Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Warsaw girls basketball coach Will Wienhorst writes down sets and plays for tonight's Warsaw 4A Regional game against No. 8 Fort Wayne Snider. Video tapes of Snider games are stacked five high.
If Warsaw (17-6) knows a team, it's Snider. What the Tigers haven't been able to do recently is figure out a way to beat Snider.
Snider ended Warsaw's season last year 66-48 at the regional, and Snider hosted and beat Warsaw 78-56 on Jan. 4. Snider, 14-2 all-time against Warsaw, has beaten the Tigers eight times in a row.
Snider boasts a 21-2 record. Only one team, undefeated No. 1 2A Bishop Luers, has beaten the Panthers. Luers beat them during the SAC Tournament and during a regular season game.
In the 22-point loss to Snider, Warsaw shot just 16 of 55 (29 percent) from the field. But that stat isn't the one that bothered Wienhorst the most.
What troubled him were 15 turnovers and allowing Snider to hit 8 of 18 three-pointers.
"Now 15 turnovers doesn't sound all that bad, but Snider scored 28 points off our 15 turnovers," Wienhorst said. "This is a guess, but if I remember right, they hit like three threes and had two three-point plays following turnovers by us.
"If we can take away the points they get off turnovers, and if we can take away their open threes - we didn't play good half-court defense last time and gave them eight threes -Êif we can take those two things away from them, we will be in the game."
He won't get an argument from 21st-year Snider coach LaMar Kilmer.
When Snider beat Warsaw, the Tigers fell to 7-5. Since that time, they've gone 10-1. Only two of the 11 teams - NorthWood and Marion -Êfinished with winning records, and Warsaw lost to NorthWood.
Warsaw beat 2-19 Elkhart Central, 6-16 Elkhart Memorial and 9-13 East Noble to win the Goshen Sectional. While the records aren't glamorous, the Tigers avoided the trap of playing down to the competition and had all three games won by halftime.
"It's not always who you're playing, it's what you are doing in a game and will it work against anybody," Wienhorst said.
What the Tigers did in the sectional is win three games by an average score of 78.7-36.3, shoot 49 percent from the field compared to 29 percent for the opponents and move the ball so efficiently they averaged 19 assists per game.
Led by guard Hilary O'Connell, the Tigers have several scoring threats.
O'Connell averages 18.4 ppg and is followed by guard Kara Kesler (10.3 ppg), forward Janna Knisely (9.3 ppg), forward Amie Poling (7.8 ppg) and center Michelle DeGeeter (7.0 ppg)
"Right now Warsaw is doing everything well," Kilmer said. "They seem to be shooting the ball well and doing a better job on defense. They are a better team than when we first played them."
While Warsaw averages 66 points per game to Snider's 61, Wienhorst claims Warsaw's best bet to win the game is to avoid a shootout with Snider. Like Warsaw, Snider features balanced scoring. Led by Erin Heffner's 13 points per game, Snider has five players scoring between 9.8 and 13 points per game.
"If we can hold them in the 50s, we have as good of a chance to beat them as anybody," Wienhorst said. "They just have too many weapons.
"Everything is balanced with Snider. It's not one particular player we're worried about, it's the shots we give them. We don't want to let them shoot from the box or shoot open three-pointers. We want to make them shoot 15-footers off the dribble, make them work for their shots."
Snider's weaknesses? The Panthers play only seven players, so they want to stay out of foul trouble.
Both coaches downplayed the notion that recent past wins have given Snider a psychological edge against Warsaw.
"We asked our girls, if we win sectional, what do you think?" Wienhorst said. "They said, 'We want to play Snider.' They want to play the best, give their best shot and see what they can do."
Said Kilmer: "I wouldn't say that our players are [more confident] against Warsaw. What's happened in the past is the past. It won't have a bearing on this game. Warsaw's playing better right now, and I know we are as well."
