No. 300 Doesn't Come Easy

Very few of Will Wienhorst's career coaching wins have been tied together in a nice little package.

Why should No. 300 be any different?

The Tigers had to overcome Fort Wayne Northrop, but also had to overcome themselves and accomplished both in a 61-52 win Wednesday at the Tiger Den. The win gave Wienhorst his 300th career girls basketball coaching win (196 at Warsaw).

"I didn't tell the girls before the game, but somehow they knew, and they said they were excited to be part of it," Wienhorst said. "Four of them were a year old when I started (coaching) in 1979. There are two reasons coaches pick up that many wins and those are longevity and great players."

The Tigers had their troubles against the Bruins' halfcourt trap and fullcourt press and turned the ball over 24 times. FW Northrop had 13 steals, but had trouble converting many of those into points.

"This is the first time someone threw a hard-core halfcourt trap on us," Wienhorst said. "Our mistakes that we made was because we got excited. We played out of control at times. For the first time, we took the ball to the basket, and that was a certain mode we were in. It was hard to go into a control mode all of the sudden. We have some things to work on obviously."

Warsaw's aggressive play on the offensive end resulted in 34 free throw opportunities, 25 of which the Tigers converted on. That was the big difference in this game.

"We took the ball with authority and shot with confidence," Wienhorst said. "They did what they were expected to do. We can take the ball to the basket and hit our foul shots."

Despite the advantage at the free throw line and a 38-29 rebounding edge, the Tigers couldn't shake the Bruins. The score was tied 51-51 in the fourth quarter when the Bruins' own pressure defense appeared to take its toll on themselves and wear them down physically.

Warsaw took advantage by going on a 10-1 spurt to end the game, led by four free throws each from Katie Elliott and Sam Wideman.

"It wasn't easy, but the kids played hard," Wienhorst said. "I am more excited about the way the kids played than anything else."

Warsaw couldn't shake Northrop for the first three quarters because of the play of the Bruin's one-two punch of Shauntelle Sharks and Janee Langhorne. Sharks had 19 of her team-high 20 points in the first three quarters, while Langhorne had 14 points for the game, and nine of those came in the second quarter.

Warsaw was paced by Tiffany Ross' 21 points and 13 rebounds, while Sam Wideman added 17 points.

Warsaw (4-2, 1-0) hosts Concord Saturday.