WARSAW — While the official title of Monday night’s festivities was, “2016-17 Warsaw Community Schools Elementary Basketball Championships”, it just as easily could have been called “The Future Tiger Showcase.”

Four teams representing three schools gathered at the Tiger Den for some Monday night mayhem and there was plenty of excitement to be had in both games. In the first game it was Lincoln fighting its way to a 21-15 victory over Washington in the girls championship. The boys title game saw Jefferson pull away for a 38-21 win over Washington.

The girls game became a battle between Lincoln’s Lauren Grose and Washington’s Macy Bonifield.

Bonifield hit the game’s first basket midway through the first quarter, but Grose was just biding her time. The Lincoln sixth grader scored the final bucket of the first which sparked an 8-0 run from Grose. Facing an 8-2 deficit, Bonifield drained two free throws in the second quarter to make the score 8-4 before the half.

Bonifield and the Hornets really started to buzz after halftime. The ladies rallied to take a 10-8 lead thanks to buckets from Bonifield and Jordan Love. Lincoln’s Mia Alexander tied things back up 10-10 before Bonfield beat the buzzer to give the Hornets a 12-10 lead going into the final five minutes.

The final quarter belonged to Grose. She was 5-10 from the line and scored a total of nine points in the frame. Grose’s efforts helped lift the Lions to the championship as she finished with a game-high 17 points. Alexander and Macey Perry had the other points for the Lions, each with two. Bonifield closed her night out with a team-high 10 points and was supported, offensively, by Love (two points), Zoe Bergan (two) and Avery Fitzgerald (one).

The boys championship bout had a faster pace to it as Jefferson wasted no time jumping out to a 4-0 lead. The Spartans led 12-6 after one and remained in control for the entire game thanks, mainly, to the dynamic duo of Jaxson Gould and Jonathan Burritt.

Gould matched Washington’s point total for the night as he tallied a game-high 21 points. Burritt, meanwhile, scored eight for the Spartans and had may have had the unofficial highlight of the night when he pulled a smooth crossover before going up for two, a move that was met with loud cheers from the Warsaw boys basketball players in attendance. Gould had the other argument for the game’s top highlight as he drained a shot from well beyond the arc to beat the third quarter buzzer. Unfortunately, there are no threes in elementary basketball, making Gould’s effort just the longest two-point shot made in the Tiger Den this season on any level of competition. Not bad.

Drew Heckaman had the offensive prowess for the Hornets as he scored a team-high 11 points, including six of the team’s final eight. The Hornets proved to have a solid balance in scoring as four players scored in all, but Gould’s 21 were too hard to top as was an equally balanced attack from Jefferson.

After Gould and Burritt, the Spartans had scoring fro three other players. Miah Wright totaled four while Wyatt Dawson and Alex Cook each had two. Dawson was the only fourth grader to score any points in either of Monday’s games. Washington added six points from Jeremiah Dawson and two each from Parker Bonifield and Theo Katris.