NAPPANEE - Someone's six-game losing streak had to end Saturday at NorthWood High School, and it ended by the slimmest of margins.
Holding a 64-59 lead with 26.1 seconds remaining, the Warsaw Lady Tigers saw it trimmed to 64-61 with 7.7 seconds left, so everything seemed to be in order. But not really.Following a NorthWood timeout, the Lady Panthers forced a turnover in the backcourt, missed a three-pointer, but got an offensive rebound, which resulted in a bucket and foul on junior Lindsey Steffen, cutting the Warsaw lead to 64-63 with just 0:01.1 remaining.
However, Steffen came up short on the free throw, allowing Warsaw to improve to 13-5 (4-2 Northern Lakes Conference) with the win, extending its winning streak to seven games.
"This is probably one of the first games we've won like this, where it goes down to the end," Warsaw coach Michelle Harter said of her team, which had won its previous six games by an average of 25 points. "The girls did a great job of listening, and doing what we instructed."
That instruction helped the Tigers halt a NorthWood (13-6, 2-4 NLC) win streak that dated back to a 43-24 loss at Wawasee on Jan. 10.
"They had a winning streak like we did, they have a tough schedule like we do - so it was all going to be who committed the fewest turnovers and who made the shots," NorthWood coach Steve Neff said. "(Warsaw junior Kelci) Freds sort of got hot on us, and she's on a roll right now. When she's on a roll, the rest of the team plays well."
Following her 25-point, seven-trey game against South Bend Riley Thursday, Freds went for 21 points, four assists and three steals against NorthWood.
After struggling with turnovers during her sophomore campaign, Freds has regained her confidence this year, especially over the past several games.
"She's playing under control," Harter said of Freds, who had a streak of eight-straight three-pointers in her last two games, including 10 of 12 at one point. "She's allowing the game to come to her this year. Last year, at times, she'd try to force the issue a little bit, and that caused her to commit turnovers. This year, she's really playing within herself and within the system. That's why she's having more success this year. She's slowing herself down, gets her feet set and is making some nice passes."
And with Freds drawing attention on the perimeter, the Warsaw post game has benefited.
In their latest NLC win, junior Sarah Shilling had 12 points, while sophomore Kayla Stout went for 11 points and seven rebounds.
"It really helps to open up your post players when your guards are hitting from the outside," Harter said. "(Senior) Liz (Tat) hit a couple shots, KaeLee Sands did too and Cendall Ogle did a nice job of penetrating. That helps open things up."
Warsaw executed the lob pass to its post players routinely, but even with offense coming from different sources, the Tigers struggled to put the Panthers away.
In the back-and-forth contest, Warsaw appeared to have put NorthWood at bay with a 12-2 run late in the third quarter, extending its lead to 40-32.
However, NorthWood got a three-pointer from junior Kelcie Lehman to end the quarter, which sparked a 7-0 run, cutting the Tigers lead to 43-42.
Following an 11-2 Tigers run, the road team once again felt comfortable with a 56-47 lead with 4:21 remaining. The lead remained at eight following a Freds bucket with 1:39, but once again, but once again NorthWood fought back, coming up just short.
"The girls didn't quit, and that was encouraging," Neff said. "We need to learn from that for the sectional coming up."
While NorthWood will be learning from its loss, Warsaw appears to be learning as it goes, picking up wins along the way.
"Anytime you come to the Panther Pit to play, it's going to be a battle," Harter said. "NorthWood, typically every year, has a good, solid team. They had good post players and good shooters from the outside. Our girls continued to listen and follow the game plan.
"Just a great team win," she added. "We're really starting to do some nice things, and peaking at the right time."
The Tigers travel to Fort Wayne Snider Tuesday for a 6:15 p.m. junior varsity tip-off, before closing out their regular season Thursday at Elkhart Memorial.
