Lady Tigers Get Last Word On Senior Night, Down Snider 58-50

Since 2000, the Warsaw Lady Tigers (13-5, 6-1 NLC) and Fort Wayne Snider Lady Panthers (11-6, 5-3 SUMMIT) have put up 3 wins each in 6 games against each other. Tonight, something in that 3-3 series record had to change.

To make the night even more special, 8 Warsaw Lady Tiger Senior girls were recognized before the game for Senior Night. For these girls, it would be their last home basketball game at Warsaw Community High School.

In honor of senior night, Coach Michelle Harter started five seniors for this contest. The starting five of Kaitlin Reichard, Kelci Freds, Sarah Shilling, Danielle Tat, and Beth Plummer heard their names called by PA announcer, Ron Henry, one final time at the beloved Tiger Den.

The Lady Panthers from FW Snider won the tip-off to start the game. Snider jumped out of the gate to a 4-0 lead behind senior Kaylee Walters' quick scores.

Tiger senior Kelci Freds answered with Warsaw's first 2 points. Fellow classmate Sarah Shilling scored her first basket of the game as the Lady Tigers began to find some offensive rhythm.

The Lady Panthers would go on an 8-2 run to take a 12-4 advantage midway thru the first period. Again it was Kaylee Walters who led the charge for FW Snider. Coach Harter had to slow things down -- she called a 30 second time-out to regroup.

Warsaw came out of the timeout and scored when senior Danielle Tat connected from the left baseline to bring the Lady Tigers within six at the 4:58 mark.

Junior Kayla Stout followed with a lay-up in the transition game to bring the Tigers closer (12-8).

Snider's style of play was evident from the onset of this game. They were going to pressure the ball the entire game and be very physical with the Lady Tigers. After a hard foul, senior Kaelee Sands made 1 of 2 from the charity stripe. Sands' point tied the game at 15 apiece with 10 seconds left in the quarter.

Kaylee Walters of FW Snider scored a buzzer beater on a nice 1-dribble strong move to give her team the edge after one period of play. Walters finished the quarter with an impressive 10 points to lead all scorers.

End of First Quarter: FW Snider 17 - Warsaw 15

The beginning of the Second Quarter would be delayed due to a scoreboard malfunction. At one point the scoreboard read Snider 117 - Warsaw 15. Tiger fans laughed at the idea of coming back from a 102 point deficit to win this game.

Once that issue was fixed, it took Kelci Freds very little time to tie this game up. Freds scored on a back-door cut to beat an over aggressive Snider defender for an easy lay-in.

Warsaw began to take advantage of Snider's lack of transition defense. The Lady Tigers began to push the basketball up the court after defensive rebounds to beat the Lady Panther defenders' full court pressure.

Kayla Stout was the beneficiary of this strategy as the 6'0" junior connected twice on run-outs. Her second fast break lay-up tied the score at 20-20 with 4:58 left in the half. Stout then assisted Sarah Shilling on the next Tiger possession to keep the game deadlocked at 22 all.

Senior Danielle Tat and junior Ryesha Jackson scored consecutive baskets to round out the scoring for the Lady Tigers as they headed to the locker room.

Snider senior Mia Stevenson connected on a runner to keep her team in front at the break.

Snider outscored Warsaw 13-12 in the quarter.

End of First Half: FW Snider 30 - Warsaw 27

Although the Lady Panthers scored first, Sarah Shilling converted two consecutive baskets to bring the Lady Tigers within 1 point to begin the 3rd frame. Shilling and Snider forward Akilah Sims had a few incidents of warfare. The two post players wrestled for the ball on different occasions, each time Shilling ended up being thrown to the floor.

Tiger fans were not happy as they screamed at the officials to protect their red-headed star player. Shilling would get the last say in this battle.

Shilling ended up scoring four field goals in the quarter for 8 huge points to keep the Lady Tigers within reach.

FW Snider's offensive attack continued to flourish behind the 3-point shooting of junior Brielle Wattley and Mia Stevenson.

