GIRLS HOOPS CONFERENCE RACES
It is almost time to crown conference champs on the girls side.
Snider looks like they have control in ways of the SAC after the blowout of Northrop on Friday night. The Panthers are so balanced right now. Ciara Sims led the way with 17 in the win with Johnea Donahue (16), Jordyn Poole (15) and Kyra Parker (14) following. The Panthers are 6-0 in the SAC with Homestead at 5-0 now. Northrop isn’t out of it at all, but now trail and its hard to see the champion of this conference not being unbeaten when time is up. Gabby Helsom is going to help Homestead in this final race at the end of the season. She scored 30 on Tuesday in a win and then followed it up Wednesday with 18 more in a win over Ben Davis and 17 on Friday in a win over South Side.
Snider plays at Homestead this coming Friday and that likely determines your SAC champion. Last season, Snider topped the Spartans in overtime.
How dangerous can Bellmont be in the NE8 race still? Well it sure wasn’t a conference game, but the fact that Hailey Cole matched South Adams’ point total by herself on Wednesday is worth mentioning. She scored 32 points and only 8 of those came from free throws or three pointers, although Bellmont lost to Columbia City this week for their first NE8 loss. Norwell‘s Kennedy Fuelling had a 30 point game on Tuesday in a win over Carroll, her fourth of the season and second game of 30 or more in a row and the Knights are 4-0 and controlling the NE8 still.
Bellmont at Norwell on January 13 likely decides the conference race. A Norwell win could mean a title for them, although they still have a trap game with a good East Noble squad. A Bellmont win could give way to a three team tie at the top and that is something that Columbia City has to be hopping for now.
Jay County‘s dominant win over Bluffton this past week doesn’t close the door on the ACAC yet, but its close. The Patriots close against Heritage and Southern Wells, who are a combined 0-7 in the conference. If neither of those teams pull an upset, the ACAC still belongs to Jay County.
In the NECC, this week was a potential decider too as Fairfield edged Eastside despite a really nice Blazer comeback. Fairfield is 7-0 with Central Noble and Eastside both at 6-1. Fairfield does still have a game hosting Central Noble on January 16 and that is one where the Cougars are more than capable of making waves in this conference race and potentially forcing a three team tie for a while, although Central Noble and Eastside also still have to do battle this season. So while Fairfield looks to be in control off the NECC, things are far from over in this race.
In other conferences with OTH coverage area teams, Warsaw is a perfect 4-0 and leads the Northern Lakes Conference after snapping second place Northridge’s 17 game winning streak this week. Warsaw has just three conference games left and they are against the bottom three teams in the NLC, who have combined for two conference wins. In the Three Rivers Conference, Whitko sits at 5-1 and tied with Rochester behind 4-0 Cass. The Wildcats have 3-3 Northfield as the toughest TRC team left on their schedule but will need Cass to lose with January 13 at Rochester being the best bet.
NE8 BOYS CHAOS?
So how about the NE8 on Saturday night? Double overtime and a buzzer beater with four teams at the top of the conference and DeKalb still keeping pace in their game. And Friday even was big in the still close conference just two games into NE8 play.
The first game of note to end Saturday was Columbia City‘s buzzer beating win over Bellmont. To start, the battle between Matt Mulligan and Jack Scheumann was magnificent with Mulligan ending with a career best 29 points for the Eagles and Bellmont’s Scheumann scoring 25. In the end, Scheumann hit a three with 1.3 seconds left to tie the game at 54. On the ensuing inbounds, Columbia City got the ball to Aiden Denning for a three at the buzzer to give the Eagles the win. There are a lot of things to say about the ending of this game.
First, Columbia City are the cardiac kids and their ability win at the end of games is clutch. Two, credit to Owen Marshall at the end of this; he hit 1 of 2 free throws before Scheumann’s three to extend the Eagle lead to begin with and then he made the baseball inbounds pass to set up up the winning Denning shot. And three, yes there is controversy here. Bellmont fans asked, Bounced rewatched and yes from catch by Stratton Fuller, pass to Denning and shot before the red light on the Eagle backboard lit up looked about double the time of what was on the clock.
But I have to ask, why does it matter? Short of having a referee go over and be the timer on the final play, what is supposed to be done different? Schools don’t put people on clocks that they think would show any bias. Did the Columbia City scorer start the clock on time? From my end, it didn’t look like it but its the hardest job in the gym and the human aspect is part of the game. Thank goodness that high school hoops doesn’t have replay to bog the game down like higher levels have started to do. In the end, I get some Bellmont frustration but Denning hits the clutch shot and we should all move on.
At Norwell, the Knights took the lead in the conference with a two overtime victory against Leo. Ashton Federspiel looked fantastic and, at times, unguardable with 31 points in the win while Cohen Bailey added 15 with some timely three point shooting. Jackson McGee had 24 for Leo and it will be crucial how the Lions bounce back from an 0-2 week, losing by a combined 8 points while their star, McGee, has scored 59 points combined in those games.
This was a fantastic basketball game for 36 of the 40 minutes that were played and was everything we’ve come to expect from this underrated rivalry over recent years. The other 4 minutes (2:30 in regulation and 1:30 in overtime) of holding the ball made Summit City Sports’ Tim Atkinson twitch and he wasn’t even there. Do we need a shot clock? Maybe. But to me, let’s put the ball on the floor and guard the ball. Both teams standing around, to me, kind of ruined the flow of what was one of the best games of the season.
