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Junior basketball player Amie Poling sticks her head into the office doorway to tell Warsaw coach Will Wienhorst how to get to her house for Monday's team supper.
He doesn't know the way and asks her for directions.
Unlike Wienhorst on this night, his basketball team seems to have found its way at the end of the season. Warsaw, which ended the regular season with three straight losses, won all three of its sectional games to advance to tonight's 7 p.m. Fort Wayne Snider (4A) Regional, where the 14-9 Tigers meet No. 6 Snider (22-2), which lost to New Albany 46-41 in last year's 4A state championship. The Tigers seek their first regional title since 1991.
Warsaw's first sectional win was supposed to happen: The Tigers drubbed 6-14 Elkhart Memorial 72-29 in the sectional opener. The second game was the test for the Tigers, and they passed it by beating 14-9 East Noble 52-42. Once they got by East Noble, they clocked 5-17 Goshen 75-42 to win their second sectional title in three years.
"We are playing our best basketball of the year," Wienhorst says of his team, which won its three sectional games by an average of 29 points.
Good timing, as next up for Warsaw is Snider, which already has beaten Warsaw this season. The Tigers hosted Snider Jan. 15 and lost 69-54. The problem, as always seems to be Warsaw's problem recently against Snider, was the hole the Tigers fell into and couldn't crawl out of.
"We got down 19-4 to start the game," Wienhorst says. "After that, we played them even (50-50), and we got within three twice but couldn't get over the hump.
"The last four games we've played Snider, we've fallen behind early by a combined score of 76-29."
Snider won all four games. The Tigers played Snider in the regional two years ago. They fell behind 31-9 in that game. They made a furious rally, only to lose 55-49.
Asked how his team plans to avoid the slow start this time, Wienhorst says, "We just have to play with confidence. In the sectional, I think we found our confidence. We beat East Noble by 10, and Snider beat East Noble by 15 this season. If we play like we did against East Noble, we will be in this game."
The difference between Snider and almost any other girls team in the state is shooting. Warsaw scores 60.1 points per game, above the norm for girls teams; the Tigers shoot 38 percent from the field.
Snider shoots three-pointers the way most girls teams shoot two-pointers. Snider hits 38 percent of its three-pointers and is shooting 49 percent overall from the field. The Panthers average 66.3 points per game, while their opponents score just 43.4. Only one team, Bishop Luers, has beaten Snider this season. Luers, which has quick players and good team speed, beat Snider in back-to-back games, 52-47 on the road then 66-45 at home.
The Panthers have given most teams trouble with their height, as they start three 6-footers, senior center Sparkle Williams, senior forward Jackie Knight and junior forward Erin Heffner.
But it wasn't any one of those three who killed Warsaw the first time. Instead, 5'6' junior guard Suzie Hayden buried the Tigers. Hayden, who averages 12.7 points per game, hit 12 of 17 from the field and dropped 31 on Warsaw. Hayden hits 55 percent (71 of 130) of her two-point field goals and 51 percent (39 of 76) of her three-pointers.
"We concentrated so much on stopping their inside players," Wienhorst says, "we let Hayden go crazy. We have the ability to stop them inside, but we have to get a hand in her face, too."
But Snider coach Lamar Kilmer, in his 20th year as coach of the Panthers, says any of his starters can do what Hayden did against Warsaw.
"Hayden may have 30 one game then four the next game," he says. "We have four players who score between 10 and 13 points per game. I think teams who want to concentrate on just one player like Hayden are making a mistake."
