Warsaw senior Brooklyn Harrison drives past a Triton defender Saturday night. Harrison had a big game as the Tigers won 41-31 at Grace College.

WINONA LAKE – Doing the little things, as coach Michelle Harter likes to call them, continues to pay off in a big way for the Warsaw girls basketball team.

The Tigers continued their turnaround Saturday night by topping Triton 41-31 in non-conference action at the Manahan Orthopaedic Capital Center on the Grace College campus.

Warsaw, led by the outstanding play of Nikki Grose and Brooklyn Harrison, made it three straight wins by outscoring the Trojans 18-9 in the fourth quarter. The Tigers, coming off two wins Monday to win their own tournament, improve to 5-7.

Grose and Harrison, two of the most experienced players back from last year’s 24-2 squad, continue to excel. Grose, the MVP of the Lady Tiger Tourney, scored a game-high 19 points. The energetic Harrison had 14 points to go with six assists and five steals to spark the Tiger defense.

Kylie Mason of Triton heads for the hoop Saturday night.

Senior Taylor Hatfield led Triton, which sees its’ four-game win streak stopped to drop to 7-4, with nine points.

Harter, who has seen her team rebound after losing four in a row to drop to 2-7, says it’s about leadership during the turnaround.

“Both Nikki and Brooklyn are really stepping up for us and being good senior leaders, as in Eryn Leek,” said Harter. “They are doing all the little things we need them to for us to be successful.

The big difference our last three games is that our seniors have given us the leadership we’ve been looking for. They have taken the team on their shoulders. That helps the rest of our girls relax too and play better.”

Grose, who missed four of five games earlier in the season, is on some roll. The 6-0 center poured in 15 second-half points, including nine in the final stanza. She hit 9-12 shots from the field, including layups to start both the third and fourth quarters off perfectly-executed set plays.

“Nikki is just playing strong and finishing shots,” Harter said. “The only person who can stop Nikki is Nikki. Brooklyn is doing a great job on defense for us.”

Warsaw, which beat Triton 49-32 last season, led 9-6 after the opening quarter. The Tigers were up 17-8 before the Trojans closed the half on a 10-0 run, sparked by treys from Hatfield and Krystal Sellers, to take an 18-17 halftime lead.

Triton shot just 10-34 from the field, including only 3-12 from 3-point range, the strength of their team. The Trojans also had 18 turnovers, including eight in the final period.

“I thought we executed tonight in the third and fourth quarters and our press helped us score,” said Harter. “I thought our girls did a great job taking away what Triton wanted to do. We took them out of their offensive flow. A huge difference too is that we finished shots.”

Mallorie Jennings works her way inside for the Trojans versus Warsaw.

Triton was playing for the first time since a 49-31 win over South Central on Dec. 21.

“In the fourth quarter, we did not do the things we talked about,” said Triton coach Adam Heckaman. “They do a good job forcing turnovers, but we made bad decisions and just threw the ball away.

“The bottom line is that we have to figure out how to come together and play better through adversity. We didn’t make shots tonight and then we get frustrated. We have to learn to do other things better to get through that.

“Warsaw is playing a lot better together and finishing games now. I knew by the middle of the season they would be a lot better team than they were at the start. Grose is a great player.”

Warsaw shot 17-36 from the field in the win. Senior Eryn Leek had four points and juniors Jodie Carlson and Erin Clemens each had two.

Junior Sellers netted six points, while junior Becca Kennedy and senior Mallorie Jennings each had five for Triton. Junior Kylie Mason scored four and sophomore Jaela Meister two. Sellers had seven rebounds and junior Lauren Howstrawser six.

Warsaw won the junior varsity contest 20-17. Madi Graham had six points and Tahya Bruce and Courtney Steffensmeier five each for the Tigers. Kayla Kreft and Jaela Meister each had four points to lead Triton.

Warsaw hosts conference foe Northridge next Saturday night. Triton plays at Oregon-Davis Wednesday.

Warsaw’s Nikki Grose dominated the inside with 19 points Saturday night.