FORT WAYNE — Her team may have lost 45-36 at Fort Wayne Bishop Luers Tuesday night, but Warsaw girls basketball coach Michelle Harter was much more pleased than she was after the Saturday’s season opener. Opening the season with a 37-26 loss at Huntington North Saturday night, Harter was most discouraged with her team’s lack of intensity and sloppy play. In the second game of the season, both were much better. “We came out here tonight with a different mindset – looking to attack the basket, looking to shoot the ball,” Harter said. “Those were things we didn’t do Saturday night. Our defensive intensity also picked up.” Against Luers (2-1), things did start similar to the season opener, as Warsaw (0-2) turned the ball over on five of its first six possessions and trailed 25-12 at the half. In the second half, Warsaw looked much better though, committing just six turnovers and outscoring Luers 24-20. The improved second-half effort wasn’t enough to really threaten Luers, but it did make it easier to see greener pastures in the future. “With the young kids we have, and the inexperience we have, it’s going to be a game-by-game type of thing,” Harter said about making daily adjustments. “We’re going to have to focus each night in practice on things we want to do for the next game.” With the intensity and defense improved in Game 2, Harter is now ready to work on the next area of improvement. “We need to focus on shooting now, stepping up and hitting those open shots,” she said. “(Hitting from the outside) would be tremendous. It would open things up for (senior) Nikki (Grose) on the inside and take some pressure off her, with people double- and triple-teaming her. It was nice to see that when we did kick it in tonight, it came back out and the girls were ready to shoot. Now, we just have to put the ball in the basket.” The open shots were there, but the Lady Tigers made just 1 of 14 three-point attempts, making them 3 of 23 from behind the arc in two games. “They’re very good shooters,” Harter said. “Right now, it just seems like they’re rushing themselves a little bit. We’ll work in practice with defenders flying out at them, so they focus on the rim and not worry about the defense. I think that’s something that will come for us.” While the outside shot comes along, Grose once again led the Lady Tigers on the inside, netting 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting, and actually made the team’s lone trey. Along with her point production, Grose also posted eight rebounds, three blocks, two assists and two steals. “Nikki stepped up tonight and played the way she’s capable of playing,” Harter said. “Defensively, I’d like to see her shut them down a little bit more, not allowing them to catch the ball inside. But she was getting in there rebounding, crashing the offensive boards. She was going up strong and that’s what we need her to continue doing.” Grose’s partner in the post, junior Pam Miller, also had a strong game, scoring six points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Senior Brooklyn Harrison finished the game with eight points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals for Warsaw. In the win, Luers senior Addie Reimbold had 13 points, nine rebounds, three steals and two assists, while sophomore Shayla Sutorius had 10 points, seven rebounds, three steals, two blocks and two assists. Warsaw’s last 0-2 start to a season came three years ago, but the Lady Tigers avoided its first ever 0-3 start by defeating Tippecanoe Valley 56-50 at the Tiger Den that season. If they’re going to do that again, they’ll need to knock off a young, athletic Tippecanoe Valley team Friday night in Akron that features quick guards and 6-foot freshman center Anne Secrest, who had 23 points and 16 rebounds in her varsity debut. “Valley’s a quality team,” Harter said. “They have guards that can play. They have post players that can run the floor. I look for them to pressure us full court and into the half court. They like to run and don’t set up in a half court if they don’t have to. They want to get out and run and get easy baskets. It will be a key for us to control the tempo and make sure we’re making good, quality passes and not making some silly turnovers.”
