Northridge Ends Lady Tigers' SeasonGOSHEN – The outcome was the same – a loss for Warsaw’s girls basketball team. The story, however, was much, much different this time. A month after going toe-to-toe with Northern Lakes Conference foe Northridge in a 47-43 loss in Middlebury, the Lady Tigers were dominated from start to finish Friday in a 54-27 sectional semifinal loss to the Lady Raiders at Goshen High School. Improving to 25-1, Class 4A No. 7 Northridge scored the first 10 points of the game and never looked back, ending Warsaw’s season with a 20-4 record. “We came out and played scared,” said Warsaw coach Michelle Harter. “We were on our heels from the very beginning. We weren’t communicating defensively. We were playing reactive, letting them move the ball and then responding to what they were doing instead of moving on the flight and being there on the catch. “And then offensively, we just didn’t look to attack strong like we needed to. We were straight up and down, and then when we did attack we got inside and fumbled it off our hands, or didn’t collect ourselves and go up strong and finish. “It was just one of those things ... we got in that rut and couldn’t get ourselves out of it.” The Lady Tigers, who trailed 12-4 after one quarter of play, 33-14 at halftime and 49-25 at the end of the third quarter, turned the ball over 11 times in the first half and shot just 26 percent from the field in the 27-point loss. Northridge made 50 percent of its field goal attempts and was 14 of 17 at the free throw line. It was just the second time this season, and first since the season opener, that a team scored 50 points against Warsaw. “It was just one of those things with basketball, we just got on a roll,” said Northridge coach Doug Springer. “That will never happen again, something like that with Warsaw. It was just one of those things that this night defensively we really outshined them in terms of execution on the court. “I thought we passed the basketball very well offensively, found the open man. Our leading scorer, Brooke (McKinley), had two points tonight, but had six assists and really controlled everything. Their press didn’t bother us. Their halfcourt trap didn’t bother us. The ball was in her hands a lot, and she got it to the open man.” Marci Miller led Northridge with a game-high 21 points and added five rebounds, four steals and two blocked shots to her stat line. Julaine Miller and Morgan Litwiler scored nine points each for the Lady Raiders, while Kelsey Brickner finished with eight. Dayton Groninger paced Warsaw with nine points and finished her prep career with 1,003 points – good for sixth on the program’s all-time scoring list. Kacy Bragg and Page Desenberg scored six and five points, respectively in the loss, and Madi Graham scored three. Mariah Rivera and Kenzie Welk rounded out the Lady Tigers’ offense with two points each. Northridge will play defending state champ and current 4A No. 10 Penn, a 45-28 winner over Elkhart Central in Friday’s first semifinal, in tonight’s 7:30 p.m. championship game. The Lady Raiders’ only blemish this season was a 50-44 setback to Penn on Dec. 13. Warsaw will lose six seniors to graduation – Groninger, Graham, Desenberg, Rivera, Welk and Abby Glass. “These six seniors are what Lady Tiger Basketball is all about,” said Harter. “I can’t say enough about their work ethic, their desire to get better, and going through a tough season last year they never quit on each other. They never quit on the team. They never quit on the coaching staff. They just continued to work and get better. They came out this season wanting to play basketball the way they knew they were capable of playing. “What a tremendous season and turnaround for this group of ladies. It just says a lot about them as individuals, about their character, their desire. They’re truly going to be missed, and look forward to seeing what they do with the next chapter of their lives.”
