Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
HUNTINGTON - Second-year Warsaw girls basketball coach John Snyder said his team did both some good things and some bad things in its season opener Saturday.
The things he felt the Tigers could have done better, Snyder believes can be corrected before Friday's game at Kosciusko County opponent Tippecanoe Valley.
"Offensively, we didn't take advantage of what the defense gave us," said Snyder, whose Tigers opened the season Saturday with a 56-51 loss at Huntington North. "To get to the point where we need to be, we need to defend harder in practice. I've said that, and the girls said it tonight. They know what we need to do."
One of the areas Snyder said his team lacked some execution Saturday against the host Vikings was in the area of team defense.
Huntington North only shot 6 of 19 from three-point range, but the Vikings got a number of open looks, and it was a trey late in the game that hurt the Tigers, who let a six-point third-quarter lead slip away.
Clinging to a 50-48 advantage with 55 seconds remaining in the game, Huntington North senior Chelsea Kilty shot a three-pointer from the right corner that bounced around the rim and fell through the net.
Warsaw called a timeout after the Vikings took the five-point lead, and then Kilty stole the Tigers' inbounds pass.
Huntington North turned the ball over with 32 seconds remaining, but Viking senior Brittney Smelser scored with 17 seconds left to give her team a 54-48 lead.
Senior Kim Clay cut the advantage to three, 54-51, when she drilled a three-pointer with seven seconds left, and then 6-foot-2 Huntington North sophomore Amber Clark rebounded a miss and put it in before the buzzer sounded for the five-point win.
While the Vikings wer 6 of 19 from three-point range for the game, they were 3 of 5 in the fourth quarter when the game was on the line.
"It would be easy to look at the threes," said Snyder. "We made some defensive mistakes and they kicked it out. They hit their shots, give them credit."
For the most part, Saturday's contest looked like the first game of the season for both teams.
The Vikings and Tigers combined to shoot 9 of 28 from three-point range. The teams also combined for 30 fouls and 36 turnovers.
"It looked like a first game for both teams," said Snyder. "Huntington North is going to be a much better team than they were tonight, and I think we will be, too."
The Vikings led 12-11 after the first quarter and the teams were tied at 23 at halftime.
Warsaw led 38-36 after three quarters and was outscored 20-13 in the final eight minutes of play.
Butler-bound senior point guard Julie Seiss led Warsaw with a game-high 20 points. She made her first six shot attempts and finished 8 of 15 from the field. She was 4 of 4 from the free throw line and had four rebounds, four steals and three assists.
Junior Danielle DeGeeter scored 14 points, hitting 5 of 7 shots from the field and 2 of 4 attempts from the charity stripe. She pulled down four rebounds and also had four assists and three steals.
"Julie and Danielle understand their roles, they're the same as last year," said Snyder. "Some of the other girls are just starting to figure that (their role) out. We need some different people to score and to get comfortable in their roles."
Senior Tasia Smith scored six points for Warsaw, while junior Jennifer Scherer and Clay scored five points each.
Sophomore Kate Denlinger led Warsaw with five rebounds.
Smelser led the Vikings with 17 points, while Kilty scored 13, Julie Stetzel scored 12 and Clark 10.
The Tigers are in action again Friday at Tippecanoe Valley and then host Crown Point Saturday.
HUNT. NORTH 56, WARSAW 51
Warsaw 11 12 15 13 - 51
H. North 12 11 13 20 - 56
Warsaw FG FT R S Pts.
* DeGeeter 5-7 2-4 4 3 14
* Abbitt 0-2 0-0 0 0 0
* Seiss 8-15 4-4 4 3 20
* Scherer 1-2 2-3 5 2 4
* Smith 3-5 0-0 2 1 6
Denlinger 0-3 0-0 5 0 0
Clay 2-5 0-0 0 1 5
Wood 0-0 2-2 0 0 2
Logan 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Team 0-0 0-0 5 0 0
Totals 19-39 10-13 26 11 51
H. North FG FT R S Pts.
* Burton 0-0 0-1 2 0 0
* Stetzel 3-11 5-6 1 1 12
* Kilty 4-6 3-3 2 1 13
* Clark 4-4 2-2 3 3 10
* Smelser 6-12 3-6 3 1 17
Willour 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Gower 0-1 0-0 1 0 0
Parrett 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Reed 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Okuly 2-4 0-0 2 0 4
Jenkins 0-0 0-0 2 0 0
Brnwrth 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Team 0-0 0-0 3 0 0
Totals 19-40 12-15 19 6 56
Three-point goals - Warsaw 3-9 (DeGeeter 2-4, Clay 1-1, Abbitt 0-2, Smith 0-1), H. North 6-19 (Smelser 3-6, Kitly 2-4, Stetzel 1-4, Okuly 0-2 Gower 0-1, Parrett 0-1, Reed 0-1). Turnovers - Warsaw 19, H. North 17. Fouls - Warsaw 13, H. North 17. Fouled out - none.
JV - H. North 37, Warsaw 32
Warsaw scoring - Albertson 14, Timmons 5, Tat 5, Clark 2, Ogle 2, VanDeWater 2, Davis 2
