A win over Class 3A No. 5 Norwell slipped through the hands of the Warsaw Lady Tigers Tuesday evening. Hosting the undefeated Knights in high school girls basketball action, Warsaw rallied from a nine-point, first-quarter deficit and held a five point lead in the fourth quarter, but couldn't overcome a 23-turnover performance and fell 49-45 in overtime. The Lady Tigers played much better than they did in Friday's 50-28 loss to 2A No. 8 Whitko, but the turnovers ultimately kept them from scoring their first win of the season. Norwell, which scored 23 points off the Lady Tigers' turnovers, improved to 6-0 on the season, while Warsaw fell to 0-7. Despite the loss, Warsaw coach Michelle Harter saw positives out of her players, who have faced the 14th toughest schedule in the state, according to Sagarin Ratings. “I thought our girls came out tonight and followed the game plan very well offensively and defensively,” said Harter. “We weathered their runs that they had and the three-point shots that they hit, and that's all you can ask of a team is to come out each and every night and give yourselves an opportunity to win. That's a senior-laden Norwell team that we took down to the wire in overtime, and we really had a chance to win. “That says a lot about the girls coming back from a very disappointing outing on Friday, to get mentally focused and come out and play hard. I'm very proud of how they did that tonight.” Norwell led 15-6 after one quarter of play, but the Lady Tigers went on a 15-6 run of their own before trailing 26-21 at halftime. The teams were knotted at 31-31 after the third quarter and 39-39 at the end of regulation. Warsaw had a chance to win the game in regulation. Junior Dayton Groninger raced the ball up the court, but rather than driving to the basket to score or draw a foul she chose to pass the ball, and it was picked off by Norwell senior Kaycee Strunk with four seconds remaining. “I was gonna call timeout, but I saw we had a break and she was open,” said Harter. “I wanted her to keep driving and attack the basket. She saw that Kacy (Bragg) was open, and being unselfish, Dayton looked to pass the ball. But in that situation, like I told her, I'd like her to take the ball to the hole ... because they foul you, and we're at the line.” Had Groninger driven the lane and drawn a foul, the odds of her winning the game at the line seemed good, based on what she’d already done. Groninger led the Lady Tigers with a double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds. Nine of her points came at the charity stripe, where she finished the game 9 of 11 and Warsaw was 20 of 29 as a team. Junior Kenzie Welk scored 10 points for the Lady Tigers, while junior Madi Graham and freshman Kacy Bragg chipped in with eight and seven points, respectively. Senior Quinn Shelton scored a game-high 13 points for the Knights, who scored 21 of their 26 first-half points from the three-point arc. Strunk scored 11 points in the win, while senior Stephanie Conrad and junior Kaylee Roller chipped in with nine points each. The teams were tied 42-42 in the four-minute overtime period, but Norwell took control of the game when Roller converted a three-point play with 1:22 remaining, and then made two more free throws when Groninger fouled out with 20 seconds left. The Lady Tigers cut the deficit to two at 47-45 when junior Mariah Rivera was fouled shooting a trey and then made a trio of charity tosses with 11 seconds on the clock. Conrad then iced the game by making two free throws with eight seconds remaining. The seven teams that Warsaw has played this season have a combined record of 42-9. Things don’t get any easier for the Lady Tigers, who travel to Class 2A No. 2 Oregon-Davis Thursday. Oregon-Davis is 4-0 and has won those games by an average score of 84-25, including an 84-36 win over Northern Lakes Conference team Northridge. “This schedule has been very brutal,” said Harter. “I don’t typically look at strength of schedule, and as we were putting it together I wasn’t really thinking about that, but the 14th toughest schedule in the state of Indiana (according to Sagarin) ... that is brutal, especially when you’re talking about having a young team and girls that are still learning things we want them to do. If we can continue to stay together like we have, continue to have positive attitudes, this schedule is gonna help us down the stretch.”