DeKalb beat New Haven on Saturday behind 28 points from Caden Pettis. It moved the Barons to 1-1 in conference and made a statement that they aren’t out of the conversation yet.
On Friday, Huntington North upset East Noble behind 20 points from Ethan Zahn. Are the Vikings on the come up? They have now won three in a row and 4 of their last five after starting 0-7.
As we start a new week, Norwell is 2-0 in conference and New Haven is 0-2. The other six teams are all 1-1 and this is really shaping up to be the most intriguing boys conference race in the area.
HERE COME THE CAVS
It wouldn’t be odd for someone to not have been thinking enough about Canterbury during basketball season. The school isn’t in a conference, the girls program sadly doesn’t have a varsity team and the boys team started just 1-5, though did contend with Blackhawk Christian and Bishop Luers while Devon Lewis was going over the 1,000 point mark for his career.
Tuesday should tell you that you should be thinking about them a lot more now. After having 17 days off from games…yes, an unheard of 17 day break from games…the Cavaliers boys team “upset” a then two-loss Leo team 67-65 thanks to a buzzer beating tip in and despite the fact that Leo’s Jackson McGee scored 35 points for the home Lions.
And pretty much anyone who is in line with the area prep hoops scene should know why there was this surge and why the win over Leo, while still an “upset” wasn’t really all that shocking. Tuesday was the first game of the season eligible to play for four seniors: Tucker Day, John Parent, Jackson Davis and Colin Burda. They combined to play about 45 percent of Tuesday’s win, with Day and Parent getting the starts and Day never leaving the court. The four scored 58 percent of Canterbury’s points, pulled down 64 percent of the rebounds, account for 57 percent of the Cavaliers mad shots and Day was the only Canterbury to shoot – let alone hit – free throws.
Personally, I don’t care about any situation that led to the four transferring to Canterbury after a couple of them were major contributors at Homestead last season. I also don’t care why they had to sit out until January. But what I know is that Canterbury is going to be a problem for everyone else on their schedule and when you factor in that they are Class 1A in the postseason, this team could cause severe issues for anyone around them.
Day was and has been an absolute monster. When he is on, the 6-foot-7 post is a matchup issue around this area. His stat line on Tuesday was 25 points, 13 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals and 3 blocks; talk about your heavy lifting. What he and the three others bring, combined with the fact that Lewis has had a very underrated start to his season and contributed 16 points and three assists of his own on Tuesday, is there a better 1A school in the north half of the state? Credit too for Ashton Dressler, who had 10 points Tuesday and has had a solid senior season as well.
All eyes now on January 9 and February 1, hosting North Side and Wayne. Be alert, the Cavaliers are here to win.
UP NEXT
As the year turned to 2024, yours truly penned a column about underclassmen to watch in 2024.
I thought it was thorough. And then Tuesday happened and a couple of freshmen reminded me why they deserve conversation. Now, to be fair, both of these guys have already made major strides and impacts on the varsity level with their teams. But that doesn’t mean we should ignore Snider‘s Trell Hogue and New Haven‘s Tarvar Baskerville.
The two, who once were a duo with the vaunted Maplewood Elementary basketball program, are both set for potential superstardom over the next three and a half seasons. Hogue led his team in scoring on Tuesday with 16 points while Baskerville scored 10 and his team got the win.
But the reality remains that those two going head to head when they did was fun and it really could be one of the area’s best matchups and friendly rivalries for the next several years. Both are smooth guards who move well and are really good at creating off the dribble. Especially into next season, both of their teams are going to rely more and more on them both. Tuesday was just a small sample, but it is important to acknowledge the beginning of something that could grow to be great.
Hogue went on to score 21 points on Saturday in a win over Peru.
OTHER GIRLS NOTES
While we were away, Columbia City‘s Addison Baxter hit the 1,000 point mark of her career, the first Eagles player since Connie Myers in 2000 to do so….Speaking of Columbia City, they also won the Hall of Fame Classic right before the new year with Baxter named MVP and Kyndra Sheets All-Tournament team. The Eagles returned this week with a key win over Bellmont….Also during Bounce’s holiday break, Blackhawk Christian‘s Allie Boyer surpassed 1,000 career points, the 6th player to do so in program history….Lakewood Park beat Class 1A #1 Bethany Christian on Thursday behind 24 points from Ava McGrade….Whitko improved to 11-3 on Saturday, their most wins since 2016-17….With her 21 points Friday, Norwell‘s Kennedy Fuelling passed MacKenzie Warwick for 2nd most points in program history.
OTHER BOYS NOTES
Jackson McGee of Leo put up 35 points Tuesday in a loss to Canterbury, as previously noted, hitting the top single game scoring total on the boys side in the area this season….Fremont senior Corbin Beeman, on Friday, set the program’s record for charges taken. The point guard’s perimeter defense and ability to draw charges at the three point line is spectacular….Carson Gould of Warsaw hit one of the week’s buzzer beaters on Friday as the Tigers upended Northridge….Isaac Smith hit a near buzzer beating three Saturday as Blackhawk Christian topped Concordia.
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