Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
PLYMOUTH - A milestone for one of his players Saturday, now Warsaw girls basketball coach Will Wienhorst is one win away from his own.
Six-foot Tiger senior Jaclyn Leininger, considered to be one of the frontrunners for this year's Miss Basketball award, scored her 1,000th career point Saturday in a 60-39 drubbing of host Northern Lakes Conference rival Plymouth.
Leininger, who finished the game with 31 points on 11-of-17 shooting overall and a 3-of-4 effort from the three-point line, is just the fourth Warsaw girls basketball player to reach the 1,000-point platuea.
"Jaclyn Leininger played very good basketball today," said Wienhorst, who would pick up his 400th career win Tuesday with a Tiger victory at Columbia City. "When she shoots that way it opens things up for everyone else. I can't say enough about Jaclyn Leininger, she's a very good basketball player."
The Class 4A No. 9 Tigers leading the Pilgrims 38-22, Leininger hit a pair of free throws with 3:03 remaining in the third quarter to score points 999 and 1,000.
With her 1,015 career points, Leininger sits fourth all-time on the Tiger girls basketball scoring charts. Hilary O'Connell scored 1,135 points in her four-year varsity career, followed by Dana Creighton's 1,123 and Angie Johnson's 1,018.
At her current average of 23.5 points per game, Leininger would break O'Connnel's all-time scoring mark Dec. 26 at the Hall of Fame Classic in New Castle.
While Leininger hit an individual milestone, the win by her team was just as impressive.
With the 21-point win, the Tigers improved to 26-2 in the overall series with Plymouth, beating the Pilgrims for the 20th straight time. Warsaw last lost to Plymouth in 1982.
Plymouth's Jessica Foust scored the first basket of the game, and the teams were tied at 5-all, but a 12-0 run to close out the first quarter gave Warsaw a 17-5 lead.
Warsaw opened the second stanza with a 7-2 run and led 24-7 when sophomore point guard Julie Seiss drilled a three-pointer and went to the locker rooms with a 29-11 halftime advantage.
"This is a big win for us," Wienhorst said. "Plymouth is a good basketball team. We lost people a few times and (Stacey) Wendel hit some big threes, but we're playing better basketball right now. We gave up 21 points in the third quarter. Other than that, they scored 18 points the rest of the game. I thought we did a pretty good job on defense."
Other than the 21 points they scored in the third quarter, the Pilgrims scored six in the first, five in the second and seven in the fourth.
As a team, the Tigers shot 20 of 43 (46.5 percent) from the field and 16 of 22 from the free throw line, while Plymouth shot 14 of 48 (29.2 percent) from the field and 6 of 9 from the charity stripe.
The win was the fifth in a row for the Tigers, who are now 5-1 on the season and 1-0 in the NLC. The Tigers have won those five games by an average of 20 points per game.
To go with her 31 points, Leininger added six rebounds, four assists and three steals.
Seiss finished the game with 12 points, while Michelle DeGeeter scored nine and Rebekah Reichard five.
DeGeeter also tallied seven rebounds, five assists and five blocked shots. Reichard led the team with 11 rebounds.
Stacey Wendel led Plymouth with 15 points, while Austen Black scored seven, Elaine Hessel six and Katie Davis five.
Plymouth, which started the season 4-0, has lost four of its last five and is 5-4 on the season and 0-1 in the NLC.
The Tigers are in action again Tuesday at rival Columbia City as Wienhorst goes for his 400th career coaching win.
NO. 9 (4A) WARSAW 60, PLYMOUTH 39
Warsaw (5-1) 17 12 14 17 - 60
Plymouth (5-4) 5 6 21 7 - 39
Warsaw FG FT R S Pts.
* Mayer 1-5 0-2 1 1 2
* Seiss 3-9 5-6 3 2 12
* Reichard 2-6 1-2 11 1 5
* Leininger 11-17 6-7 6 2 31
* DeGeeter 3-5 3-3 7 1 9
Abbitt 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Braddock 0-0 1-2 0 0 1
Durcholz 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Clay 0-1 0-0 1 1 0
Smith 0-0 0-0 3 0 0
Sand 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Heiman 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Kindig 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Totals 20-43 16-22 33 8 60
Plymouth FG FT R S Pts.
* Welch 0-4 0-0 0 0 0
* Foust 1-3 0-0 4 2 2
* L. Wendel 0-2 2-2 3 1 2
* Black 3-7 0-0 3 1 7
* S. Wendel 6-12 0-0 3 0 15
Tinkey 0-2 0-2 2 0 0
Hessel 2-6 2-3 3 0 6
Keiser 1-7 0-0 0 1 2
Davis 1-5 2-2 2 0 5
Totals 14-48 6-9 20 5 39
Three-point goals - Warsaw 4-10 (Leininger 3-4, Seiss 1-3, Mayer 0-2, Clay 0-1), Plymouth 5-11 (S. Wendel 3-5, Davis 1-2, Black 1-1, Welch 0-2, Foust 0-1). Turnovers - Warsaw 13, Plymouth 12. Fouls - Warsaw 11, Plymouth 18. Fouled out - none.
JV - Warsaw 32, Plymouth 30
