WARSAW – It was still a loss, but the silver lining was written all over the Tiger Den walls Tuesday for the Warsaw girls basketball team. Facing Class 3-A No. 4 South Bend St. Joe in the championship game of the TCU Lady Tiger Classic, it could have been curtains early, but Warsaw fought to make a game of the 55-51 final won by St. Joe.

Down 21 points in the second half and fans already starting to pack up their seat cushions, Warsaw had every reason to give in. Given the start of the season that saw nine consecutive losses and the 11-win Indians hitting seemingly everything they threw up, it looked bleak for the home side.

Warsaw, trailing 42-21, responded with an 11-0 run, then found themselves down 46-39 after Dayton Groninger muscled her way to the hoop for two. On two separate occasions, Warsaw had cut the lead to three. Groninger hit two free throws with 53 seconds left to make it 51-48, then a Groninger three made it 54-51.

St. Joe, needing someone to step forward, got the ball into the hands of Nicole Konieczny. The do-it-all junior forward hit four free throws that accounted for St. Joe’s final points, enough to get the escape plan executed and a trophy for the showcase.

For Warsaw head coach Michelle Harter, the day’s worth of output was a win-win on its own.

“I saw some big time improvement today from the first game to the second game and just their willingness to never quit,” said Harter, whose team is now 4-11. “That’s a big difference between a good team and a great team. Those are little things that are going to keep helping us get better as the season goes along.

“Coming up, we play LaPorte on Saturday. That’s our first game of the new year. We’re going to start the season 0-0 and go through the second half of the season and continue to build and get ourselves prepared for the sectional and a conference championship.”

St. Joe (12-1) rolled early, hitting its first five three-point attempts to take a 17-8 lead. Two more bombs from Konieczny and Brooke Juday made a 23-17 St. Joe lead a 29-17 advantage, stretching to 33-17 at the break.

Konieczny, a SMU recruit, finished with 21 points, six rebounds and hit 4-8 three-point attempts. Daly Sullivan, who hit her first three from deep, was a factor early and wrapped up with 19 points and gathered the Tournament MVP award following the win. Konieczny was named to the All-Tournament Team.

Groninger played very well to score 17 points and pull in another seven rebounds. Madi Graham rose up to score 19 to lead Warsaw, hitting a pair of huge shots late during Warsaw’s fourth quarter rally. The pair were named to the All-Tournament Team.

Page Desenberg continued her strong play inside with eight points and four rebounds.

Warsaw 44, Perry Meridian 43

In game one of the tournament, Warsaw used a second-half rally to catch and beat Perry Meridian.

Trailing 35-29 in the third quarter, Warsaw would rally to eventually tie the game at 35, then take a 43-40 lead after Groninger converted a layup. Daiva Wilson would tie the game on a long three-pointer, only for Kenzie Welk to hit the deciding free throw moments later.

Desenberg had the play of the game in the waning moments, stepping into a Meridian passing lane and creating a steal that sapped precious seconds off the clock as Warsaw clung to a one-point lead. Meridian turned the ball over on its final two possessions of the game.

The game overall saw both teams combine for 44 turnovers, 25 of which came from Meridian. The Lady Falcons also were in foul trouble all game, committing nine in the first three minutes of the game. Three of those were charged to Sadie Hill, who sat for more than half of the contest and drew her fourth during Warsaw’s run in the third quarter. While in the game, Hill had four points and nine rebounds and was a focal point of the Falcons’ plans.

Groninger scored 13 points and pulled down eight rebounds to lead the Tigers and Welk scored a sneaky 10 points, three of which came on a hoop and harm late in the third that tied the game at 35. Wilson led Meridian with 13 points and Melody Johnson ended up with 12 points and five boards.

“We just needed to keep our composure and understand they were going to come at us hard,” said Harter following the Meridian game. “This was a big stride for us, given some of the teams we have played. When we were given opportunities today, we took them. We saw a lot of leadership from different people, and I think that helped carry us through this game.”

St. Joe 67, Chesterton 22

It wasn’t even close as St. Joe steamrolled Chesterton in the second morning game. The Indians allowed six points to Courtney Krol, but no one else on the Chesterton roster had more than three points.

St. Joe had a game-high 16 points from Konieczny, 14 of which came in the first half, and Brooke Juday was right behind with 15 points. Sullivan finished with 12 points.

Perry Meridian 52, Chesterton 40

Chesterton cut a double-digit lead to seven in the second half, but Perry Meridian struck back to immediately push the lead back up to 14 as the Falcons pulled away.

Brandi Martin and Alexis Hill each paced Meridian (5-9) with 10 points and Johnson finished with eight points.

Chesterton (5-10) had Shannon McCoy net 19 points in the loss.

Warsaw Wins Both JV Games

Warsaw jumped out to a big first-half lead and maintained in a 40-36 win against Perry Meridian in game one of the JV circuit. Meridian cut a 14-point Warsaw lead down to just 34-29 and shaved the score closer at 38-36. Miah Holsclaw would seal the deal with two free throws in the final seconds to give Warsaw the win.

Holsclaw finished with seven points and Kennedy Patton led the Tigers with eight points. Arianna Booker led Meridian with 13 points.

In game two, Warsaw did the job to defeat St. Joe 37-24. Warsaw’s Maddie Ryman led all scorers with 10 points and Jessie Kersey added seven points in victory. St. Joe’s Vanessa Garlcilazo led the Indians with nine points.

All-Tournament Team
Tournament MVP – Daly Sullivan, St. Joe
Tourney Team:
Nicole Konieczny, St. Joe
Dayton Groninger, Warsaw
Madi Graham, Warsaw
Melody Johnson, Perry Meridian
Shannon McCoy, Chesterton