WARSAW – Putting some of its demons back in its closet, Warsaw got over a huge hump Thursday night in a 41-37 overtime win against NorthWood in the girls basketball regular season finale for both clubs at the Tiger Den.

Overcoming mistakes down the stretch that had burnt Warsaw in similar situations in losses earlier in the season, the Lady Tigers rallied in overtime with key plays from its leaders. The game got to overtime as NorthWood’s Taitlyn Trenshaw buried a three-pointer to tie the score at 34 shortly after Warsaw’s Madi Graham missed one of two free throws moments earlier that would have iced the game.

Warsaw had held a 30-24 lead in the fourth quarter, but allowed Arika Flickinger to score four points in less than 10 seconds. Later, Page Desenberg was whistled for her fifth foul, allowing Gabi Glass to hit two free throws to get NorthWood within two at 33-31. The sequence of events played away from Warsaw’s favor, which Tiger head coach Michelle Harter noted her team responded well in said circumstances.

“I really believe that our schedule has prepared us for tonight and us being able to overcome some of the adversity we had tonight,” Harter said. “We just didn’t give up. We continued to battle and continued to fight.”

In the OT period, Graham hit four free throws but came up with the play of the game, stealing a NorthWood pass with her team up just two, nailing her final two tosses to give Warsaw a 41-37 lead which it rode to its ninth win of the season.

“One thing we have wanted Madi to do all season long,” Harter said of Graham putting the team on her back. “She is continuing to get better at that. Attacking under control, getting fouled on out of bounds plays and going up strong and stepping up and hitting key free throws.

“Now we are seeing her saying I need the ball in my hands down the stretch.”

Graham had a game-high 19 points, hitting 10 of 12 free throw attempts. Dayton Groninger, who did a balancing act for most of the fourth quarter and all of overtime with four fouls, finished with eight points and 12 rebounds. Emma Bohnenkamper had just four points and four rebounds, but did admirable work on the wing keeping NorthWood’s Makayla Fielstra from establishing inside.

Fielstra would finish with a team-high 12 points and added four rebounds, but had just three points in the fourth quarter before fouling out. Andrea Tuttle scored eight points and Trenshaw was held to just the one three, mired in a 1-12 shooting night with eight turnovers.

Warsaw, which finishes 9-13 overall, wraps up NLC play 6-1 and sole possession of second place after Northridge closed out a championship run with a 51-37 win over Plymouth Thursday in Middlebury to end up 7-0 in the NLC.

The Lady Tigers will begin Class 4-A sectional play at Goshen Tuesday with a date against Elkhart Central (7-15), which has lost six of its last seven games including a 78-47 setback at Oregon-Davis Thursday night.

NorthWood (13-11, 4-3 NLC), losers of seven of its past 10 games, will take on Lakeland Tuesday in the first round of the Class 3-A Tippecanoe Valley Sectional.

In the junior varsity game, Hope Fancil hit a free throw with four seconds left to give the Lady Tigers a 31-30 win over NorthWood. Maddie Ryman made a layup to give Warsaw a 30-28 lead, only for NorthWood’s Kira Robinson to get a steal and two free throws to tie the game at 30. Ryman led Warsaw with 12 points and Jessie Kersey had 10 points. Emily Demitruk led NorthWood with 12 points.

Warsaw concludes its JV season 16-6 overall, winners of its final 11 games.