NE8 BOYS TEAMS DISCOVERING THEIR IDENTITIES
On Tuesday, Leo lost 72-57 to Wayne but it certainly wasn’t for a lack of trying. While the usual suspects led the way, there are some guys looking to make major impact without a lot of varsity experience.
At the forefront of that is Landon Ruoff, the junior big man who came off the bench in the loss to Wayne but got the start Friday in a win over Heritage. Ruoff went from a play JV/dress varsity guy a season ago to playing over 20 minutes in Wednesday night’s opener. While he looked a little unsure in areas very early, once Ruoff visibly relaxed Tuesday, he was a solid help for a Lions program that has traditionally leaned on posts. On Friday against Heritage, it was clear that calmness carried over in a lot of ways as he had nine points and eight rebounds and showed how important he can be inside for the next two seasons. Colton Wallace, who has had a similar path for Leo, scored a team second best 10 points Friday in the 47-31 win over Heritage.
Jackson McGee did lead Leo with 26 points and 10 rebounds in the Wayne loss. And while he is someone who may not be finding a varsity identity, he certainly showed an enhanced identity as an elite area scorer and he dueled back and forth all night with Wayne‘s Jevon Lewis (32 points). Meanwhile, Trey and Nolan Hiteshew both did a bit of everything along with eight points each. Nolan Hiteshew ended up with five rebounds, four assists and three steals in the contest.
While the Lions led Heritage just 6-4 after a first quarter on Friday, it is Wednesday’s run with Wayne that should remind us that this is just a team figuring out their identity and new depth. That takes time, so if you can compete with the area’s top team for most of the game in game one and then get a win in game two while figuring that out, it adds potential intrigue for the Lions.
East Noble is another squad that is still figuring things out, but you have to be impressed with for multiple reasons.
Their only game of the week was Saturday’s loss to Carroll, but to be honest there was certainly a bigger expectation that the game wouldn’t be as close as the 65-57 final. The Knights’ worst quarter was a negative five in the second against the Chargers and they actually outscored Carroll in the final frame with 24 points.
East Noble sits at 2-1 after opening their season with quality wins over county rival West Noble and against Lakeland. Every single one of the Knights’ games so far have come on the road as will 2 of their next 3, at Snider and then against Concord at Grace College. Trying to find footing on the road isn’t easy but the Knights are doing it. Kobe Ritchie‘s intelligence and aggression continues to impress as a consistent double digit scorer, putting up 14 points and 10 rebounds on Saturday. Him stepping up allows other players for the Knights to figure out their game flow early in this season.
Owen Van Gessel (16) and Nathan Bowker (13) were East Noble’s other double digit scorers in the loss to Carroll.
And we have to mention the Bellmont Braves, who caught everyone’s attention with their start, including a big win over Woodlan. This week, they fell to Concordia in a great game on Tuesday night, but there is a lot clicking in Decatur that I like. And if you haven’t seen Kord Fuelling‘s absolute poster of a dunk in the Cadets’ cage from Tuesday’s loss, probably go find that on Twitter somewhere. On Friday, the Braves bounced back with a quality win over Whitko where Jack Scheumann led three players in double figures with 14 points.
SNIDER GIRLS’ RECORD BREAKING CLASS
Snider celebrated a couple of milestones on Friday as they dispatched SAC foe South Side by a margin its better that we just don’t mention. Instead, lets focus on how great the Class of 2024 continues to be for this Snider program, although we all know they have been special for sometime.
Jordyn Poole was honored on the night for recently passing 1,000 career points. She then proceeded to add 21 more points to that total. A complete scorer, Poole continues to wow and not rest on her laurels as one of the best athletic pure scoring guard we’ve seen in Northeast Indiana in quite some time.
Speaking of not resting on her laurels, Johnea Donahue came into the South Side game needing just three steals to become the program’s all-time steals leader. She had 10…yes, 10 steals. Donahue left the night with 294 career steals, surpassing that previous mark of 287. An absolute juggernaut on the defensive end, Donahue now has the single season and all-time steals marks for the Panthers and considering how long and how dominant she has been defensively in her career, it would take something remarkable to ever break this career mark.
Saturday, in a 32 point win over Merrillville, Ciara Sims (18), Poole (16) and Donahue (15) all scored in double digits to lead a massive Snider win.
This class has been something special and is one we should cherish while we have it on Fairlawn Pass.
