Elkhart Memorial, Goshen and Northridge are one game behind in the standings, while Concord, Plymouth and Wawasee are all 0-3. "This is a big win for us," said Harter. "Northridge is a great program, and Coach (Doug) Springer has done a great job there. We just came out tonight and made plays, and got a big lead in the first half. In the second half, we kind of forgot what got us that lead, but I thought we played really well in the first half." The Lady Tigers led 28-11 at halftime, thanks in large part to a 16-2 run in the second quarter. They extened that lead to 21 points by scoring the first four points of the third quarter, but after giving up just 11 points in the first half, the Lady Tigers surrendered 12 points in the third quarter and 18 in the fourth quarter. "In the first half, the girls were in their defensive stance and they were ready to go," said Harter. "After we got the big lead, we didn't play with that same intensity. We've got to put four quarters together. We had two great quarters against Marion (on Jan. 3), and we had a great first half tonight. We have to put it all together for four quarters." That's something Warsaw will have to do when it hosts Memorial (12-2) on Jan. 24 and Class 3A No. 5 NorthWood (13-1) four days later. In Saturday's win, junior Lindsay Baker, who recently committed to NCAA Division I Unversity of Toledo, scored a game-high 16 points. Senior Sarah Heagy scored 10 points, while sophomore Nikki Grose added eight points and 10 rebounds, and junior Sarah Ray chipped in with eight points. For Northridge, junior Madison Schrock led the way with 11 points, while classmate Haley Schrock scored eight points and sophomore Brianne O'Dell and freshman Taylor Miller added seven points each. The Lady Tigers are in action again Wednesday when they travel to Carroll High School.
