Tigers Fall Short

Warsaw girls basketball coach Will Wienhorst got almost everything he wanted from his basketball team in Tuesday's 4A regional game against Fort Wayne Snider.

A close game that featured no more than a six-point separation after the first quarter. A game where the score was in the 50s. Stellar defense. Passing the ball and finding the open player on offense.

But the two things he didn't get are the things he wanted the most. He wanted a foul called against Snider with 3.3 seconds left. He didn't get that. Because he didn't get that, his Tigers couldn't get a chance at a win, the second thing he wanted. Snider won 56-54 on Warsaw's home floor to advance to Saturday's Warsaw Semistate.

The Tigers, 10-1 in their last 11 games, put to rest the notion that they fattened up on a soft second-half schedule with their inspired performance against Fort Wayne Snider. Only one team has solved No. 8 Snider (22-2), and that is undefeated No. 1 (2A) Bishop Luers, which beat the Panthers twice.

Warsaw, which lost at Snider 78-56 on Jan. 4, gave the Panthers all they could handle in the Warsaw Regional. Snider entered with a 14-2 career record against Warsaw, including an eight-game win streak.

"My primary concern was overconfidence," Snider coach LaMar Kilmer, who's retiring after this season, said, "because we beat them so easily the first time. After a win like that, with kids these ages, it's hard to get the point across not to be overconfident. I don't think I did a very good job of convincing them."

Said Wienhorst: "We came out and played great basketball. Whoever saw us play at Snider the first time can see how far we've come along. Being 7-5 at one time, we could have folded. Yeah, our schedule got easier, but we peaked at the right time."

Senior forward Erin Heffner led Snider with 14 points, while junior center Jasmine Fullove and junior guard Amy Hayden added 10 each.

Junior guard Hilary O'Connell led Warsaw with 19 points, and junior forward Janna Knisely added 11.

So competitive was this regional that the biggest lead by either team in the second half was a six-point Snider lead, and Warsaw quickly erased that to tie the game.

With the game tied 54-54, Warsaw had the ball for the final 1:36. O'Connell missed a three-point attempt with one minute left, but freshman center Michelle DeGeeter snared the offensive rebound.

Waraw went back to work at running time off the clock. The Tigers did so until just 29 seconds remained, when senior forward Amie Poling traveled to give the Panthers the ball.

Snider ran 22 seconds off until Heffner scored under the basket, one of the few Panther open baskets against Warsaw's effective matchup zone. Snider led 56-54 with 7.3 seconds left.

Warsaw inbounded the ball, got it to halfcourt and called timeout with 4.8 seconds left.

When the teams returned to the floor, the Panthers double-teamed O'Connell, who had been torching them. Senior guard Kara Kesler received the inbounds pass and drove the baseline toward the basket.

With 3.3 seconds left, the referees made the call that Wienhorst felt may have cost his team the game. The refs whistled Kesler for stepping out of bounds, but Wienhorst felt she did that only because Snider players rode her out of bounds and fouled her.

Kesler's turnover gave Snider the ball, and the Panthers held on to escape with the win.

"Kara Kesler definitely got pushed out of bounds," Wienhorst said, "but there was no call. She did exactly what we wanted her to do on the play, take the ball to the hole. You have this great of a game, fouls are being called all along, and then they don't make that call. She should have been fouled. Every play counts."

After a poor first quarter, the Tigers stayed with Snider basket for basket. Snider led 11-5 after one, but the Tigers looked at the deficit from an optimistic point of view. They had six turnovers to Snider's three and shot just 2 of 8 from the field but were down only six.

Realizing they could hang with the Panthers, the Tigers took it to them, starting the second quarter on a 6-0 run to tie the game. They hit 7 of 11 field goals in the second quarter while their matchup zone held Snider to 5-of-14 shooting,

Back and forth the teams went, matching punch for punch. With five seconds left in the half, Snider senior point guard Lydia Harris stole the ball from Kesler and hit a layup to put the Panthers up 24-22. Kesler one-upped her with a three-point heave near halfcourt that swished the net to put Warsaw up 25-24 at the half.

Both offenses took over in the second half. Warsaw shot 9 of 16 (56 percent) from the field, but the Panthers topped that by hitting 14 of 21 (67 percent).

The lead changed hands 10 times in the third quarter as no more than two points separated the teams, which each seemed to score every trip down the floor. Again Warsaw had late magic as freshman Jaclyn Leininger hit a field goal as time ran out to put Warsaw up 40-39 heading into the fourth.

In the fourth, Snider got what qualified for as breathing room in this game, a six-point lead. A three-pointer by Harris and a three-point play by Heffner gave Snider a 54-48 lead with 4:11 left. Warsaw responded with two three-point plays, a three-pointer by Poling and a layup and free throw by O'Connell, to tie the game at 54-54.

"I don't think we played especially well," Kilmer said, "but I give Warsaw credit. They're much improved. They shot the ball better than the first time, played better defense and were just a better team."

Wienhorst loses just two players, but two starters - Poling and Kesler - to graduation.

"Amie Poling and Kara Kesler, I can't say enough about what they've done for this team on and off the floor," he said. "They molded the team."

They helped mold a team that lost 78-56 to Snider to fall to 7-5 into a 17-7 team that took Snider to the brink less than two months later.

"Let's put it this way," Wienhorst said. "We've gone from being a top 40 team to a top 10 team. We proved that by the way we played tonight against a top 10 team, one of the best teams in the state. This was no fluke. If we played again, it would be the same kind of close game every time.

"I'm sure our kids don't want to take the uniforms off. These kids played hard."

No. 8 FW SNIDER 56

WARSAW 54

Warsaw (17-7) 5 20 15 14 - 54

Snider (22-2) 11 13 15 17 - 56

Warsaw FG FT A S R Pts.

O'Connell (G) 8-15 1-1 1 2 6 19

Knisely (F) 3-8 5-5 1 0 4 11

Poling (F) 2-4 3-4 2 0 2 8

Kesler (G) 2-4 2-2 3 1 2 7

DeGeeter (C) 1-1 0-0 0 0 4 2

Leininger 2-3 2-2 0 0 2 6

Chabot 0-0 1-2 0 0 1 1

Wyatt 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0

Totals 18-35 14-16 7 3 27 54

Snider FG FT A S R Pts.

Heffner (F) 5-11 4-5 2 2 2 14

A. Hayden (G) 4-8 0-0 2 0 2 10

Fullove (C) 5-8 0-0 1 1 4 10

Harris (G) 4-8 0-1 6 5 4 9

S. Hayden (G) 4-5 0-0 3 1 0 9

Mattson 2-4 0-0 1 0 0 4

M. Hayden 0-3 0-2 2 0 1 0

Totals 24-47 4-8 18 9 16 56

Three-point goals - Snider 4-9 (A. Hayden 2-5, Harris 1-3, S. Hayden 1-1), Warsaw 4-13 (O'Connell 2-6, Poling 1-3, Kesler 1-2, Knisely 0-2). Turnovers -ÊSnider 7, Warsaw 18. Total fouls -ÊSnider 17, Warsaw 9. Fouled out -Ênone.