HOLDING ON
Blackhawk Christian was on both ends of the spectrum this week when it came to closing out games. On Tuesday, despite constant attacking on both ends of the floor, they couldn’t get by North Side in both teams’ season opener. Read more about that game here.
Then on Friday, the Braves found themselves clutching to a lead as New Haven surged back at them multiple times. Blackhawk Christian actually led 23-13 at halftime, holding New Haven to just one made field goal in the second quarter while Kellen Pickett and Isaac Smith went to work offensively. But the Braves had to deal with probably the most freakishly dominant game of Ajani Washington‘s career as the Bulldog senior posted 21 points and 19 rebounds in the loss in overtime. The Bulldogs outscored Blackhawk Christian by 10 in the second half to force the overtime period.
JC Cottrell had a near double double for New Haven in the Blackhawk Christian game with 16 points and 9 rebounds after he scored 15 earlier in the week for the Bulldogs.
But the Braves answered and got some big stops down the stretch, including a massive block from Jackson Hauser that helped seal the victory, the first on the season for Blackhawk Christian.
LAKEWOOD PARK MOVING THE NEEDLE
This past week, the Panther girls went 1-1, suffering their first loss of the season and putting them at 7-1 overall.
But it is worth noting how well Lakewood Park has been playing all season, no matter the opponent. The Panthers are +12.7 points per game on the season and that one loss, against a really tough Bishop Luers team this week, was only a 48-42 game. It adds intrigue to the rest of the season when we see Lakewood up against a really tough schedule that includes the top four teams in the area of Columbia City, Snider, Homestead and Northrop.
In Tuesday’s win over Prairie Heights, it was Grace Kamleiter taking the lead with 22 points, adding four rebounds and three steals. But Ava McGrade was right there too, as expected, with 19 points and four rebounds and three steals of her own, while Jade Carnahan added 10 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists in a near triple double.
In the loss to Bishop Luers, McGrade had 18 points and the Panthers managed nine total steals.
The Panthers, with 7 wins, are now just three wins away from coach Jared Estep‘s biggest win total at the helm in his third season and there has to be early whispers about if this team could have some postseason success in Class 1A. Their schedule will only make them stronger for that eventual run in 2024.
OTHER GIRLS NOTES
Manchester‘s Brooklyn Buzzard continued her torrid pace with a career high 31 points Tuesday….Angola girls won the age old rivalry against Central Noble Friday behind 17 points from Kylie Caswell….Norwell‘s Kennedy Fuelling hit 14 of 16 free throws on Friday in a win over Huntington North; her scoring in the game helped her surpass Kaylee Fuelling for fourth all-time in Norwell girls scoring….Homestead outscored Carroll 55-25 Friday after a 45 minute break in the second quarter due to a fire alarm going off….The Columbia City girls tallied 14 steals in Saturday’s win over Leo, led by 4 from Addison Baxter, one of four Eagles with multiple steals in the game and moving Baxter’s week total to 12 steals in 2 games….Alix Jacquay scored with 3 seconds left Saturday to lift Woodlan past Adams Central, 45-44.
OTHER BOYS NOTES
Garrett‘s Drayton Myers drained five three pointers Tuesday in a loss to Woodlan….Wayne‘s Jevon Lewis surpassed 1,000 career points Tuesday in a win over Leo. He finished with 32 points….Luke Bricker of Warsaw had the biggest week of his young career, scoring 22 points in a win over Homestead on Friday and then turning around Saturday with 30 in the victory over Huntington North….Two names to know out of Columbia City boys shined Friday in a win over Canterbury: senior Matt Mulligan scored a career best 21 points and sophomore Owen Marshall put up 10….Snider freshman Trell Hogue scored 17 points in the first game of his career Friday in a win over South Side….Norwell boys overcame being outscored 33-14 in the 2nd/3rd quarters Saturday against Oak Hill to win 66-59 in double overtime….Manchester‘s Gavin Betten surpassed 1,000 career points Friday in a win over Wawaee….Central Noble boys are off to their first 3-0 start ever under a first year head coach….Hamilton got their first win under new coach Chase Holden Saturday, 28-26 over Lakeland Christian Academy; it is the program’s first win since February 9, 2021.
VOTE
Don’t forget that every Sunday, you can vote for the girls and boys player you think had the best single game performance of the entire week.
Don’t see someone you think should be nominated? Let your coach know! Nominees come only from stats submitted by schools.
VOTE NOW for the girls top performance of the week of November 27-December 2
VOTE NOW for the boys top performance of the week of November 27-December 2
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