WARSAW – An attitude change, according to their coach, resulted in a change of fortunes Monday morning for the Warsaw girls basketball team.

The host Tigers snapped out of a losing streak in a big way by leveling Lowell 57-44 in a first-round contest of the TCU Lady Tiger Tournament.

Warsaw, which had lost four in a row to drop to 2-7, played with energy and excitement in putting together their best game of the season.

Senior Nikki Grose returned to action with a fine all-around effort to lead Warsaw. The 6-0 center, who had missed the last two games due to a violation of team rules, had a team-high 13 points. Grose, who also missed two earlier games in the season due to a concussion, also had six rebounds, four assists, three steals and five huge blocked shots.

Senior Eryn Leek netted 10 points and Pam Miller, Kilee Slone and Erin Clemens each scored eight and Jodie Carlson seven as Warsaw snapped out of its offensive doldrums.

The Tigers entered the game averaging just 38.6 points-per-game and the 57 scored in the win was the third largest output of the season, trailing only 64 in a win over Whitko and 59 in a victory at Michigan City.

Warsaw advances to play Perry Meridian (7-5) in the championship game Monday night. Meridian defeated Crown Point 61-49 in the second game Monday afternoon.

Lowell, now 7-3 after three straight losses, will face Crown Point  (7-5) in the consolation game tonight at 6 p.m. The Tigers will then play the Falcons in the title tilt.

Warsaw coach Michelle Harter, whose team had not played since a 39-35 conference loss at Wawasee Dec. 21 and had not won since a 59-38 victory at Michigan City Dec. 7, said it was about much more than X’s and O’s in this one.

“We challenged the girls and told them it started with them and their attitudes,” said Harter. “We had some things that needed to change as far as overall attitudes.

“We’ve used some tough love in practices over the break. We told them that this was our opportunity to turn the season around. We told them to forget being 2-7.

“This is a big win for us. We’ve been through some rough times and this shows the girls that good things can happen with a positive attitude and playing with energy and excitement. This is the team I expected to see at the start of the year. The challenge is to just continue to build on this win and continue to get better.”

Warsaw, who was playing just its third home game of the season, took control thanks to its defense. The hosts, using an effective press to force turnovers, went on a 13-2 first-quarter run to seize command. With Miller and Clemens each scoring eight points, the Tigers built a 29-14 lead before Lowell tallied the final six points of the half to make it 29-20 at intermission. Lowell had 15 of its 23 turnovers in the opening half.

“We challenged the girls today with our press to get deflections and win 50-50 balls,” Harter said. “They did a very nice job. They communicated and rotated well in our press and it really helps to have Nikki at the back of it.”

The Tigers used a key 9-0 run, sparked by Leek, to open the second half. Warsaw quickly made it 38-20 and controlled the game from there.

Junior guard Hunter Jusevitch scored a game-high 21 points by hitting 5-10 from deep and 6-6 from the line to lead Lowell.

The Tigers defeated Lowell 57-33 in the title game of the tourney last season.

Perry Meridian used a big second half to beat Crown Point. The Falcons trailed 22-15 after the opening period and 28-23 at halftime before outscoring the Bulldogs 38-21 in the final half.

Senior Cassie Baird scored 16 points and senior Jenny Sims 14 to lead Perry Meridian.

Sophomore Hannah Albrecht and senior Katija Tarailo each scored 12 points to pace Crown Point.