Michelle Harter described the juniors on her Warsaw girls basketball team as winners. The eighth-year Lady Tiger coach will rely on them heavily this season, as there are no seniors on Warsaw's 13-player varsity roster. The Lady Tigers open the 2015-2016 season saturday with a trip to Huntington North. The roster includes juniors Page Desenberg, Mariah Rivera, Abby Glass, Kenzie Welk, Alyssa Atkins, Dayton Groninger, Madi Graham, Maryann Marandet and Lauren Shaffner; sophomores Jessie Kersey, Morgan Bruner and Emma Bohnenkamper; and freshman Kacy Bragg. “This class has been a class that ... they're winners,” Harter said of her nine juniors. “They expect to win, they're competitors and they come out each night in practice and they compete. They want to get better. They want us to tell them what types of things they need to do to play better. It's just such a nice group, they mesh so well together because they've played together for so long. They know each other's strengths and weaknesses, and they work well together out there on the floor.” Harter plans to use an all-junior starting lineup in Saturday's season opener at Huntington North. That lineup will include Groninger, Graham, Desenberg, Rivera and Welk. The Lady Tigers were 15-11 last season, improving as the season went along and winning a Class 4A sectional championship. Groninger was the team's leading scorer at just under 11 points per game, while Graham averaged seven points per contest. “I'm pretty happy with that five,” Harter said of her starting lineup. “I think it's gonna be a good five. We're not big, so getting good position early and rebounding and being strong with the ball is going to be a very big key for us.” Of the experienced players returning, Groninger averaged nearly six boards per game last year, while Graham and Desenberg each averaged nearly four rebounds per contest. Shaffner is the tallest player on the roster at 6-foot-1. Groninger, at 5-10, is the only other player on the roster taller than 5-9. “Lauren Shaffner got some varsity time last year toward the end of the season, and did some nice things,” said Harter. “We're expecting her to come in and be that force on the inside, because we're not very big. Rebounding is going to be a very big key for us.” Harter will find out right away what her team is made of. The Lady Tigers will play their first six games in just 13 days. Following the opener at Huntington North, Warsaw will play at Fort Wayne Luers (Nov. 17) and Tippecanoe Valley (Nov. 20), and then host Noblesville (Nov. 21), Penn (Nov. 24) and Whitko (Nov. 27). Warsaw will open Northern Lakes Conference play at Plymouth on Dec. 12. The Lady Tigers tied Plymouth for second in the NLC last season at 5-2, while NorthWood won the league title with a 7-0 record. “It's always an expection, we want to win the conference,” said Harter. “Last year we tied for second, so that's at the top of our list, to come out and win conference. Winning the Lady Tiger Tournament is another big goal of ours. And then playing well and winning a sectional championship is high on our list. Those are some expectations we have as far as the season, and where we want to be at the end. “But also, just coming out each night and improving on doing the little things. Those are the expectations. We talk about being accountable to each other, and that's another thing ... we need to be accountable when we're out there. We need to work on doing those little detail types of things each and every night.”
