Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
It's been said before, it's better to win ugly than to lose pretty.
Wednesday evening's high school girls basketball game between host Warsaw and Fort Wayne Northrop was a little bit of everything, but nonetheless, it was a 22-point win for the Tigers.
Despite making just 5 of 24 field goal attempts in the second half and shooting 35 percent for the game, Warsaw beat the Bruins 53-31.
"It was a difficult game," said second-year Warsaw coach John Snyder, whose Tigers improved to 4-2 on the season. "We jumped out on them early, and then used a lot of different lineups. We played a lot of girls a lot of minutes. It got sloppy there at the end."
The host Tigers shot 10 of 20 from the field in the first half but finished the game 15 of 44 from the field.
Though Warsaw struggled from the field in the second half, the Tigers converted 14 of 17 free throw attempts in the third and fourth quarters.
Northrop, which fell to 2-2 on the season, finished 13 of 18 at the free throw line but made just 9 of 33 field goals in the game, including a 4-of-16 performance in the first half.
"Overall our defense was good," said Snyder. "We're headed in the right direction."
While hitting 50 percent of their shots in the first half, the Tigers opened the game with an 8-0 run and led 15-5 after the first quarter and 28-9 at halftime.
The Bruins scored 16 points in the third quarter, a point more than they scored the other 24 minutes of the game, and trailed 43-25 going into the final frame.
Faith Sherrill, the only senior on Northrop's roster, scored eight of her team-high 13 points in the third quarter. She made the only field goal she attempted in the quarter and was 6 of 6 at the charity stripe.
While the Bruins were able to score points in the third quarter, what troubled them the entire game was turnovers.
Snyder called Northrop a young team, and the Bruins showed their youth by turning the ball over 33 times in the 22-point loss.
Warsaw scored 25 points off Northrop's turnovers.
The Tigers turned the ball over 16 times, leading to six Northrop points.
Senior Julie Seiss led Warsaw with a game-high 19 points. She also had five rebounds, four assists and three steals, as she moved past 250 pilfers in her four-year varsity career.
Sophomore frontliner Kate Denlinger had eight points and 10 rebounds for the Tigers.
"We saw some good production off the bench," said Snyder. "Kate Denlinger gave us some strong minutes. She has a nose for the ball and is deceptively solid. She has a way of twisting her body and getting the ball."
Senior starters Tasia Smith and Jennifer Scherer scored nine points each for the Tigers, while junior Danielle DeGeeter rounded out the scoring output from the Warsaw starters with four points.
To go with Sherrill's 13 points, the Bruins got eight points from freshman Simone Swary, seven points from junior Simone Gray and three points from sophomore Delaina Lipsey.
Warsaw now begins a stretch of four-straight road games.
The Tigers are in action Tuesday at Fort Wayne Luers, followed by trips to Plymouth Dec. 10, Columbia City Dec. 13 and Wawasee Dec. 17.
WARSAW 53, NORTHROP 31
Northrop 5 4 16 6 - 31
Warsaw 15 13 15 10 - 53
Northrop FG FT R S Pts.
* Gray 2-13 3-4 3 1 7
* Hartman 0-1 0-0 1 0 0
* Ngwenya 0-2 0-0 0 0 0
* Swary 4-7 0-0 9 1 8
* Sherrill 2-5 9-10 8 1 13
Hetrick 0-0 0-2 1 2 0
Taylor 0-3 0-0 0 3 0
Brown 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Hedges 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Lipsey 1-2 1-2 3 0 3
Totals 9-33 0-4 26 5 44
Warsaw FG FT R S Pts.
* DeGeeter 1-3 1-2 2 14
* Abbitt 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
* Seiss 7-13 2-2 5 3 19
* Scherer 2-9 4-5 1 0 9
* Smith 3-6 3-4 3 3 9
Denlinger 2-2 4-4 10 0 8
Tat 0-0 1-2 0 0 1
Clay 0-1 0-0 0 1 0
Snider 0-4 0-0 1 1 0
Conley 0-2 0-0 0 0 0
Wood 0-2 1-2 1 2 1
Logan 0-1 2-2 0 0 2
Team 0-0 0-0 2 0 0
Totals 15-44 18-23 25 11 53
Three-point goals - Northrop 0-4 (Gray 0-2, Taylor 0-1, Ngwenya 0-1), Warsaw 5-13 (Seiss 3-3, Scherer 1-4, DeGeeter 1-2, Abbitt 0-1, Smith 0-1, Snider 0-1, Wood 0-1). Turnovers - Northrop 33, Warsaw 16. Fouls - Northrop 15, Warsaw 16. Fouled out - none.
JV - Warsaw 40, Northrop 16
Warsaw scoring - Davis 9, Tat 8, VanDeWater 8, Clark 7, Timmons 2, Ogle 2, Montel 2, Grimm 2
