Warsaw’s Kacy Bragg is hounded by Northridge’s Ashley Beckler (42) and Izzy Love (10) Saturday night in Northridge’s 49-33 win. (Photos by Mike Deak)

WARSAW – Saturday night presented several golden opportunities for the Warsaw girls basketball team. Those all quickly fell flat in what turned out to be a sound 49-33 Northridge win at the Tiger Den.

The chance for Warsaw take command of the Northern Lakes Conference race, to build off the momentum of a big win last week, and to make a statement for the postseason all evaporated in a Northridge clinic in the second quarter. Ridge held Warsaw to just four points in the first quarter, and after seeing Halle Shipp can a three, went on an extended run to virtually put the game on ice.

A transition bucket to Ashley Beckler, followed by a pair of threes from Sierra Miller and Brooke McKinley, put the Raiders up 20-7. The lead would fan out to 26-9 at the half, with McKinley outscoring Warsaw herself, 11-9.

Warsaw’s Maddie Ryman sends up a shot in traffic.

“Northridge got a couple easy baskets and went on a run,” stated Warsaw head coach Lenny Krebs, “and someone like McKinley, and (Morgan) Litwiller, you gotta keep checking them all 32 minutes they are on the floor. By golly, you should keep checking them on the bench, they might be able to score from there. The second half, let’s say, I encouraged them strongly to have a little bit more fire in the second half.

“It’s just not acceptable here to have that type of lack of effort in the first half.”

Despite an uptick in pace and court presence, Warsaw did not pull the Ridge lead under 10 in the second half. McKinley, the all-time leading scorer in Northridge history, was the game’s high scorer with 20 points. McKinley hit all four of her three-pointers and was 4-4 from the free throw line. Litwiller was also 4-4 from the charity stripe and was 6-8 from the floor to finish with 16 points. The two combined to shoot 12-17 from the floor (71 percent), part of a total 60 percent field goal night from Ridge, 18-30 overall.

Northridge’s Izzy Love is in disbelief after a foul call.

“Against a team like Northridge, they are going to force you into mistakes,” Krebs said. “My frustration is I don’t feel we played with the passion and the energy we needed to be successful in the first half. It was clear we didn’t have that fire. The second half we came out and played with much more fire and energy. You can’t spot a team like Northridge a 15, 17-point lead and expect a good result.”

Warsaw eventually had Shipp and Kacy Bragg each finish with eight points, Bragg adding five rebounds to her workload. Warsaw, however, shot 4-16 from the floor in the first half and shot just 32 percent (12-37) overall.

Northridge now sits at 4-0 in the NLC and 17-3 overall, tied atop the ledger with NorthWood, also 4-0 after its win Saturday night over Wawasee. The loss drops Warsaw to 11-6 and 2-1, and all the momentum it had in a triple overtime thriller over Plymouth on Wednesday is gone.

Added Krebs, “Northridge is 17-3 for a reason. My disappointment is we didn’t respond very well to adversity as I hoped we would.”

The JV game was a thriller, going to Warsaw in a 30-27 final over the previously unbeaten Raiders.

Kensie Ryman had 10 points for the Tigers (11-6) and Kendall Wayne chipped in eight points and four rebounds.

Northridge will host Nebraska recruit Leigha Brown and DeKalb on Tuesday while Warsaw will entertain Elkhart Memorial Wednesday night.

Northridge head coach Doug Springer loves the action on the court during his team’s run in the second quarter.