Warsaw’s Madi Graham scored a game-high 19 points, including 13 after the end of the third quarter, as the Lady Tigers beat NorthWood 41-37 in overtime of both teams’ regular-season finale Thursday. The game featured stretches where one team or the other, and occasionally both, struggled to score from the floor. NorthWood didn’t get its first field goal until 2:09 remained in the first quarter, allowing Warsaw to hold a 10-6 at the end of the period. “I think we came out and played well at the very beginning, and got a little bit of a lead, and it helped us relax,” Warsaw head coach Michelle Harter said. “Then they came back, picking up the intensity and switching up defenses on us in the middle of a possession; that threw us off a little bit.” With the game tied at 22 at the end of three quarters, Warsaw held the Lady Panthers without a field goal until the 3:13 mark of the fourth quarter built a 30-24 lead. NorthWood senior Arika Flickinger hit a layup in traffic, then stole the ball in the backcourt and scored again nine seconds later. Graham helped the Lady Tigers take a lead in the fourth quarter with Warsaw’s only three-pointer to open the period, a traditional three-point play where she drove the ball coast-to-coast and finished with a short jumper. Graham scored nine of Warsaw’s 12 fourth-quarter points. With the Lady Tigers holding a 34-31 lead and time winding down, NorthWood’s Taitlyn Trenshaw, a Lady Panther leader who had missed her first 10 shots and was scoreless, hit a three with eight second left to send the game to overtime. “(Trenshaw’s) what makes them go. So if you can not allow her to get in the flow offensively, you give yourself an opportunity to win,” Harter said. “Mariah (Rivera) was on her, and we’re like ‘don’t let her get it back,’ but she happened to sag off her just a little bit and she got that shot off. “Again, that’s a learning experience thing. You’d rather have that happen now, you learn from it and you make sure it doesn’t happen again when it comes to sectional time. But Mariah didn’t let it affect her; she was mad at herself for that split moment, and she didn’t let it happen again. That’s the improvement and maturity we’ve seen from this group down the stretch.” In the overtime, Warsaw was the team held without a field goal, but led by Graham’s 4-for-4 effort from the free throw line, the Lady Tigers converted six of seven free throws to take the win. “That’s one thing we’ve been wanting Madi to do for us all season long, and she’s continuing to get better at that; attacking under control, getting in there and getting fouled coming off our out-of-bounds plays, then stepping up and hitting key free throws. Then defensively she’s getting in her stance, being strong and not letting people get by her,” Harter said. “Earlier this season we weren’t seeing those things, but now she’s ‘I need the ball in my hands; they’re going to foul and I want the ball in my hands.’ Leadership was one of the things we were lacking early on and now we’re seeing Madi and Dayton step up for us.” Dayton Groninger, who hit her two free throws in overtime, scored eight points in the game and pulled down 12 rebounds. “Dayton, really these last few games, has really come into her own,” Harter said. “Her outside shots aren’t necessarily falling, but she’s doing all the other little things for us; getting on the boards, getting deflections, making it difficult for the other team to score.” The victory put the Lady Tigers, who lost their first nine games of the season, in sole possession of second place in the Northern Lakes Conference at 6-1 and 9-13 overall. “The big thing is I really believe our schedule prepared us for tonight, and us being able to overcome some of the adversity we had tonight; our shots not falling, missing some foul shots, them hitting some big threes,” said Harter. “But you didn’t see us give up; we didn’t look like ‘oh my gosh, here we go again.’ We continued to battle, and continued to fight. “Early on (in the season) we wouldn’t have seen those types of things. But our season has prepared us for that type of game tonight.” Warsaw opens sectional play Tuesday night in Goshen against Elkhart Central (7-15 with a game remaining tonight at Mishawaka Marian) Game notes – Warsaw team manager Morgan Swafford had the stage to herself for Senior Night. She was presented with a plaque in a pregame ceremony, was in uniform for the game and was introduced with the starting lineup alongside Desenberg. Swafford was also interviewed on Roger Grossman’s radio post-game show. Before the game, Harter presented a check for $2,500 from the “Pink Out Night” on Jan. 23 to Suzie Light of the Kosciusko County Community Foundation.
