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First-year Warsaw girls basketball coach Jon Snyder said afterward he knows Saturday's season opening loss won't define his career or his team's season.
For visiting Huntington North, however, a 9-0 run in the fourth quarter did help define its 55-39 win at the Tiger Den.
After Tiger senior Amy Abbitt's basket cut Huntington North's lead to four, 36-32, with 6:24 remaining in the game, the Vikings went on a 9-0 over the next 3:22 and never led by fewer than eight points the rest of the way.
"I thought in the first half we did a lot of nice things," said Snyder. "We just didn't knock down some shots. In the second half we got out of rythym and tried to force some things. We never got looks in transition. What people saw was a team trying to do the best it can in the situation it's in. There's a learning process going on, and unfortunately Huntington North was the first test."
Huntington North coach Jon Lippe has what he labeled in the preseason as a state championship contendor, entering Saturday's season opener ranked 11th in the Class 4A poll and returning a number of players from last year's 20-4 team that fell to Warsaw in the regional championship.
The host Tigers entered Saturday's contest with two starters and the majority of its bench from last year's state runner-up team that finished with a 26-3 record, but came in with a new coach and had little time to work to work together.
Snyder wasn't named head coach until Sept. 20, meaning he didn't get to work with his players in the summer like other coaches.
On top of that, four of the players in Saturday's starting lineup and one other off the bench played on Warsaw's sectional championship volleyball team that competed in the regional while the rest of the team was practicing.
Because of the volleyball team's succes, those five players - starters Julie Seiss, Danielle DeGeeter, Rebekah Reichard and Tasia Smith and reserve Kim Clay - didn't even dress for the basketball scrimmage with Penn.
Snyder said he wasn't upset by the volleyball team's success, or obviously that he was named coach, but that is the "situation" he referred to.
A situation that left his players with little practice time with the entire varsity team together, and to learn a new system with new roles on top of that.
All that aside, Warsaw was right there with the much-taller Vikings for three quarters Saturday night.
Warsaw, which has no rostered player taller than 5-foot-11, trailed the Vikings just 12-11 after the first quarter, 24-21 at halftime and 36-28 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Vikings, who have three players on the varsity roster listed at 6-2 and three others at 5-11, took advantage of their height at 6-2 senior center Beth Freiburger finished the game with 13 points and seven rebounds before fouling out.
Ironically though, it was with Freiburger fouled out when Huntington North made its fourth-quarter 9-0 run, which was powered by eight points from 5-6 guard Lauren Davenport, who also finished with 13 points.
"When Freiburger fouled out, that's when their offense kicked in," said Snyder. "They were able to drive on us. We made some mental errors late that cost us. We have to have better offensive execution. We need to get Julie Seiss more shots. We never got her any good looks in rhythm. Our offense is driven by getting good shots when we're in a good rhythm."
The Tigers finished the game 13 of 40 (32.5 percent) from the field, 13 of 20 (65 percent) from the free throw line, and scored just 18 points in the second half.
Huntington North didn't shoot that much better, hitting just 18 of 54 shots (33.3 percent), but got more attempts than the Tigers and scored 31 points in the second half - 19 of which came in the fourth quarter.
"This is just one game, I hope this doesn't send us into the tank offensively," said Snyder. "I told the girls win or lose this game doesn't define our season. I have a vision for this team as we progress into the season. Huntington North is a tall, athletic team and they work extremely hard."
To go with the 13 points each from Freiburger and Davenport, the Vikings got nine points each from starters Chelsea Kilty and BreAnne Miller.
Huntington North beat the Tigers in rebounds 44-28.
Reichard led Warsaw with 14 points and six boards, while Seiss tallied 13 points, seven of which came at the free throw line, to go with five rebounds, five steals and four assists. DeGeeter scored six, while senior Mallory Hepler scored two in her return from an ACL injury in the sixth quarter of the season a year ago. Abbitt rounded out the Warsaw scoring with two points.
The Tigers, who are now 22-8 all-time in season openers, are in action again Friday when they host county rival Tippecanoe Valley.
