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He said it wasn't anything personal, it wasn't about him, but first-year Warsaw girls basketball coach John Snyder had plenty to smile about Tueday evening.
Off to to the worst start in the program's history, a 2-4 record that Snyder insists isn't indicative of the improvement the team is making, the Tigers rebounded from Saturday's loss to Plymouth with a 52-41 win over visiting Columbia City.
Snyder, a longtime Warsaw boys assistant coach, has also been the junior varsity boys coach at Columbia City and has lived there for more than a decade.
Just how much it meant he wouldn't really say, but Tuesday's 11-point win meant something to him, as well as a team trying to find its identity with a new head coach and get things rolling.
"It feels good," Sndyer said of the win. "I thought we were able to execute our game plan the entire night. We were able to play our game. We were able to do that against a good team, and that says a lot about where this team is headed."
The loss dropped Columbia City to 7-2 on the season.
Warsaw, now 3-4 on the season, has lost three of its games by a combined 12 points.
In each of those losses it was a bad quarter or short spurt that did the Tigers in.
Tuesday evening, Warsaw was able to put it all together, for the most part.
Though they didn't have the greatest shooting night, finishing 13 of 40 from the field and 1 of 12 from three-point range, the Tigers did fundamental things like out-rebound the Eagles 35-17 and make 25 of 28 free throw attempts.
Columbia City, on the other hand, was just 4 of 7 at the charity stripe.
While the rebounding edge, free throw advantage and double-digit margin may indicate Warsaw took control from the get-go, that's not the case.
Cashing in on a number of early turnovers by Warsaw, the Eagles led 10-3 when Snyder called a time out.
"Essentially, that was to calm them down," said Snyder, who picked up his third career varsity win, while Columbia City's Wayne Krieger was denied his 464th. "It was 10-3, but they had scored all their points off turnovers. After that we played our game, we didn't rush. We just played basketball, and that's a big step for us."
After each team scored a basket following the time out, the Tigers went on an 18-2 run that gave them a 23-14 advantage when junior Amy Abbitt's three-point attempt hit nothing but.
Warsaw led 27-22 at halftime and 39-28 after three quarters of play.
Warsaw was successful Tuesday evening because, as Snyder said, it was the aggressor.
The Tigers took their game at Columbia City, and as a result, the Eagles spent much of the game in foul trouble.
All totaled, Columbia City was whistled for 21 fouls, while the Tigers committed 11.
Only seven Columbia City players saw varsity minutes Tuesday, and all five starters were in foul trouble.
Angie Roy fouled out, while Allissa Ruckman and Amanda Hicks had four fouls and Sherlynn Hoppe had three.
"We were the aggressor tonight," said Snyder. "Columbia City is a very aggressive team, but I thought we could be the agressor, and some players really stepped up."
Junior point guard Julie Seiss led Warsaw with 16 points and five steals, while senior frontliner Rebekah Reichard had 14 points and eight rebounds. Juniors Jennifer Scherer and Abbitt had five each, while sophomore Danielle DeGeeter and senior Laura Heiman had four each and senior Mallory Hepler and junior Tasia Smith two each.
Columbia City got a game-high 17 points from Ruckman, while Hoppe added 12 and Roy six.
Warsaw is in action again Saturday when it hosts Wawasee.
"I like the way we continue to improve," said Snyder. "Wawasee is a good team. We have to respect them. We're going to take each day and each game as if it's the most important one."
WARSAW 52, COLUMBIA CITY 41
Col. City 12 10 6 13 - 41
Warsaw 10 17 12 13 - 52
Col. City FG FT R S Pts.
* Hoppe 4-10 3-4 1 2 12
* Roy 3-7 0-1 0 1 6
* Rhoades 0-2 0-0 1 0 0
* Ruckman 8-13 1-2 3 0 17
* Hicks 1-3 0-0 0 2 2
Rethlake 2-4 0-0 4 1 4
Rohrer 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Team 0-0 0-0 8 0 0
Totals 18-39 4-7 17 7 41
Warsaw FG FT R S Pts.
* DeGeeter 1-8 2-2 3 2 4
* Abbitt 1-7 2-2 2 1 5
* Seiss 6-13 4-4 2 5 16
* Reichard 4-6 6-8 8 1 14
* Hepler 0-1 2-2 3 0 2
Braddock 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Scherer 0-4 5-6 4 2 5
Clay 0-0 0-0 2 0 0
Smith 0-0 2-2 3 0 2
Sand 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Heiman 1-1 2-2 1 0 4
Logan 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Team 0-0 0-0 7 0 0
Totals 13-40 25-28 35 11 52
Three-point goals - Col. City 1-5 (Hoppe 1-3, Hicks 0-2), Warsaw 1-12 (Abbitt 1-4, DeGeeter 0-4, Seiss 0-3, Hepler 0-1). Turnovers - Col. City 17, Warsaw 18. Fouls - Col. City 21, Warsaw 11. Fouled out - Roy.
JV - Warsaw 37, Columbia City 18