No. 8 FORT WAYNE SNIDER (21-2)
Coach: LaMar Kilmer (350-104, .771, 21 years at Snider)
Snider home games in caps
SNIDER 57, Columbia City 46
Snider 63, Bellmont 30
SNIDER 87, Anderson Highland 40
SNIDER 73, Harding 26
Snider 63, Homestead 36
SNIDER 82, FW North 34
Snider 69, FW Wayne 31
Snider 61, East Noble 43
SNIDER 76, Elmhurst 51
SNIDER 55, FW South 41
SNIDER 55, Concordia 50
Bishop Luers 54, SNIDER 47
SNIDER 78, Warsaw 56
Bishop Luers 56, Snider 32
Snider 70, FW South 43
SNIDER 49, FW Concordia 44
SNIDER 52, Bishop Dwenger 51
Snider 58, FW Northrop 54
Snider 72, Huntington North 64
Snider 75, New Haven 31
DeKalb Sectional
Snider 53, Carroll 42
Snider 51, DeKalb 38
Snider 62, FW Northrop 45
WARSAW (17-6)
Coach: Will Wienhorst (355-122, .744, 22 years overall; 251-82, .754, 15 years at Warsaw)
Warsaw home games in caps
WARSAW 75, Tippecanoe Valley 37
Warsaw 82, Homestead 53
Crown Point 78, Warsaw 54
Warsaw 72, FW Northrop 60
Huntington North 60, WARSAW 50
WARSAW 50, Plymouth 47
Wawasee 72, WARSAW 43
Wawasee 81, Warsaw 66
WARSAW 67, Goshen 44
WARSAW 56, Mt. Vernon 47
WARSAW 47, Valparaiso 45
FW Snider 78, Warsaw 56
Warsaw 91, Northridge 65
WARSAW 83, Goshen 35
WARSAW 67, Columbia City 55
Warsaw 75, Concord 53
Warsaw 85, Whitko 65
NorthWood 52, Warsaw 47
Warsaw 55, Elkhart Memorial 42
WARSAW 66, Marion 40
Goshen Sectional
Warsaw 97, Elkhart Central 29
Warsaw 79, Elkhart Memorial 44
Warsaw 60, East Noble 38
WARSAW 4A REGIONAL
2000-2001 WARSAW GIRLS BASKETBALL STATS (Leaders only)
Name FG FG% 3-PT 3-PT% FT FT% PTS PPG A APG S SPG R RPG
Kesler 70-201 34.8 3-13 23.1 101-129 78 238 10.3 109 4.7 48 2.1 100 4.4
Wyatt 49-143 34.3 9-33 27.3 26-35 74 115 5.0 41 1.8 20 0.9 41 1.8
Poling 93-236 39.4 26-72 36.1 20-39 51 180 7.8 47 2.0 33 1.4 93 4.0
O'Connell 197-473 41.6 37-109 33.9 66-88 75 423 18.4 67 2.9 79 3.5 86 3.7
Chabot 32-58 55.2 0-1 0.0 17-35 48 81 3.5 0 0.0 12 0.5 67 2.9
Leininger 37-110 33.6 5-19 26.3 13-20 65 82 3.6 7 0.3 23 1.0 108 4.7
DeGeeter 55-95 57.9 0-0 - 43-62 69 153 7.0 1 0.1 19 0.9 128 5.8
Knisely 82-189 43.4 5-24 20.8 55-73 75 214 9.3 34 1.5 34 1.5 165 7.2
Warsaw 625-1556 40.2 85-275 30.9 358-515 69.5 1523 66.2 326 14.2 282 12.3 871 37.9
Opponents 505-1374 36.8 60-216 27.8 270-419 64.4 1220 53.0 237 10.3 218 9.5 765 33.3
2000-2001 No. 8 FW SNIDER GIRLS BASKETBALL STATS (Leaders only)
Name FG FG% 3-PT 3-PT% FT FT% PTS PPG A APG S SPG R RPG
Harris 95-213 44.6 17-63 27 43-78 55 250 10.4 127 5.3 112 4.7 51 2.1
S. Hayden 90-219 41.9 33-86 38 58-76 76 271 11.3 85 3.5 48 2.0 65 2.7
A. Hayden 79-180 43.9 39-100 39 37-47 79 234 9.8 71 3.0 51 2.1 48 2.0
M. Hayden 40-98 40.8 9-27 33 31-35 89 120 5.0 20 0.8 16 0.7 34 1.4
Mattson 35-85 41.2 1-1 1.000 36-47 77 109 4.7 7 0.3 20 0.9 73 3.2
Heffner 130-217 59.9 0-0 - 53-79 67 313 13.0 32 1.3 35 1.5 185 7.7
Fullove 68-153 44.4 0-0 - 36-49 73 172 7.2 33 1.4 20 0.8 117 4.9
Snider 542-1189 45.6 99-280 35.4 301-421 71 1484 61.8 380 15.8 309 12.9 586 24.4
Opponents 1043 43.5
