Warsaw Dismantles Central

GOSHEN -ÊCoaches would tell you before Tuesday's Goshen Sectional girls basketball game between Elkhart Central and Warsaw that both teams were 0-0.

After all, this is the sectional, coaches reason, and the sectional is a new season.

Sometimes bad teams are still bad teams, and good teams are still good teams. Records are records for a reason. Warsaw is 14-6 for a reason, and Elkhart Central is 2-18 for a reason.

Warsaw did what a 14-6 team should do to a 2-18 Elkhart Central team, and that's win by a lopsided score of 97-29. The win was the 250th for Warsaw coach Will Wienhorst.

"I know Elkhart Central has had their troubles this year," Wienhorst said. "But sometimes it's more difficult to come into a situation like this and be focused. One of our faults all year has been we haven't played basketball for 32 minutes. Tonight we did that."

Wienhorst downplayed Central's record, which finishes at 2-19.

"We played good basketball," he said. "We would have distanced ourselves from a lot of teams tonight, the way we moved the ball and the way we shot the ball."

So dominant was Warsaw this game that the Tigers committed their first turnover with just 38 seconds left in the first half. Career highs fell by the wayside at a furious pace.

Warsaw junior guard Hilary O'Connell hit 13 of 19 field goals, including 5 of 6 three pointers, in scoring a career-high 33 points. Not only did she set a personal mark, she was the first Tiger since 1991 to score 30 points or more.

Senior guard Kara Kesler dished out a career-high 11 assists. Natalie Chabot, who averages 2.8 points per game, scored a career-high 18 points. Freshman forward Jaclyn Leininger pulled down a career-high 13 rebounds.

Warsaw's 68-point win was not a record. The Tigers beat Wawasee by 75, 88-13, during the 1990 season.

Warsaw hit 39 of 78 field goals (50 percent), assisting on 23 of them. Central's main problems were hanging on to the basketball and shooting it. The Blue Blazers' number of turnovers -Ê29 -Êmatched their points. They shot 14 of 50 (28 percent) from the field.

When the first quarter ended, Warsaw led 25-4. O'Connell led with eight points, and Central committed 10 of its 29 turnovers.

Warsaw trapped much of the first half in building a 49-14 halftime lead. The Tigers then backed off the pressure in the second half, and Wienhorst played his reserves for much of the fourth quarter.

"You play to win," Wienhorst said. "If we wanted to run it up, we would have kept pressing."

WARSAW 97

ELKHART CENTRAL 29

Warsaw (15-6) 25 24 25 23 - 97

E. Central (2-19) 4 10 6 9 - 29

E. Central FG FT A S R Pts.

Mitchell (C) 3-4 0-0 0 1 2 6

Pierson (G) 3-15 0-1 2 1 8 6

Byers (G) 3-13 0-0 2 1 2 6

Rospopo (G) 2-6 0-0 0 0 2 5

Bennett (F) 2-6 0-1 1 0 4 4

Mady 1-1 0-0 0 0 3 2

Vandyke 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 0

Brown 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0

Deak 0-0 0-0 0 0 2 0

Osterloo 0-3 0-0 0 0 4 0

Team 1 5

Totals 14-50 0-2 7 3 31 29

Warsaw FG FT A S R Pts.

O'Connell (G) 13-19 2-5 5 2 4 33

DeGeeter (C) 7-8 0-0 0 2 7 14

Knisely (F) 3-6 3-3 0 2 6 9

Kesler (G) 0-2 4-8 11 2 4 4

Poling (F) 2-9 0-0 2 3 3 4

Chabot 8-11 2-5 0 1 6 18

Leininger 3-12 2-3 0 2 13 8

Wyatt 2-7 0-0 2 1 3 4

McGriff 1-2 1-2 0 1 2 3

DeRenzo 0-0 0-1 3 0 1 0

Franklin 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0

Davis 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0

Team 5

Totals 39-78 14-27 23 16 54 97

Three-point goals - Warsaw 5-9 (O'Connell 5-6, Wyatt 0-1, Poling 0-1, Davis 0-1), Elkhart Central 1-8 (Rospopo 1-1, Pierson 0-6, Byers 0-1). Turnovers -ÊWarsaw 9, Elkhart Central 29. Fouled out -ÊNone. Total fouls -ÊWarsaw 11, Elkhart Central 20.

ELKHART MEMORIAL 52, CONCORD 49

E. Memorial (6-15) 14 11 18 9 - 52

Concord (7-14) 14 10 16 9 - 49

Concord -ÊBethany Miller 1 0-1 3, Kristen Estridge 2 2-2 6, Corinne Straight 3 3-6 9, Nicole Conrad 2 1-2 5, Andrea Jenkins 2 0-0 4, Jen Waterman 5 3-4 14, Jenna Barghahn 3 2-2 8, Mandy Stapp 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 11-17 49.

Memorial -ÊLisa Kelsey 3 0-0 9, Tiffany Hackworth 1 0-0 3, Drew Lundberg 0 0-0 0, Ashley Lovelady 1 0-2 2, Cheryl Heitzman 4 1-1 9, Heather Cook 1 0-0 2, Brittany Fields 1 3-8 6, Elizabeth Lewis 9 3-5 21. Totals 20 7-17 52.

Three-point goals -ÊMemorial 5 (Kelsey 3, Hackworth, Fields), Concord 2 (Miller, Waterman).

Goshen 4A Sectional

Tuesday games

Warsaw 97, Elkhart Central 29

Elkhart Memorial 52, Concord 49

Friday games

6 p.m. -ÊWarsaw (15-6) vs. Elkhart Memorial (6-15)

7:30 p.m. -ÊEast Noble (8-12) vs. Goshen (4-16)

Saturday

7:30 p.m. -Êchampionship