Lady Tigers Squander Big Lead, Lose To Columbia City
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Dale Hubler-dhubler@timesuniononline.com
COLUMBIA CITY – In the first three quarters of Tuesday night’s high school girls basketball game against Warsaw, the Columbia City Lady Eagles scored 28 points. They scored 21 points over the final eight minutes, overcoming what was once a 15-point deficit to beat the visiting Lady Tigers 49-47 in a game that ended with a controversial call. Seemingly in command, enjoying a 41-28 advantage at the end of the third quarter, Warsaw looked like a different team in the final frame, as they attempted just four shots in the quarter and scored just six points. The Lady Tigers, who fell to 1-10 on the season, was 17 of 34 from the field up to that point. “We didn’t execute in the fourth quarter,” said Warsaw coach Michelle Harter. “We got back on our heels offensively, we didn’t continue to look to attack, and then defensively we closed out with our hands down on a shooter, and we missed backside rebounds. “We executed in the first three quarters. We were looking to attack the basket strong, and we were getting in position where we weren’t over-penetrating, we were getting our shooters where they needed to be. We were doing those little things we’ve been talking about and practicing, and then in the fourth quarter we just came out and stopped doing those things.” The Lady Eagles, who improved to 3-7 on the season after beating Warsaw for just the second time in the last 16 meetings of the U.S. 30 rivals, scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter and eventually tied the game at 45-45 when junior Bella Krieg made two free throws with two minutes remaining. Columbia City took its first lead of the game, 47-45, with 39 seconds left on junior Darian Farber’s steal and layup. A pair of charity tosses by junior Holly Martinez pushed the Lady Eagles’ advantage to four with 16 seconds left. Warsaw cut the deficit to two points with a bucket by freshman Kacy Bragg with 1.6 seconds left, and then it looked like the Lady Tigers were going to have a chance to tie the game with no time on the clock. On the ensuing inbounds play, Warsaw junior Madi Graham went up to intercept the pass and was fouled by a Columbia City player. That was the Lady Eagles’ seventh foul of the second half, meaning Graham would go to the free throw line for a 1-and-1 situation and a chance to send the game into overtime. The officials ruled otherwise, and it didn’t sit well with anyone in Donald S. Weeks Gymnasium that was cheering for a Warsaw victory. Graham didn’t go to the free throw line, though the officials did order six-tenths of a second to be placed on the clock and awarded the Lady Tigers possession, but to no avail. “They said it was a player control foul, that we didn’t have possession since they were throwing it inbounds,” said Harter. “To me, when you have two hands on the ball, that’s possession. We had the ball, and they pushed us. We should have been shooting foul shots.” Junior Dayton Groninger led the Lady Tigers with 17 points, six rebounds, five assists and four steals, while Bragg added 10 points and five boards, and juniors Kenzie Welk and Graham chipped in with eight and six points, respectively. Martinez was the hero for the Lady Eagles, scoring 16 of her game-high 18 points in the second half. Martinez finished the game 6 of 8 from the field overall, 3 of 3 from three-point range, and 3 of 4 at the charity stripe. Krieg scored 10 points in the win, while seniors Regan Decker and Natalia Johnson chipped in with six and five points, respectively. The Lady Tigers led 14-6 after one quarter of play, 25-14 at halftime and 41-28 at the end of the third quarter. “It’s very difficult, I guess maybe that’s still part of us learning to make sure that down the stretch we’re taking better care of the basketball, and doing little fundamental things,” said Harter. “We didn’t attack to get to the foul line at times where we needed to, and that’s something that we have to do, make sure we’re attacking and going up strong to get to the foul line.” The Lady Tigers are in action again Saturday when they travel to Northern Lakes Conference and Kosciusko County rival Wawasee.
COLUMBIA CITY 49, WARSAW 47 War 14 11 16 6 – 47 CC 6 8 14 21 – 49 Warsaw – Dayton Groninger 8-14 1-2 17, Kacy Bragg 4-5 2-2 10, Kenzie Welk 3-5 0-0 8, Madi Graham 2-6 0-0 6, Page Desenberg 2-4 0-0 4, Mariah Rivera 1-3 0-0 2, Emma Bohnenkamper 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 20-38 3-4 47. Col. City – Holly Martinez 6-8 3-4 18, Bella Krieg 4-8 2-2 10, Regan Decker 3-8 0-1 6, Darian Farber 2-2 0-0 4, Chelsea Pettigrew 2-5 0-0 4, Natalia Johnson 2-2 1-2 5, Elise Cormany 1-4 0-0 2, Morgan Bales 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-37 6-9 49. Three-pointers – Warsaw 4 (Welk 2, Graham 2), Col. City 3 (Martinez 3); Rebounds – Warsaw 21 (Groninger 6), Col. City 17 (Martinez 3, Johnson 3); Turnovers – Warsaw 18, Col. City 18; Fouls – Warsaw 13, Col. City 14; Records: Warsaw 1-10, Col. City 3-7 JV – Col. City 34, Warsaw 23
