Despite a huge advantage on the boards Wednesday, Warsaw's varsity girls basketball team finds itself trying to rebound from a 45-42 loss to the Penn Lady Kingsmen.
The Lady Tigers outrebounded Penn 41-21 and held the visiting Lady Kingsmen to just 39 percent from the field.While those stats look good on paper, on the court they didn't translate into a win, as Warsaw struggled shooting the ball - even moreso than Penn - and turned the ball over 25 times.
Penn made 19 steals, and then stole the game when sophomore Tori Milliner made a bucket with three seconds left, giving her team a 44-42 advantage.
After a Warsaw turnover, Milliner hit one of two free throws with just under a second remaining to account for the final score.
"We had good looks, they weren't horrible looks," said Warsaw coach Michelle Harter, whose team was 15 of 41 (37 percent) from the field overall, 0 of 12 from three-point range and 12 of 20 at the charity stripe. "We got the ball where we wanted to go, we just didn't get our shots to fall. If a game like this helps us win a conference championship or a sectional championship, then that's a good thing. But we've got to take care of the ball and do the little things."
Warsaw, which started the season 9-0, fell to 11-4 with the loss to Penn.
The Lady Kingsmen, who finished the game 17 of 44 from the field overall, 4 of 11 from three-point range and 7 of 15 at the free throw line, improved to 13-2.
The teams were even the majority of the game, as the score was tied 10-10 after the first quarter, and Penn led 22-20 at halftime and 30-29 after three quarters of play.
With her team trailing 42-41, Warsaw senior Sarah Shilling knotted the tied the game with a free throw with 13 seconds remaining. She could have given the Lady Tigers a one-point lead, but her second free throw attempt rolled off the rim and into the hands of Penn freshman Taylor Lutz.
The Lady Tigers entered the game shooting 74 percent from the free throw line as a team.
Warsaw was 6 of 8 at the charity stripe in the first half, but in the second half the Lady Tigers were just 6 of 12.
"Free throws are usually a big plus for us," said Harter. "Tonight we shoot 12 of 20. Right there it is, there's your game. If we shoot like what we normally do, we win this game."
While at times during Wednesday's game, Warsaw struggled hitting shots in the lane, the bulk of the Lady Tigers' scoring still came inside.
Shilling led Warsaw with a double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds, while junior Kayla Stout chipped in with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Lindsay Baker, a 5-foot-11 freshman, added nine points in the loss.
The rest of the team scored a total of six points, two from sophomore reserve Creigh Ogle and two each from starting senior guards Kelci Freds and Kaelee Sands.
Freds, who holds the school record for three-pointers made in a game with eight, missed all eight of her long-range attempts against Penn.
And it wasn't just Freds, the Lady Tigers as a team just couldn't get their shots to fall.
"We had a lot of good looks," said Harter. "The shots just didn't fall. And we still had a chance to win the game."
Milliner led Penn with a game-high 15 points, while Kathryn Hojara and Lutz scored seven points each and Kaitlyn Hicky and and Alex Morton scored six and five points, respectively.
Milliner led Penn's defensive effort with seven steals.
The Lady Tigers are in action again Saturday when they host conference foe Concord.
After falling 57-56 at Carroll last week, Warsaw returned to conference play and thrashed Goshen 74-29.
Harter is hoping her team, which is alone in first place in the Northern Lakes Conference with a 4-0 record, responds the same way Saturday.
