The Warwick High School girls’ varsity basketball team opened its 2014-15 season with a trophy. On Saturday night, December 6, 2014, the Warriors won the Elizabethtown Tip-Off Tournament with a 48-47 overtime victory over Susquehannock.
It was the kind of season-opening weekend coaches hope for: a close game, a test of composure and a win that gave the team early confidence.
A tight game from the start
“It was a great game from the beginning,” Warwick coach Amy Derr said in an email after the final.
Susquehannock led 11-10 after the first quarter. Warwick took control before halftime, building a 19-15 lead on a mix of three-pointers and free throws.
The Warriors had their best offensive stretch in the third quarter, scoring 13 points. But Susquehannock answered with a run of its own early in the second half, forcing Warwick to regroup.
“We needed to regroup and get back to basics,” Derr said.
Overtime finish
Regulation ended with the score tied, sending the championship game to overtime. In the extra period, Susquehannock scored four points and Warwick scored five, and the final seconds decided it.
With 3.5 seconds left, a Warwick drive and short jumper put the Warriors up by one. On the ensuing inbounds play, Warwick deflected the pass, forcing a jump ball. The possession arrow gave Warwick the ball with one second left, and the Warriors inbounded and held on.
Team effort
Warwick’s offense came from several players, with key three-pointers, drives and free throws throughout the night. The team made 14 of 26 free throws, enough to stay in front in a game where every point mattered. A Warwick player was named the tournament’s most valuable player after a strong shooting performance in the final.
Coach Derr praised the team’s composure late in the game and its ability to recover after Susquehannock’s second-half surge. Early-season tournaments are often about finding out which combinations work and how a team handles pressure, and the Warriors got a clear answer in their first weekend.
About the tournament
The Elizabethtown Tip-Off Tournament is a season-opening event hosted at Elizabethtown Area High School. Early-season tournaments like it give teams a chance to play non-league opponents before section play begins and to measure themselves against programs from other parts of the region.
Susquehannock High School, in southern York County, competes in the York-Adams league, making the game a rare matchup with a Lancaster-Lebanon League opponent.
Warwick athletics
Warwick High School competes in the Lancaster-Lebanon League, one of the largest high school athletic leagues in Pennsylvania. Girls’ basketball is one of the school’s winter sports, alongside boys’ basketball, swimming and diving, wrestling and others.
The program has a long tradition of competitive teams, supported by youth leagues and middle school programs across the Warwick School District, which serves Lititz Borough and Warwick, Elizabeth and Clay townships.
Following the Warriors
Schedules, results and team news for Warwick athletics are posted through the Warwick School District and its athletics department. Fans can also follow league standings through the Lancaster-Lebanon League.
For the 2014 team, the season began the best possible way: with a hard-fought win, a trophy for the case and a reminder that games are not over until the final second ticks away.
Early-season lessons
Coaches often say December tournaments reveal more than they decide. Rotations get tested, younger players get minutes against unfamiliar opponents, and the team learns how it responds when a lead slips away. Warwick’s overtime win checked each of those boxes. The Warriors handled a second-half run, stayed calm at the free-throw line and executed a final defensive play under pressure, all in the first game that counted.