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GOSHEN -ÊIn the end, the Goshen 4A Sectional played out as expected.
Warsaw's girls basketball team steamrolled 2-19 Elkhart Central and 6-16 Elkhart Memorial to reach the sectional finals. East Noble won its Friday bye game against 4-17 Goshen to reach Saturday's championship game against Warsaw.
East Noble, the second-best team in this sectional with a 9-12 record, was no match for 16-6 Warsaw. As the Tigers did their previous two games, they put the game away by halftime and ran over the Knights 60-38.
Junior guard Hilary O'Connell led Warsaw with 16 points and seven rebounds. Junior forward Janna Knisely added 14 points and seven rebounds, while senior forward Amie Poling chipped in 10 points, five rebounds and three assists. Senior point guard Kara Kesler delivered nine points, six assists, four steals and four rebounds.
"I'm very proud of this team," Wienhorst said. "Since we were 7-5, we have gone 10-1. It's especially nice for seniors Kara Kesler and Amie Poling to win a sectional championship."
One quarter - the second - decided the game.
East Noble owned a 6-5 lead after one, but Warsaw outscored East Noble 27-9 in the second quarter to take a 32-15 halftime lead.
Offensively, the story was junior forward Janna Knisely. Defensively, the story was the turnovers Warsaw's half-court trap caused and the Tigers' ability to make senior guard Ashley Powell a non-factor. Powell, East Noble's second all-time leading scorer, went 0 for 10 from the field and scored one point. She led East Noble with 15.1 points per game during the regular season.
"Warsaw's a very good basketball team that deserved to beat us tonight," East Noble coach Andy Ross said. "Obviously Warsaw scouted us and knew Ashley was a good player, because they stopped us.
"They were in a zone and switched on her. The whole team knew where she was at the whole time and never gave her an open look."
Knisely scored 10 of the first 12 points in the quarter as the Tigers built a 17-10 lead. Now that Knisely and the Tigers were scoring, they could get back and set up in their half-court traps.
Getting the ball beyond half-court turned into a full-blown headache for the Knights, who threw the ball away seven times in the second quarter. Holding a 17-12 lead, Warsaw went on a 15-0 run to go up 32-12.
After hitting just 2 of 8 field goals in the first quarter, Warsaw hit 9 of 13 in the second.
"Our traps took them out of it," Wienhorst said, "and Janna Knisely did a nice job for us."
East Noble finished the game with 20 turnovers that led to 25 Warsaw points.
When the Knights could get the ball to their end of the floor, they never could get into any rhythm. The Knights shot 15 of 54, 28 percent, from the field. It went back to the Tigers refusing to let Powell beat them.
"Kesler, O'Connell and Poling matched up with her out of our 1-2-2 or 2-3 zones," Wienhorst said, "and they did a nice job."
Warsaw's defense shut down Powell, and its offense again was efficient. As they had the first two games, the Tigers again shot well, hitting 21 of 40 field goals, 53 percent.
"What makes Warsaw so difficult to match up with defensively is they have three good scorers in O'Connell, Kesler and Poling," Ross said.
Warsaw advances to host No. 8 Fort Wayne Snider (22-2) in Tuesday's Warsaw Regional. When Warsaw fell to 7-5, Fort Wayne Snider handed the Tigers their fifth loss by a 78-56 score. Since that game, Warsaw's lost only once, to NorthWood 52-47.
WARSAW 60, EAST NOBLE 38
Warsaw (17-6) 5 27 15 13 - 60
East Noble (9-13) 6 9 9 14 - 38
Warsaw FG FT A S R Pts.
O'Connell (G) 5-13 4-4 3 2 7 16
Knisely (F) 5-8 3-4 0 1 7 14
Poling (F) 5-7 0-1 3 1 5 10
Kesler (G) 2-4 4-4 6 4 4 9
DeGeeter (C) 2-2 3-6 0 0 3 7
Chabot 1-2 0-0 0 0 1 2
Leininger 1-1 0-0 1 1 3 2
DeRenzo 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Wyatt 0-3 0-0 0 1 0 0
McGriff 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Team 4
Totals 21-40 14-19 12 10 34 60
East Noble FG FT A S R Pts.
Peterink (C) 4-13 3-3 0 1 8 11
Freiburger (F) 4-9 0-0 1 2 2 10
Taylor (F) 3-9 2-2 0 0 6 8
Sparks (G) 1-7 0-0 2 1 2 2
Powell (G) 0-1 1-2 5 3 4 1
Thiem 2-3 0-0 0 1 0 4
Reynolds 1-1 0-0 0 1 4 2
Barkley 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0
Cochard 0-1 0-0 1 1 0 0
Team 2
Totals 15-54 6-7 9 11 28 38
Three-point goals - Warsaw 4-10 (O'Connell 2-6, Knisely 1-1, Kesler 1-1, Poling 0-1, Wyatt 0-1), East Noble 2-11 (Freiburger 2-6, Powell 0-4,
Peterink 0-1). Turnovers -ÊWarsaw 20, East Noble 20. Total fouls - Warsaw 13, East Noble 18. Fouled out -ÊReynolds.
