Warsaw will open their season with a ton of expectations after an optimistic 2022-2023 turned into an eye opening 18 win season, the second of those in the last three seasons now.
Head coach Lenny Krebs sits at 98 wins in his six seasons at Warsaw and will open up his seventh with a gauntlet as he tries to secure Tiger win #100. Warsaw clearly wants to show they can be the best with their second game against Norwell and their third game at SAC title favorite Snider before shifting into the multi-day Duneland-Northern Lakes Classic.
“This is a young team, but also a veteran team,” Krebs said of his squad that features just one senior. “While we had a lot of success last year, our goal is to make sure we are a year better, not just a year older.”
Warsaw returns its top five scorers from a season ago, and all of them were underclassmen when they accomplished that top 5. A pair of juniors, Brooke Winchester and Abbey Peterson are part of that group. Winchester’s sophomore season was a major breakout, leading to her early commitment to play on he next level at Ball State. She averaged 11.7 points and a team high 6.1 rebounds a season ago. Peterson led the team in assists per game at 2.8 while also scoring 8.6 points per game and posting a then-team second best 1.7 steals per contest.
The other three in the top five in Warsaw scoring were all freshmen last season including leading scorer Joslyn Bricker. Bricker led the way with 12.6 points per game despite coming off the bench for the first half of the season and established herself as one of the best players in Northeast Indiana, regardless of class. Joining her in the 2026 class scoring fest last season was Brooke Zartman (12.3 ppg) and Alexis Neely (5 ppg).
Winchester, Bricker and Zartman were all a part of Outside the Huddle’s Preseason Top 50 players in 2023.
The lineup will return two others, including that lone senior Dalaney Vilamaa. Sophomore Kyra Kiser will also return to the varsity squad.
The seven returning players will be bolstered by a few more expected to gain some minutes on the varsity court. Sophomores Kelsey Wrenn and Erin McManus are both up from the junior varsity though Wrenn did see some limited varsity minutes. Another player up from the JV/limited varsity time is junior Braylie Chastain, while fellow junior Leila Knepp returns from injury after playing just two games last season. Knepp had seen time in 16 varsity games two years ago as a freshman.
“The kids worked hard this season and they have some lofty goals,” Krebs said. “I am excited to see what this year has in store against a schedule that is tougher than last year.”
WHY #5?
The Tigers are coming off an exceptional season and return basically everyone of significance from a near 20 win team. Coming back with such a loaded roster has to bolster their energy, expectations and enthusiasm.
Leading at the top with Division 1 caliber players is a huge advantage.
WHY NOT HIGHER?
Warsaw was very good last season, except against some of coverage area’s elite with losses to Norwell, Homestead and Columbia City. That made up three of just six total losses the Tigers had.
To move up the ladder of a power poll, they will need to be able to knock off area powers and they get that chances with Norwell, Snider, Carroll, Columbia City and Homestead all on the agenda this season.
How much did this still young group mature from last season? It could go a long way in them continuing to be the highest ranked Warsaw girls team for OTH in the last five seasons.
KEY GAME
November 9 at Snider
This schedule is loaded but we will find out pretty immediately what both of these schools could be made of with this game. It is going to be a battle for 32 minutes and the defensive efforts we should see will be captivating.
The teams have not played since the 2020-2021 season and we know how weird and different that season already was, then factor in that the leaders in this game, which includes 7 of our area’s Top 50 players, were all in middle school and the first time high school meetings between these two teams is very intriguing.
This will be Warsaw’s third game of the season and Snider’s fourth.
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