They were honored before the game and had plenty of reason to celebrate afterward. Playing in the Tiger Den for the final time, seniors Sarah Heagy, Lauren Burish and Madison Davis certainly went out in style Saturay night, as Warsaw's varsity girls basketball team beat Class 3A No. 3 NorthWood 50-39. "NorthWood is a great team, and we knew we'd have to come out and play well," said Warsaw coach Michelle Harter, whose team is just the third squad this season to score more than 49 points against NorthWood. "The girls executed the gameplan, and they're really starting to believe in themselves." With the win, the Lady Tigers improved to 15-4 overall and 5-2 in the Northern Lakes Conference, while the Lady Panthers fell to 18-3 and 4-2. Warsaw closes the regular season Thursday at South Bend Riley, while NorthWood hosts conference foe Concord Friday. While six of the eight NLC teams have one game remaining in league play, Elkhart Memorial has already won the championship with a 6-1 record, while the Lady Tigers are guaranteed a second-place finish – either by themselves or in a tie. Playing so well Saturday and beating NorthWood made last week's 39-37 loss to Memorial even more disappointing. The Lady Tigers made just 15 of 51 shot attempts in that game. "That was a very disappointing loss for us," Harter said of the game with Memorial. "We held them to 39 points, we just struggled shooting. The positive is, the girls came out tonight and really rebounded from that loss. We wanted to win a conference championship, but if we can use that loss, learn from it and go win the sectional championship, it'll be worth it." En route to Saturday's win, Warsaw led 15-9 after the first quarter, 19-15 at halftime and 38-30 at the end of three quarters. NorthWood led twice in the game – 2-0 and 4-2. The Lady Panthers were slowed by Warsaw's defense from start to finish and were just 17 of 45 (38 percent) from the field overall, 1 of 6 from the arc, and 4 of 8 at the free throw line. NorthWood turned the ball over 13 times, eight of them being steals by Warsaw. The Lady Tigers, on the other hand, were considerably better. Warsaw was 18 of 33 (55 percent) from the field overall, 4 of 8 from three-point range, and 10 of 11 at the charity stripe. "It says a lot about these girls to bounce back from a disappointing loss and play as well as they did tonight," said Harter. "That loss to Memorial isn't going to define who we are, and the girls proved that tonight. NorthWood is a very good team, and the girls came out and stuck to the gameplan and played our game." Junior Lindsay Baker, who made all four of Warsaw's three-point baskets, scored a team-high 16 points to go along with six rebounds, three assists and two steals. Junior Jennifer Walker-Crawford added 10 points, six rebounds, two assist and two steals in the win. Heagy and Burish scored nine and seven points, respectively, for Warsaw, while junior Melanie Holladay scored three points off the bench. Davis didn't attempt a shot from the field, but did make both free throws she attempted. For NorthWood, sophomore Morgan Olson finished with game-highs of 19 points and nine rebounds. Senior Hilary Lechlitner added six points, while senior De'Yahnna Styles and junior Savannah Bley scored four points each.