Warsaw
(14-9)
Coach Will Wienhorst: (338-116, .745, 21 years overall; 234-76, .755, 14 years at Warsaw)
Warsaw 101, Tippecanoe Valley 63
Warsaw 75, Bremen 41
Corwn Point 52, Warsaw 47
Huntington North 60, Warsaw 42
Warsaw 73, FW Northrop 56
Warsaw 78, Concord 50
Columbia City 74, Warsaw 66
Warsaw 41, Plymouth 31
Perry Meridian 43, Warsaw 34
Mt. Vernon 63, Warsaw 37
Warsaw 63, Wawasee 50
Warsaw 69, Peru 55
Warsaw 53, Whitko 39
FW Snider 69, Warsaw 54
Warsaw 79, Manchester 51
Warsaw 75, Northridge 34
Warsaw 71, Goshen 43
NorthWood 50, Warsaw 43
Kokomo 65, Warsaw 46
Marion 42, Warsaw 37
Sectional
Warsaw 72, E. Memorial 29
Warsaw 52, East Noble 42
Warsaw 75, Goshen 42
No. 6 (4A) FW Snider
(22-2)
Coach: Lamar Kilmer (329-102, .763, 20 years at Snider)
Snider 78, Bellmont 39
Snider 57, FW Northrop 51
Snider 81, New Haven 41
Snider 64, Bishop Dwenger 27
Snider 72, West Side 54
Snider 78, FW Concordia 41
Snider 66, FW Elmhurst 38
Snider 60, Highland 45
Snider 53, FW Wayne 33
Snider 45, FW Elmhurst 35
B. Luers 52, Snider 47
B. Luers 66, Snider 45
Snider 89, FW North 37
Snider 69, Warsaw 54
Snider 77, FW Wayne 45
Snider 75, SB Riley 54
Snider 59, DeKalb 58
Snider 56, FW South 36
Snider 89, Harding 37
Snider 58, East Noble 43
Snider 66, H. North 52
Sectional
Snider 88, FW South 27
Snider 56, Carroll 30
Snider 63, Northrop 47
1999-2000 WARSAW GIRLS BASKETBALL STATS
(Through 23 games)
Name FG FG% 3-PT 3-PT% FT FT% PTS PPG A APG S SPG R RPG
*O'Connell (G) 88-258 34 33-115 29 47-68 69 256 11.1 63 2.7 48 2.1 78 3.4
*Kesler (G) 51-149 34 6-17 35 65-94 69 173 7.5 74 3.2 36 1.6 86 3.7
*Taylor (F) 66-117 56 0-0 - 33-58 57 165 7.2 3 0.1 38 1.7 164 7.1
*Parker (F) 35-103 34 4-9 44 48-66 73 122 5.3 30 1.3 37 1.6 104 4.5
*Conley (C) 20-68 29 0-0 - 12-27 44 52 2.3 7 0.3 10 0.4 81 3.5
Rooney 71-196 36 17-61 28 47-60 78 206 9.4 9 0.4 20 0.9 108 4.9
Colt 48-160 30 21-90 23 34-56 61 151 6.6 48 2.1 23 1.0 45 2.0
Knisely 32-42 76 1-3 33 35-45 78 100 4.6 7 0.3 14 0.6 64 2.9
Poling 18-42 43 5-9 56 17-29 59 58 2.5 11 0.5 11 0.5 60 2.6
Wyatt 10-29 35 5-10 50 10-13 77 35 2.3 14 0.9 5 0.3 4 0.3
Overton 19-37 51 0-1 0.0 3-4 75 41 1.8 16 0.7 21 0.9 50 2.2
Stanley 7-28 25 0-5 0.0 5-8 63 19 1.5 1 0.1 4 0.3 27 2.1
DeRenzo 1-8 13 0-1 0.0 3-4 75 5 0.5 3 0.3 7 0.6 10 0.9
Totals 466-1237 38 92-321 29 359-532 68 1383 60.1 286 12.4 274 11.9 903 39.3
Opponents 423-1050 40 67-221 30 233-377 62 1146 49.8 209 9.1 178 7.7 695 30.2
1999-2000 No. 6 (4A) FW SNIDER GIRLS BASKETBALL STATS
(Through 24 games)
Name FG FG% 3-PT 3-PT% FT FT% PTS PPG A APG S SPG R RPG
S. Hayden (G) 110-206 53 39-76 51 34-46 74 293 12.7 55 2.4 53 2.3 46 2.0
Heffner (F) 121-186 65 0-0 - 59-78 76 301 12.5 25 1.0 50 2.1 147 6.1
Knight (F) 106-213 50 12-47 26 45-54 83 269 11.2 40 1.7 57 2.4 158 6.6
Williams (F) 95-211 45 0-0 - 44-75 59 234 9.8 35 1.5 20 0.8 113 4.7
Harris (G) 66-139 48 14-38 37 39-61 64 185 7.7 165 6.9 96 4.0 37 1.5
Neal 37-93 40 14-41 34 14-33 42 102 4.6 35 1.6 29 1.3 39 1.8
Fullove 30-50 60 0-4 0.0 3-6 50 63 2.9 6 0.3 10 0.5 55 2.5
M. Hayden 21-57 37 4-14 29 3-5 60 49 2.7 10 0.6 6 0.3 16 0.9
Spicer 16-28 65 0-0 - 10-21 48 42 2.5 3 0.2 8 0.5 26 1.5
Deason 9-17 53 0-0 - 3-7 43 21 1.8 2 0.2 4 0.3 12 1.0
Preston 6-17 35 3-4 75 0-0 - 15 1.4 10 0.9 1 0.1 6 0.6
Dickinson 8-26 31 0-2 0.0 2-4 50 18 1.1 4 0.2 6 0.4 5 0.3
Snider 625-1273 49 86-226 38 256-390 66 1592 66.3 390 16.3 340 14.1 660 27.5
Opponents 1042 43.4
*probable starters
