Tigers Claim Their Share Of Conference

GOSHEN - For Goshen's girls basketball team, the race was on.

Turnovers or points? Which would they have more of when Thursday's game against Warsaw ended?

With three minutes to go in the third quarter, turnovers were ahead, 21-20. While ultimately Goshen finished with more points, the Redskins did not have enough ammunition to stay close to the Tigers.

Warsaw, which won the Northern State Conference title last season, claimed at least a share of it this season by walloping Goshen 71-43. The Redskins finished the game with 30 turnovers to Warsaw's 11. The Tigers improved to 11-6 overall and 5-0 in the NLC, while Goshen fell to 4-13 and 0-6 in the NLC.

Next up for the Tigers: NorthWood in Nappanee on Tuesday. The Panthers enter the game with one loss in the NLC.

"We talked earlier (Thursday) about how if we won tonight, it would be the beginning, not the end," Warsaw coach Will Wienhorst said. "Right now we share the conference title, but we want to win the conference outright."

Helping the Tigers win outright over Goshen was junior guard Kara Kesler. She hit 6 of 11 field goals, 6 of 7 free throws and scored 18 points. She grabbed seven rebounds, had three assists and two steals and turned the ball over zero times.

"Kara Kesler had one of her best games of the season," Wienhorst said. "She took the ball to the hole and rebounded well.

"We're starting to get different people involved in scoring. That's good going into the tournament."

One other Tiger scored in double figures, senior forward Jenna Rooney, who finished with 17 points and six rebounds. Nine players scored for Warsaw.

Three times the Redskins turned the ball over on five-second calls trying to get the ball inbounds - and that was by the end of the first quarter. The Redskins ended the quarter with eight turnovers as Warsaw took a 17-8 lead.

In the second quarter, Warsaw's half-court traps ate up the turnover-prone Redskins. They committed six more turnovers and had 14 at halftime.

The Tigers led 33-16. The Redskins' 14 turnovers more than doubled their field goals, six.

The second half was more of the same as the Tigers tacked on to the lead.

"We're starting to play very good defense," Wienhorst said. "We've been working on our half-court and full-court traps. I felt we came out and played hard."

The Tigers delivered their second blowout to an NLC opponent in 24 hours. Warsaw hosted Northridge Wednesday night and drilled the Raiders 75-34.

The Redskins had two bright spots, senior forward Missy Stults and freshman guard Jenni Headings.

Stults, who came in averaging 17.4 points and 11 rebounds per game, hit 7 of 9 field goals and finished with 17 points and 14 rebounds. Headings, who had scored 15 points all season, scored 12 on 6-of-9 shooting.

WARSAW 71, GOSHEN 43

Warsaw (11-6) 17 16 17 21 - 71

Goshen (4-13) 8 8 13 14 - 43

Warsaw FG FT A S R Pts.

Kesler (G) 6-11 6-7 3 2 7 18

O'Connell (G) 2-13 1-2 2 4 3 6

Parker (F) 2-5 2-2 2 4 3 6

Taylor (F) 2-6 0-0 0 2 4 4

Conley (C) 1-1 0-0 0 0 1 2

Rooney 6-11 3-3 0 0 6 17

Knisely 2-2 5-6 0 0 5 9

Poling 2-3 2-2 0 0 4 6

Colt 1-7 0-2 1 3 2 3

DeRenzo 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0

Wyatt 0-2 0-0 1 0 0 0

Overton 0-0 0-0 3 0 1 0

Totals 24-63 19-24 12 15 36 71

Goshen FG FT A S R Pts.

M. Stults (F) 7-9 3-4 1 0 14 17

Kercher (G) 1-2 2-2 0 0 2 4

Robertson (G) 1-5 2-2 4 1 5 4

Hoogenboom (F) 0-3 0-0 1 1 0 0

Weldy (F) 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0

Headings 6-9 0-0 0 1 1 12

J. Stults 2-7 2-3 0 0 4 6

Caton 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0

Yoder 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0

Kirkton 0-0 0-0 2 0 0 0

Lau 0-1 0-0 0 0 1 0

Faulkner 0-1 0-0 0 0 1 0

Team - - - - 1 -

Totals 17-38 9-11 8 3 29 43

Three-point goals -ÊWarsaw 4-15 (Rooney 2-4, O'Connell 1-6, Colt 1-4, Parker 0-1), Goshen 0-2 (Hoogenboom 0-2). Turnovers -ÊWarsaw 11, Goshen 30. Fouled out -ÊNone. Total fouls -ÊWarsaw 15, Goshen 19.

JV: WARSAW 40, GOSHEN 31

Warsaw (10-7) scoring -ÊAshley Wyatt 9, Stephanie DeRenzo 8, Abby Sumpter 6, Kayla Burner 5, Holly McGriff 4, Keriann Conley 4, Holly Stackhouse 3, Natalie Chabot 1.

Goshen scoring -ÊAli Faulkner 9, Josie Caton 6, Celia Lau 6, Heidi Shenk 5, Jaime Sarbaugh 2, Jenny Stults 2, Jenni Headings 1.