Believe it or not, third-year Warsaw girls basketball coach John Snyder said, Taryn Oyer was the focus of his team's defense Friday evening in the semifinal round of the Class 4A Warsaw Sectional.
It didn't matter.
The 5-foot-6 senior guard from Carroll couldn't be stopped, or really even slowed for that matter, as she scored a game-high 27 points to lead the Chargers past host Warsaw 48-34.
"Actually, she was the focus of our defense," Snyder said of Oyer. "We even had a designated JV player wear a blue jersey all week in practice to try and simulate her. We had some breakdowns and we lost her in transition. When she got hot, she got blistering hot."
Oyer finished the game 10 of 11 from the field, including a 6-of-7 performance from three-point range, en route to her 27 points.
She hit three treys in the first quarter and had five by halftime, as she netted 19 points in the first half, outscoring Warsaw's team by three in the first two quarters.
"I'm not surprised, we knew she could do that," Snyder said of Oyer. "We're disappointed we let her do that. She goes for 27, her team only scores 48, we should have been able to overcome that. It was one of those nights where she was in the zone. We could have thrown anyone out there at her and she was gonna throw it in."
As Snyder pointed out after the game, it was the second year in a row a left-handed guard gave Warsaw fits.
Last year it was DeKalb senior Jenna Donaldson, who hit 8 of 11 shots overall, 4 of 5 from three-point range, to score 29 points and end Warsaw's season with a 58-53 overtime loss in the sectional.
When the Tigers met Carroll Jan. 10 in the Tiger Den ,a game that Warsaw won 63-59, Oyer was just 4 of 13 from the field for 10 points. Warsaw freshman Kelci Freds was 7 of 10 from the field in that game, scoring a game-high 21 points.
Friday night in the sectional, Freds was 1 of 7 from the field and 1 of 2 from the charity stripe for four points.
Senior Danielle DeGeeter led Warsaw in scoring with nine points, while juniors Megan Davis and Carlye Snider scored five points each and Liz Tat and Freds added four points each. Junior Kate Denlinger finished with three points and classmates Courtney Ogle and Alexis Albertson rounded out the Warsaw scoring with two points each.
After trailing 28-16 at halftime, the Tigers cut the Charger advantage to six points, 32-26, in the third quarter but Carroll went on a 9-2 run. The run was capped off by Oyer's sixth three-pointer of the game, a long-range jumper that gave the Chargers a 39-26 lead with 6:06 remaining in the game.
"That stretch where we got it to 32-26, we had several possessions where we could have cut it more but we didn't," said Snyder. "That was what broke us."
Hitting just 11 of 36 (30.6 percent) shots from the field, just 2 of 9 from three-point range and 10 of 17 from the charity stripe didn't help either.
Carroll, which ended its three-game losing streak and advanced to tonight's sectional championship game, was 15 of 30 (50 percent) from the field, 7 of 13 from three-point range, and converted 11 of 13 free throw attempts.
The Chargers outrebounded Warsaw 26-17.
Carroll led 16-8 after the first quarter, 28-16 at halftime and 34-26 heading into the fourth quarter.
To go with Oyer's 27 points, the Chargers got nine points from Ali Felger while Brooke Bower added four points. Stephanie Crow, Kelsey Ford, Brittany Beasley and Therese Petrie scored two points each.
Warsaw finished the season with a 9-12 mark, finishing with a losing record for just the third time in the program's history.
Carroll improved to 14-9 and will play conference rival Columbia City tonight at 7:30 p.m. for a regional berth. The Chargers beat the Eagles 42-23 in Columbia City Dec. 2.
Columbia City advanced to tonight's title tilt by beating DeKalb 42-39 in double overtime in Friday's second semifinal game.
The 14-point loss for Warsaw meant the conclusion of high school basketball for seniors Kacie Conley, Megan Wood and DeGeeter.
"I'm disappointed for them because they didn't get to experience a sectional championship," said Snyder. "I really thought we were going to get it this year. They're great kids and I know they're going to go on and have successful lives. They've meant a lot to me and a lot to Lady Tiger Basketball. It's difficult to say good bye."
The Tigers, who during the regular season defeated all three of the other teams competing in the sectional Friday, last won a sectional in 2004.
