Warsaw Rebounds With Upset Win
WARSAW – The unpredictable season that is Warsaw Lady Tiger basketball took another wild turn Saturday night. After an embarrassing loss to Triton Friday night, Warsaw responded with a 57-50 win against LaPorte Saturday night at the Tiger Den.
Only scoring 27 points Friday night in Bourbon, Warsaw had that number at the half and responded late to hold on for the win. The Lady Slicers, which came into the game ranked No. 12 in Class 4A, made a run late, but Warsaw’s resiliency surfaced to claim a big win.
“We had to come out mentally focused and ready to go,” said Warsaw head coach Michelle Harter. The game was the first-ever meeting between the two teams. “I thought tonight the girls stepped up and met the challenge against a very good LaPorte team.”
Warsaw did not trail the entire first half, but found itself behind 43-39 in the fourth quarter. Needing a spark, Page Desenberg provided two needed plays. An offensive rebound and putback by Desenberg got Warsaw within one, then another offensive board and bucket gave Warsaw a 45-43 lead, one the Lady Tigers would not relinquish the rest of the game.
“Page gets those trash points when you need them,” Harter said, pointing to the two buckets in the fourth quarter. “She’s not big, but she gets herself in good rebounding position. Page did a nice job getting in position on the back side, and she did have two really big offensive rebounds for us tonight when we needed those.”
Adding the scoring punch for Warsaw throughout the game was Dayton Groninger, who finished with 20 points, eight coming in the fourth quarter. Vicki Harris added 12 points for the Lady Tigers.
LaPorte’s dynamic duo of Nicole Konieczny and Kyleigh Kubik took some time to get going, but finished with 35 of LaPorte’s 50 total points. Kubik was a beast on the offensive end, hitting 7-of-10 shots and missed just one of six free throws to lead all scorers with 21 points. Konieczny was not as efficient from the floor, making just 3-of-16 attempts but managed 14 points.
The loss for LaPorte, which lost Friday night at South Bend Washington, put the Slicers at 11-3 overall.
The work Warsaw did on Kubik, who had her hands on the ball during nearly every possession in the fourth quarter, impressed Harter as much as anything.
“You know (Kubik) is going to get her points, you want to make her work to get those points,” Harter said. “I thought the girls did a nice job making her work to get her 21 points.”
The life Warsaw showed Saturday was night and day from Friday’s performance. Warsaw shot 45 percent (17-38) from the floor and were 21-of-24 from the free throw line. Friday night, the Lady Tigers made just 23 percent of its shots.
Warsaw now sits at 8-7 overall with Northern Lakes Conference foe Northridge next up Saturday.
The JV game, played in the adjacent gym during the varsity boys game, went to Warsaw in a 49-18 final.