With the quarter winding down, both teams would trade baskets until Junior Kayla Stout would draw a shooting foul. Kayla made both free throws to once again tie this see-saw affair at 37 points each.

Those free throws would quickly be answered with another 3-pointer by Lady Panther Brielle Wattley, who seemed to be all over the floor in this game.

Both squads managed to score 12 points in the 3rd as Snider clung to their 3-point lead headed to the final eight minutes.

End of Third Quarter: FW Snider 42 - Warsaw 39

Less than 15 seconds into the 4th, Kelci Freds drained a 3-pointer to tie this game at 42.

Kaylee Walters who was quiet in the 3rd quarter responded with a basket to regain the Snider lead.

Warsaw senior Beth Plummer came up big for her team early in the 4th with a transition basket and a beautiful bounce pass to Shilling to give her team a 46-44 lead. The lead was short lived.

After FW Snider tied the game up at 46, Snider Coach Gould would call another time-out with 5:49 remaining in the game.

Senior Kaelee Sands gave the Lady Tigers their biggest lead of the game as she connected on a 3-point bomb. The long range shot was launched right in front of the Warsaw bench. All 18 players and coached leaped in the air as Kaelee's shot found the net.

Senior Cendall Ogle used her supreme court vision to thread a bounce pass thru Panther defenders to Kayla Stout. The basket by Stout put Warsaw in front by five (51-46) with 3:04 remaining.

Lady Tiger Freshman Lindsay Baker grabbed a big offensive rebound to put back two points after a Snider score. Baker's basket pushed the Tiger lead back to five (53-48) with 2:26 on the clock.

Lady Panther Mia Stevenson would score FW Snider's final basket to make it 3-point Warsaw lead, 53-50.

Warsaw then went on to sink 5 straight free throws (Kayla Stout 3 & Cendall Ogle 2) as all the Lady Panthers could do was foul and hope for a miracle. As the clock faded to 0:00 the Tiger Den faithful stood one last time to give the departing seniors a standing ovation.

Warsaw used a 19-8 scoring advantage over the final 8 minutes to pull out their 14th victory on the season.

Complete Scoring for Warsaw:

Sarah Shilling - 15, Kayla Stout - 14, Kelci Freds - 9, Kaelee Sands - 8, Danielle Tat - 4, Cendall Ogle - 2, Ryesha Jackson - 2, Lindsay Baker - 2, Beth Plummer 2

Final Score: Warsaw 58 - FW Snider 50

The Lady Tigers (14-5) will travel Thursday (02/02/10) to South Bend to take on the South Bend Riley Lady Wildcats (3-18). The Lady Tigers beat SB Riley last year 80-41 in the Tiger Den. A victory would give Warsaw its first 15 win season since the 2003-2004 season. Lady Tiger basketball is back on the map!

TigerSportsNation.com sends a hearty thank you and congratulations to the following senior girls:

Kelci Freds, Sarah Shilling, Cendall Ogle, Kaelee Sands, Beth Plummer, Amber Plummer, Danielle Tat, and Kaitlin Reichard.

Finish your senior year in style girls...bring home a sectional crown!

IHSAA GIRLS BASKETBALL SECTIONAL PAIRINGS ANNOUNCED!

The Lady Tigers, fresh off of the their NLC title winning performance on Saturday night, will play in the Concord Sectional beginning on Tuesday, February 9. Pairings are listed below.

Sectional tickets will be on sale in the athletic office beginning Wednesday morning, 7:30 am. They will be on sale through the beginning of the tournament. Season tickets will cost $9 and will be honored at all three sessions of the sectional. Single session tickets will be available each night at Concord High School. Single session tickets will cost $5.

SECTIONAL #4 @ CONCORD HIGH SCHOOL

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9

6:00 pm: Northridge vs. Elkhart Memorial

7:30 pm: Concord vs. Elkhart Central

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12

6:00 pm: Goshen vs. Winner game 1

7:30 pm: Warsaw vs. Winner game 2

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13

7:30 pm: Championship Game

Complete coverage of Lady Tiger basketball will be posted here at www.TigerSportsNation.com.

Posted In: Girl's Sports > Basketball

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