Dayton Groninger scored a game-high 13 points for Warsaw in a 52-18 win at Concord Saturday night.

DUNLAP – Strong starts have not always been the strong suit this season for the Warsaw girls basketball team.

That was not the case Saturday night though.

The Tigers were locked in on the defensive end from the opening tip in crushing Concord 52-18 in a Northern Lakes Conference contest in McCuen Gym.

Warsaw, coming off a 21-point loss at powerful Penn Wednesday night, was dialed in on defense from the start Saturday night.

The Tigers bolted to a 15-5 lead after the opening period of play and cruised from there to the dominating league win.

Sophomore Dayton Groninger scored a game-high 13 points to pace Warsaw. The Tigers improve to 12-8 overall, but more importantly move to 5-1 in NLC action. Warsaw will plays at NorthWood next Saturday night in a huge NLC clash. The Panthers, who beat Goshen Saturday night, are 5-0 in the NLC. The game at NorthWood is the final league contest for the Tigers, while the Panthers still have to play Concord.

Warsaw allowed Concord to shoot just 7-35 from the field in the game, including 3-21 in the second half. The hosts were 1-9 from 3-point range and 3-13 from the free throw line in scoring a season-low point total. Concord, which was averaging 41 points-per-game prior to Saturday night, also had 24 turnovers in the game.

Mariah Rivera heads to the hoop on a breakaway for the Tigers.

“One thing we have struggled with is getting off to a quick start and we talked about that this week,” said Warsaw coach Michelle Harter. “Our No. 1 thing tonight was playing disciplined defense.

“We wanted to come out and play good defense and allow them to turn the ball over. I liked our defensive effort. We got a lot of deflections in that first half that led to easy baskets for us a lot of times.”

Warsaw led 28-11 at halftime as Groninger had eight points, all coming in the second quarter. Sophomore Justyce Warren had 10 points and all four of Concord’s baskets in the opening half.

Sophomores Madi Graham and Kenzie Welk each scored seven points for the Tigers. Seniors Jodie Carlson and Erin Clemens each netted six points, sophomore Mariah Rivera five, senior Pam Miller and sophomore Maryann Marandet three each and senior Vicki Harris two.

Clemens corralled 10 rebounds and Graham seven as the Tigers had a 47-23 edge on the glass, including a 21-8 advantage on offensive boards.

Senior Vicki Harris surveys the scene Saturday night versus Concord.

Warsaw shot 14-47 from the field, including 5-14 from deep. The Tigers were a fine 19-23 from the line, but did have 22 turnovers.

“I thought we did a great job rebounding tonight and being strong with the ball,” Harter remarked. “In the second half, we did a better job looking to attack on offense. I’m okay with aggressive turnovers. A big part of the 22 tonight was the fact that we were trying to push the ball up the court a lot.”

Warren finished with 10 points for Concord, which drops to 7-12 overall and 0-5 in the NLC.

Warsaw and Concord are both in the Class 4-A Goshen Sectional next month.

Warsaw won the junior varsity game 39-12. Alyssa Atkins had nine points and Jessie Kersey, Kenzie Welk and Maryann Marandet each had six for coach Mindy Stookey’s squad. Shydae Campbell led Concord with seven points.

Warsaw plays at NorthWood and Concord plays at Wawasee in NLC games next Saturday.

Warsaw’s Erin Clemens holds tight to the rock as a host of Concord hands try to get the ball.