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DUNLAP - The Warsaw girls basketball team is reacting better to adversity than it did success in the postseason.
After winning the first game of the Concord Girls Basketball Sectional on Tuesday, the Tigers didn't exactly have stellar practices leading up to its round two matchup with Elkhart Central Friday.
In fact the team was kicked out of practice on Wednesday.
And after Warsaw blew a 12-point lead and trailed in the third quarter to the Blue Blazers, it looked as though the Tigers wouldn't have to worry about practices anymore because the season would end.
But the Tigers (14-8) bounced back after Elkhart Central's big 20-4 run in the middle of the game and rallied for a 55-43 win at McCuen Gym, setting up a sectional championship game tonight at 7:30 p.m. against Elkhart Memorial (11-10), a 40-39 winner over Goshen in game one.
"It is difficult to read teams sometimes," Warsaw coach Will Wienhorst said. "I have had some teams have the worst practices in the world come out and be world beaters. Then we have great practices, and they don't show up for games. After the Marion game (the last regular season game) even though we lost, I saw a fire in those kids I haven't seen in a long time. I knew we would be competitive in the tournament."
Warsaw led 24-12 in the second quarter when Elkhart Central outscored the Tigers 9-4 to end the half and trailed only 28-21. The Blue Blazers took that momentum into the third quarter and scored the first 11 points of the period to take a 32-28 advantage.
Tiffany Ross got Warsaw's first points of the period with 2:57 to play with a jumper to make it 32-30.
After that, Ross went nuts against the Blazers' defense. The 5-foot-10 senior scored all 10 Warsaw points of the third period and the first five of the fourth to help the Tigers open up a 47-36 lead in the fourth.
The Tigers made enough free throws down the stretch to hold off the Blazers.
"They made a move, and we played on our heels for about five minutes," Wienhorst said. "They responded. I give them a lot of credit. For a long time, we haven't been in the lead like that. We did some things we don't like to do."
Ross ended up with 24 points, tying a season-high for any Warsaw player. She added 10 boards and five steals.
"Tiffany said 'We are not going to lose. If we lose, they are going to have to outplay me,'" Wienhorst said. "She just lifted our whole team. It was a big spark."
The Warsaw defense helped open the early lead as the Tigers forced eight first-quarter turnovers and took a 14-8 lead. Elkhart Central continued to turn the ball over in the second and Warsaw took advantage, getting a 24-12 lead in the second period before the Blazers' run.
Elkhart Central coughed up the ball 26 times against a combination of Warsaw zone and man-to-man defenses.
"We had a lot of tips," Wienhorst said. "As the game progressed, Jessica (Zaugg) and Sherri (Ross) got tired because of their conditioning. We got out of that at the end, and put Tiffany at the top to give them a breather. Sara Parker gave us a big lift out there as well."
Janice Edwards led Elkhart Central with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
