The latest edition of the TCU Lady Tiger Classic left the Warsaw Community High School girls basketball team with a sub-.500 record.
Opening the day with a 50-43 loss to South Bend Washington, the Warsaw Lady Tigers (5-6) ended the day with a narrow 40-39 overtime loss to Class 4A ninth-ranked Hamilton Southeastern (10-2).Perry Meridian went on to win the tournament, defeating South Bend Washington 68-48 in the night's championship game.
Instead of playing for any championship, Warsaw coach Michelle Harter is working to get a team featuring three freshmen and two sophomores in its nine-player rotation on the right track.
"I told them, 'I'm not concerned about the record right now. We just need to continue to play good, solid basketball,'" Harter said. "If we come out and play like we did tonight, we're going to continue to get better."
Following a 29-percent shooting performance (15 of 52) in the opening-game loss, Warsaw fared a bit better in the consolation, shooting 34 percent (14 of 41).
The Lady Tigers may have shot a little better, but the defense of the Hamilton Southeastern Lady Royals caused some problems, led by 6-foot-3 sophomore Taya Reimer's six blocked shots.
"That was one of her better defensive games," Hamilton Southeastern coach Chris Huppenthal said of Reimer, who also had 14 points, four steals and three assists. "She really did a good job."
Entering the tournament, the Lady Royals were without their top scorer, junior Jessica Stewart, who suffered a knee injury that will keep her sidelined the rest of the season.
"Things have been tough - losing a starter, who's been a major, major player for our basketball team," Huppenthal said. She was our leading scorer, but she did everything. She's a great defender, great passer - whatever the team needed, she did. Losing a player like that is monumental. Now, we're trying to piece things back together."
Even without Stewart, Hamilton Southeastern still had plenty of talent, including Reimer and sophomore Jessica Pongonis, who had 11 points and 10 rebounds in the win over Warsaw.
"Hamilton Southeastern is very talented," Harter said. "They have shooters on the outside, they have a strong post game, but I thought our girls did a great job of battling. We got down 6-0 early, so we could have crumbled there. We were down toward the end, but the girls listened to what they needed to do. They executed down on the offensive end to send it into overtime."
Down 33-30 with 16 seconds left in regulation, Warsaw sophomore Lindsay Baker connected on a three-pointer from the right corner, forcing overtime.
In the extra period, the Lady Tigers found themselves in front 39-35 following a bucket by senior Kayla Stout with 1:48 left.
However, this time, it was Hamilton Southeastern's turn to make a comeback, which got started when junior Jordin Alexander hit a three-pointer with 1:25 left to play.
"When we got down four, she hit a big three," Huppenthal said.
After Warsaw missed the first of a one-and-one, Hamilton Southeastern capitalized when Reimer scored with just 12 seconds left to play, giving the Lady Royals the 40-39 lead.
"The girls did a fantastic job of executing down the stretch, especially in overtime when they got down by four," Huppenthal said. "I'm proud of them for that."
With a final shot at the win, Harter drew up a play for Stout, but with the defense guarding her closely, the senior dumped the ball off to freshman Brooklyn Harrison. With time running out, Harrison could only drive to the basket for an off-balanced shot that went awry.
"We were trying to go into Kayla for the shot, because she had been the one with the hot hand," Harter said about the final play of the game. "She just didn't feel comfortable and kicked it to Brooklyn. Brooklyn had a nice little curl-around drive, but the ball just came up a little bit short."
Stout finished with a game-high 22 points to go with her team-high seven rebounds, while Warsaw's next leading scorer was Baker, who scored seven.
The Lady Tigers will look to get things straightened out Tuesday when they host the Marion Lady Giants.
"We played hard," Harter said. "I can take a loss like that much better, because we did come out and play hard and did some nice things."
"You want to work these last nine games to get better and get ready for sectional play," she added. "When you go into sectional, everyone starts over."
Three-point goals - Hamilton SE 3-9 (Alexander 3), Warsaw 2-8 (Baker, Burish); Team Fouls - Hamilton SE 15, Warsaw 10; Turnovers - Hamilton SE 18, Warsaw 15; Rebounds - Hamilton SE 29 (Pongonis 10), Warsaw 24 (Stout 7); Assists - Hamilton SE 10 (Pongonis 4), Warsaw 9 (Baker 3); Steals - Hamilton SE 8 (Reimer 4), Warsaw 8 (Baker 3); Blocks - Hamilton SE 7 (Reimer 6), Warsaw 0; Records: Hamilton SE 10-2, Warsaw 5-6
SB WASHINGTON 50, WARSAW 43
(TCU Lady Tiger Classic, 1st Rd)
SBW 10 11 11 18 - 50
War 16 8 9 10 - 43
Washington - Ayana Thomas 7-11 1-3 15, Shareita Patton 4-18 3-6 12, Terran Scott 3-12 4-4 11, J'Shante Gunn 3-4 0-1 6, Brytney Bennett 1-4 1-4 3, Jae'twana Williams 1-2 0-1 2, TeShyla Peters 0-2 1-2 1, Vanessa Olivarez 0-2 0-0 0, Danyalle Hamilton 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-55 10-21 50.
