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While members of its student cheer section wore confederate flag bandanas, it was the fate of Tippecanoe Valley High School's varsity girls basketball team that went south Friday evening.
After a quick basket by senior and Division I recruit Kara Kramer, the Vikings simply struggled, while the host Tigers shot 64 percent from the field, dominated the boards and seemed to just have their way with Valley in a 61-23 rout.
Warsaw responed to Kramer's quick score with a three-pointer from Julie Seiss, a shot that Valley coach Gary Teel said may have been one of the biggest shots of the game as it sparked a 13-0 run for the Tigers.
"That was a big shot for their team," Teel said of Seiss' three-pointer that clearly gave Warsaw the momentum it needed just 18 seconds into the game. "That really got them into it. Julie Seiss is an oustanding player. I have to give kudos to her. She's a great shooter and we didn't have an answer for her or Rebekah Reichard. Those two kids did a great job."
Seiss finished the game 4 of 5 from the field, hit all three of her three-point attempts, converted 8 of 9 free throw opportunities and led all scorers with 19 points.
The 5-foot-9 junior scored 17 of her points in the first half as the Tigers led 17-5 after the first quarter and 36-9 at halftime.
"I challenged her to be more aggressive," first-year Warsaw coach John Snyder said of Seiss. "She answered the challenge in a big way."
Seiss also tallied five steals and four rebounds, all the while guarding Kramer, Valley's biggest scoring threat back from last year's sectional championship team.
While Seiss led a Tiger offense that hit 21 of 33 shots from the field, including 5 of 9 three-point attempts, Kramer was held in check and made just 4 of 16 shots from the field. She finished the game with nine points, scoring the first two points of the game, hitting a three-pointer in the third quarter and converting a pair of field goals in the final frame.
"Defensively, we wanted to get in front of them and take away easy baskets," said Snyder, whose Tigers improved to 1-1 on the season heading into tonight's contest at Crown Point. "I felt like we could pressure their guards with our guards. I told the girls, she (Kramer) could score 20 or 30 points but we had to slow the other girls and take away the easy baskets. Julie did a remarkable job on her."
As a team, Valley finished the game 8 of 33 (24.2 percent) from the field, including a 2-of-10 performance from the three-point line, and was outrebounded 30-13.
The Vikings, who also struggled at the free throw line and hit just 5 of 10 charity tosses, fell to 2-1 on the season with the 38-point loss.
"Warsaw did a nice job on defense and we didn't respond," said Teel. "I think we started looking at the scoreboard too much and made some costly mistakes. Warsaw shot well. I thought the key for them was that early three."
Much like the first quarter, Valley scored the first two points of the second stanza, only to see Warsaw respond with another run, this time pushing the Tigers' advantage to 26-7 with 5:15 to play in the half and 36-9 at the break.
"The girls just played fantastic," said Snyder. "We had a game plan and the girls executed it to perfection. They played with a lot of confidence. I felt coming in we were a better team individually. When you play with confidence, good things happen. It was nice to see the light bulb come on."
For the Tigers, the light bulb came on, so to speak. For the Vikings, things were downright dim.
Senior Holli Jackson led Valley in scoring with 10, while Kramer added nine. Freshman reserve Hannah Krueger and senior bench player Danielle Howard scored two points each.
To go with Seiss' game-high 19 points, the Tigers got nine points and five rebounds from Reichard, while Danielle DeGeeter and Amy Abbitt scored five each and Kim Clay and Jennifer Scherer four each.
Rachel Braddock, Laura Heiman and Katie Logan added three points each for the Tigers, while Tasia Smith, Megan Wood and Mallory Hepler each scored two.
Warsaw is in action again tonight at Crown Point. The junior varsity Tigers, who defeated Valley 53-32, are set to tip off at 6:30 p.m. EST time. Valley is in action again next Saturday when it hosts its annual Thanksgiving Classic.
The Tigers entered Friday's game after opening the season last Saturday with a 55-39 loss to Huntington North.
In that game, Warsaw was out of sync and struggled in nearly every aspect of the game.
Friday night against Valley, things were different, and the Tigers looked like an entirely different team, one that flourished offensively and one that played solid defense.
"We had a good week of practice," said Snyder. "We had been teaching and teach and teaching. It was time to go play. Time to perform."
