ELKHART — There are just some points in a season when a tie is a win.

Warsaw, needing to win the Northern Lakes Conference girls golf tournament just to share the NLC title with NorthWood, emerged from the brutal Bent Oak golf course eight strokes ahead to achieve its goal. Warsaw’s 373 gave the Lady Tigers the tourney win after going 6-1 in the regular season, which neutralized the 381 and undefeated NLC regular season by the Lady Panthers.

The unforgiving Bent Oak course, which was still drying on a chilly and windy yet sunny Saturday morning after taking a saturation Friday night, proved the true winner. The par 71 course had the medalist score of 83 come from NorthWood’s Heidi Morganthaler, who has routinely shot in the 70s all season. But NorthWood would slide from there, with a 94 from Linzie Richner, 98 from Kate Adams and 106 by Rachel Beebe.

Warsaw stayed relatively steady despite the tough course, with Nikki LaLonde pacing an 88 and 90 from Alex Manwaring. Elizabeth Meadows had a 94 and Morgan Sands a 101 to conclude Warsaw’s day. The showing from the Tigers, which coach Chris LaLonde said she was surprised to see considering the lack of experience of her team on the course, should bode well when Warsaw returns home for the Warsaw Sectional at Stonehenge next Saturday.

“The girls, I told them we played NorthWood on their home course, but today would be on a neutral course,” said Warsaw head coach Chris LaLonde. “If we could just hang in there, we would have a chance to share the title if we won. They held on, and were able to get a title out of it today.”

Joining Warsaw next week at the sectional will be NLC foes Wawasee and Plymouth. The Lady Warriors shot a 395 and Lady Pilgrims were five back at 400. Alex Goralczyk playing a very consistent round for a 93, her best showing in an NLC, and Plymouth were led by Emily Berger’s 88.

Wawasee also had a 95 from Mikala Mawhorter, 96 from Elizabeth Jackson and 111 from Kylee Rostochak.

With all three playing in the same group at the sectional, there shouldn’t be much mystery next week. All three should be contenders.

“This is a tough, tough golf course to play, I even struggle here,” said Wawasee head coach Steve Coverstone. “The greens are very difficult and the rough is tough to play out of. I thought we did well to stay out of trouble for the most part. We had a pretty good day all around.

“I was really happy with Alex’s score. She has played pretty good golf lately. Elizabeth and Mikala both found a little trouble, but got out of it to shoot decent scores on this course.”

Nikki LaLonde and Goralczyk were automatic All-Northern Lakes Conference selections. Manwaring and Meadows were voted All-NLC and Mawhorter and Jackson were voted Honorable Mention All-NLC.

Coach LaLonde’s squad, which lost to NorthWood at McCormick Creek by nine strokes, won’t have to worry about NorthWood in the sectional, but will have to deal with Plymouth and Wawasee, as well as Culver Academy and Rochester, which both have averaged in the mid to high 300s throughout the season. Warsaw are the defending sectional champion and are looking for its eighth overall and fourth in the past five years.

But for today, the Tigers will enjoy achieving one of its immediate goals.

“I knew NorthWood were going to be tough, given how good Heidi has played all year,” LaLonde said. “Today does give us some encouragement that we can come back and play this well on our home course next week. We just have to be careful because anything can happen at Stonehenge. Even though we play there a lot, nothing is guaranteed.”

Northern Lakes Conference Tournament at Bent Oak Golf Club (Par 71)

Warsaw 373
NorthWood 381
Wawasee 395
Plymouth 400
Northridge 442
Concord 451
Goshen 462
Elkhart Memorial 527

Warsaw (373)
Nikki LaLonde 88
Elizabeth Meadows 94
Alexis Manwaring 90
Morgan Sands 101
Ashley Murrell 104

NorthWood (381)
Heidi Morganthaler 83
Kate Adams 98
Rachel Beebe 106
Linzie Richner 94
Kayla Stankovich 110

Wawasee (395)
Elizabeth Jackson 96
Mikala Mawhorter 95
Kylee Rostochak 111
Alex Goralczyk 93
Kamryn Foy 116

Plymouth (400)
Emily Berger 88
Lauren Rearick 101
Emily Denney 106
Morgan Oberley 107
Kelly Henderson 105

Northridge (442)
Madison Stewart 103
Sidney Reed 118
Kelly Soard 115
Emily Thomas 106
Abbey McClure 120

Concord (451)
McKenna Grimske 106
Michaela Searer 112
Ashlyn Ball 115
Sammy Oberholtzer 124
Olivia Kauffman 118

Goshen (462)
Teage Minier 100
Katheryn Giddens 132
Gale Immel 115
Claire Palczynski 115
Sara Rodgers 132

Elkhart Memorial (527)
Kaylen Byers 141
Ally Disher 130
Kharlee Scroy 129
Hannah Dillman 127
Cloe Klein 148

All-Northern Lakes Conference:
Heidi Morganthaler -NorthWood
Kate Adams – NorthWood
Nikki LaLonde – Warsaw
Elizabeth Meadows – Warsaw
Emily Berger – Plymouth
Alex Goralczyk – Wawasee
Teage Minier – Goshen
All-NLC Honorable Mention:
Elizabeth Jackson – Wawasee
Mikala Mawhorter – Wawasee
Lauren Rearick – Plymouth
Linzie Richner – NorthWood