Against a team with a decidely larger frontcourt, the Warsaw Tigers managed to fight off the Fort Wayne Northrop Bruins at the Tiger Den Tuesday, 53-43.
"Tonight, it was very important how we played," Warsaw coach John Snyder said. "We played at a 1.02 points per possession, which is pretty good. We made more free throws (14) than the other team attempted (13). When we do that, I think we've won every game."Against the Bruins, the Tigers' frontcourt was tested with 6-foot junior Jessica Harrison scoring a game-high 17 points on 8-of-12 shooting while grabbing eight rebounds.
"She's averaging 24 (points) and 11 (rebounds), so it was no surprise that she did well tonight," Northrop coach Doug Curtis said of Harrison.
Along with Northrop's 5-11 forward Simone Swary, who scored 14 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, Snyder knew his undersized post players were going to need to bring their "A" games.
"I knew we were in for a long night," he said. "They really did a good job of getting the ball down to Harrison. Coach Curtis, even when he was at DeKalb, ran that same kind of offense. It's a simple offense in some respects, but you have to be smart passers and have someone strong to finish."
To combat Northrop's style of play, Snyder worked in freshman Kayla Stout and sophomore Sarah Shilling off the bench to give starters Kate Denlinger and Alex Glenn some time to catch their breath.
"I was pleased with the way we were able to bring girls in off the bench," Snyder said. "Whether it was on the post, bringing Kayla into the game to get minutes. Alex and Kate are both playing really well right now, but they can't, either one of them, probably play the whole game. So to have Kayla, and now Sarah, working into the rotation a little bit, it just means bigger things for us."
When on the court, Glenn scored 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting, while Denlinger continued her stellar play, leading Warsaw with 16 points, 12 rebounds and two steals.
"She struggled early, fighting some travels and turnovers, but kept battling and ended up with another double-double - guarding a girl bigger than her," Snyder said of the senior.
Early on, it didn't look like Warsaw was playing a team with an 0-2 record.
Northrop jumped out to a quick 8-4 lead, with Harrison scoring six of those on close-range shots. Gradually, Warsaw got itself together, and took the 10-9 lead on a three-pointer from sophomore Kelci Freds midway through the first quarter.
"Our probelm is that our conditioning has to get a little better," Curtis said of his team, which only went seven-deep against Warsaw. "You can tell, we're not too deep."
Despite their depth, the Bruins fought back to tie the game at 17-17 in the second quarter, but then Warsaw went on a 7-0 run over the next four minutes, building a comfortable 24-17 lead.
That second-quarter run gave the Tigers a lead the rest of the way, but Northrop did battle to come within 38-36 opening the fourth quarter. But with the Warsaw lead in jeopardy, senior Courtney Ogle opened the final quarter with her second three-pointer of the game, which kept Northrop at bay the rest of the way.
"She's been struggling on her shot a little bit," Snyder said of Ogle. "She shoots well in practice, but I think for her, it's a little bit of a confidence thing. I just told her the other night that I had confidence in her, and she hit a couple big shots."
Following a subsequent Northrop bucket, senior Carlye Snider hit another three-pointer for Warsaw, building a six-point lead, one the home team was able to hold on to until the end.
"I was glad to see we were able to close it out," Snyder said. "That just shows a lot of maturity and where we're going."
For Curtis, his team may have lost, but he's also seeing positives with his 0-3 team.
"We've been in every game, had a chance to win every game - so we're close," he said. "Defensively, this was by far our best game. If we had done that the first two games, we would have been 2-0 walking in here. "
At 4-2, the Tigers now prepare to play four-consecutive games on the road. Included in those games are trips to Fort Wayne Luers (Dec. 4), fifth-ranked Plymouth (Dec. 8), Columbia City (Dec. 11) and ending with a journey to top-ranked Wawasee (Dec. 15).
"We know we have to continue getting better, because we start a string of a lot of tough games on the road," Snyder said. "Going to Luers, going to Wawasee, going to Plymouth, going to Columbia City, that's Murderer's Row. So we're just going to come back to practice tomorrow and try to get better."
