NAPPANEE – In spite of the Lady Tigers making just one field goal over the last 14 minutes of the game, NorthWood couldn’t put Warsaw away until the final minute of Saturday night’s Northern Lakes Conference championship game. The host Lady Panthers made 9 of 10 free throws in the final two minutes to win 40-32 and deny Warsaw a share of the title. After Dayton Groninger hit a pair of shots after halftime, including a three-pointer, Warsaw had a 21-15 lead with 6:21 to go in the third quarter. From there, it was The Jordyn Frantz Show. The Lady Panther senior scored a traditional three-point play, a three-point shot and a jumper from the left side, leading NorthWood on a 9-1 run to close out the period. Each team buckled down defensively, allowing only one field goal in the final period. Groninger’s second trey of the half came exactly 10 minutes of game time after the first, and brought the Tigers back to within one with 3:21 to play. Warsaw got a stop, but while bringing the ball up the floor, Pam Miller picked up her fifth foul on an illegal screen call near half court. Miller said something to the referee, and then received a technical foul. Frantz hit both ends of the one-and-one, and both technicals, then a jumper on the possession after the technical to complete NorthWood’s six-point trip down the floor. Warsaw got no closer than four points the rest of the way, and Frantz finished with 25 points, 18 coming in the second half. “I didn’t think it was an illegal screen, and the official wouldn’t tell me what (Miller) said,” Warsaw head coach Michelle Harter said. NorthWood used pressure defense to hold Warsaw to 9-of-40 shooting on the night (22.5 percent). The Lady Tigers committed 11 turnovers to NorthWood’s five in the low-possession game. Harter said it was more a matter of just not making shots than anything else. “I thought for the most part we did a good job of handling their pressure. Down the stretch we weren’t as strong with the ball as we were in the beginning of the game; we kind of played straight up and down a little bit,” said Harter. “But some of those (turnovers) came at the end when we were looking to attack, and we were trying to get inside, they didn’t call the fouls for us, and we didn’t get to the foul line. I thought overall we did a much better job of taking care of the basketball with pressure. “There were a couple of times when we’d get in there and we weren’t shot faking and getting them into the air. In the first half we were getting shots within the flow of the offense, and they just weren’t falling for us. Same thing in the second half, we got some attacks and some looks but didn’t put the ball in the basket. “It’s something that’s been hurting us all season, getting down the stretch and not finishing. It’s frustrating for the girls; they’re working so hard to get open and not getting rewarded by putting the ball in the basket.” Groninger finished the game with 14 points and 13 rebounds for Warsaw. Miller scored eight points and Madi Graham dropped in seven points for the Lady Tigers. Warsaw can now finish no worse than a tie for second in the conference at 5-2. Plymouth is 4-2 and plays at Goshen Thursday night. The Lady Tigers will take a 12-9 overall record into its regular season finale and Senior Night game with Carroll at 7:45 p.m. Thursday.
