No. 3 Penn Topples Tigers
WARSAW- Warsaw girls basketball coach Michelle Harter is positive about one thing.
She is going to remain positive as her young team goes through some early-season struggles.
Harter remained unbeat about her squad Tuesday night after watching undefeated and Class 4-A No. 3 Penn pull away for a 61-37 win.
The Tigers, who have no seniors, fall to 0-5 versus a brutal early-season schedule. Penn, with a roster sporting seven seniors, improves to 6-0.
“We are not going to fall into the negatives and no one else should about this team,” said Harter after emerging from a long postgame talk with her team. “The worse thing our girls could do is hang their heads and they are not. They are coming in every day and working hard to get better.
“Our girls are fine. They are learning and it’s a process with a young team. We knew that it would be this season. But the important thing is that they have improved tremendously since the Huntington North game (the season opener on Nov. 14).”
Penn used a big run to open the second quarter to take control. The Kingsmen led just 15-13 after the opening period before going on a 12-0 run to make it 27-13 midway through the second stanza. Camryn Buhr, a 6-1 senior, scored nine of her game-high 20 points in the period as Penn built a 36-21 halftime lead.
The Tigers were hurt once again by turnovers. The Penn pressure defense sped up the hosts, who had nine turnovers in the first half. The Kingsmen also used their size advantage to control backboards, getting several offensive rebound buckets in the opening half.
“We sped ourselves up again against the pressure,” noted Harter. “We just have to understand that we need to slow ourselves down. Penn is a nice team. They are long and athletic and you have to be patient when you play them.
“In that second quarter, we started reaching on defense and not moving our feet and let them get in the paint on us. It was turnovers and rebounding. Those are two big keys we have talked about from day one this season. We just need to keep working on those two areas.”
Penn, which beat Warsaw 47-26 last year, led 46-28 after the third period. The Tigers made just two field goals in the second half and only nine for the game.
Junior Dayton Groninger was the bright spot for the Tigers. The guard was aggressive all night long and scored 19 points. Groninger, who entered play Tuesday night as her team’s top scorer at 11.7 ppg., was 13-17 from the free throw line as the hosts hit 18-24 free throws to just 6-8 for Penn.
“I was very pleased with Dayton’s effort tonight,” said Harter. “She took a step forward with the way that she attacked their defense and went strong to the basket and got to the line.”
Groninger, a 5-10 guard, also led her team with five rebounds.
Sophomore Emma Bohnenkamper scored five points, while juniors Madi Graham and Mariah Rivera each had four. Junior Kenzie Welk had three points and junior Page Desenberg two.
“I thought our girls battled tonight,” remarked Harter. “It’s very important though that we have others step up and score for us when the opportunities are there. We need to get two, three, four girls contributing points for us.”
Warsaw entered play Tuesday night averaging just 42 points-per-game. Penn came in averaging 61 and allowing only 24.4. The 37 points scored by Warsaw was the most versus the Kingsmen so far this season.
Warsaw, which has lost its last three game versus Penn since beating the Kingsmen 49-42 in a regional semifinal game in 2013, still leads the series 7-4.
Senior guard Kaitlyn Marenyi had 13 points for Penn. Junior Lindsey Kline scored eight and senior Claire Carlton seven.
Penn, which finished 22-5 last year and lost in a Class 4-A regional semifinal game, shot 26-55 from the field and had a 15-6 edge in offensive rebounds.
Warsaw finished with 17 turnovers and Penn had just nine. The Tigers were 9-25 from the field.
Penn coach Kristi Ulrich, a former standout player at both Mishawaka High School and Bethel College, is now 136-19 in her seven season. Ulrich has guided Penn to a pair of Class 4-A state runner-up finishes in the last six years.
Warsaw has faced five teams so far this season who have a combined overall record of 25-5. The non-conference road does not get any easier as the next four opponents for the Tigers are currently 17-2 combined overall for the year. Warsaw then plays at Plymouth, who is 5-1, in their Northern Lakes Conference opener on Dec. 12.
Sophomore Kennedy Patton drained a 3-pointer from the top of the key with nine seconds to play to lift the Warsaw junior varsity team to a 33-31 win. Patton led the JV Tigers with 10 points. Kenzie Martz scored eight points and Maddie Ryman seven for the winners. Chloe Foley and Makenzie Kilmer each had 10 points for Penn.
Warsaw (0-5) hosts Whitko (5-1) Friday night. Penn (6-0) hosts Elkhart Central (2-3) Saturday night.