Before we get to the Outside the Huddle All-Area Team and our end-of-year awards, Bounce wanted to take some time and take a last glance at area conferences and hand out some league-specific hardware.
We move on to the NE8 girls.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Kennedy Fuelling, Norwell
A clear no brainer here as Fuelling was, in Bounce’s opinion, a snub from the Indiana All-Stars released recently. The leader on every mentionable level for the Class 3A state runner up team, Fuelling played as one of the brightest stars in the area and has a body of work for her career that is just unimaginable.
Fuelling led Norwell to a state title game and along the way became the most prolific scorer in a program full of prolific scorers. She averaged an area best 21.4 points per game, while also tallying 3.8 steals, 2.9 rebounds and 1.8 assists. He numbers were even more killer when you realize that with Norwell’s dominance at portions of this season, she wasn’t always on the court for a full game but did hit almost 1/3 of all of Norwell’s shots.
HONORABLE MENTION: Makenzie Fuess (Norwell), Addison Baxter (Columbia City), Ashley Cox (DeKalb), Hailey Cole (Bellmont)
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER: Hailey Cole, Bellmont
If you know Bounce’s awards and OTH history, you know MVP means something different than Player of the Year. MVP to us is someone who is legit the most valuable to their team and overall success of that program.
Cole was a force for the Braves all across the court. Averaging 14.2 points, 7.3 rebounds, 2.8 steals and 2.3 assists, there is nothing that Cole couldn’t do for this Bellmont team in keeping them in the hunt in a talented and challenging NE8. She played the season as expected, by being the Bellmont workhorse and providing them with maximum value.
She is the perfect example of the MVP as we see it, someone who their team simply needs to be as successful as they are on the floor by leadership and how they play the game. Bellmont was a strong squad but Cole was a clear backbone.
HONORABLE MENTION: Ashley Cox (DeKalb), Molly Baker (Columbia City), Kyndra Sheets (Columbia City), Kayla Adams (Leo), Marissa Trout (Huntington North)
BREAKOUT PLAYER: Vanessa Rosswurm, Norwell
With so many talented freshmen and sophomores in there NE8 this season, the future looks bright and gives the fans of this conference something substantial to look forward to.
Rosswurm stood the tallest though as a player who often played like she knew she could be the best player on the court, even as she stood next to Bounce’s NE8 Player of the Year, Kennedy Fuelling. yet, Rosswurm filled in her role superbly, averaging 11.6 points per game to go with 5.9 rebounds and 1.5 steals.
When we look back at the near storybook year that Norwell had, Rosswurm’s emergence was certainly one of those catalysts in the depth that got Norwell over the hump and to Gainbridge Fieldhouse with a shot to win the whole thing.
HONORABLE MENTION: Averi Amstutz (East Noble), Abbie Harris (DeKalb), Leah Shappell (Leo), Rian David (East Noble), