Warsaw girls basketball coach Michelle Harter is hoping her team learned some lessons from early defeats this season.
"The girls are really starting to turn the corner in the second half (of the season)," Harter said after Thursday night's 45-34 home win over Carroll. "They're really listening in practice. They're working on the things we're asking them to work on, and I think some of the losses we took early on have helped us toward the end of the season. That's what you're looking for. The girls are getting more confident out there on the floor."The Warsaw Lady Tigers' (7-6) latest win puts them over the .500 mark and gets the 2011 calendar year off to a 2-0 start after a 70-52 win at Marion on Jan. 4.
"They're starting to relax out there on the floor," Harter said. "They're seeing that when they come out and execute, doing the things we ask them to do, good things happen. That's big for a young team - getting them to buy into what it is you want them to do."
That relaxation helped the Lady Tigers commit just 10 turnovers against the Carroll Lady Chargers (7-7), which helped the home team lead from the end of the first quarter to the end of the game.
Senior center Kayla Stout scored a game-high 15 points in the win, going 7 of 7 at the free-throw line, while also blocking two shots. Sophomore Lindsay Baker finished the game with six points, but led the team with seven rebounds, three assists and two steals.
The combination of Stout's points and Baker's all-around effort helped Warsaw build a 29-20 lead early in the fourth quarter, but Carroll cut the gap to 29-25 following a bucket by sophomore Audrey Mallers with 5:41 to play.
At that point, Harter called a timeout to settle things down.
"The big message during the timeout was just to slow down and quit forcing the issue," she said. "We were looking to go four-out and one-in because Sarah Heagy had a mismatch on the inside. But we were forcing things too quickly instead of just being patient with the lead."
The message seemed to work, as the Lady Tigers used a 7-0 run over the next two minutes to build its lead to 36-25 and grab control of the game
Carroll senior Ciara Geiger led the Lady Chargers with 13 points, while senior Lindsey Schaefer grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds, but it wasn't enough to offset Warsaw's 19-of-24 shooting at the free-throw line.
On Saturday, Warsaw hosts Goshen, with the junior varsity game tipping off at noon. It is the Lady Tigers' first Northern Lakes Conference game since a 50-36 home loss to Wawasee on Dec. 18.
