Warsaw Ladies Win Tourney Opener
WARSAW – The Warsaw girls basketball team shook off a slow start to top Lowell Tuesday in a semifinal game of the TCU Holiday Tournament in the Tiger Den.
The host Tigers used a balanced attack and a fine finish to best the Red Devils 58-42 in the first game of the four-team tournament.
Warsaw, who improves to 7-5 with its third straight win, advances to the championship game tonight at approximately 7:30 p.m. The Tigers will play undefeated South Bend St. Joseph (12-0). St. Joe topped Perry Meridian 54-37 in the second semifinal game today.
Lowell (4-7) will face Perry Meridian (5-7) in the consolation game tonight at 6 p.m.
Lowell started strong versus Warsaw by taking a 14-9 lead after the opening period. Warsaw held to slim leads of 27-25 at halftime and 40-35 after three quarters before outscoring Lowell 18-7 in the final period of play to pull away.
Vicki Harris continued her stellar play of late with 12 points for Warsaw. She also had three assists and four steals in the win.
Sophomore standouts Dayton Groninger and Madi Graham each also had 12 points for the Tigers. Graham hit four 3-pointers for Warsaw.
Pam Miller turned in a strong game with nine points and seven rebounds. Page Desenberg and Jodie Carlson each had four points, Mariah Rivera three and Erin Clemens two for the Tigers.
Warsaw shot 18-37 from the field for the game, including 5-12 from distance. The Tigers were 17-22 from the free throw line and had a 29-20 rebounding edge and had 18 turnovers.
Lowell was just 15-39 from the field for the game, including only 5-18 in the second half. The Red Devils were 6-19 from 3-point land and just 6-9 from the line and had 24 turnovers.
Hunter Jesevitch led Lowell with a game-high 17 points.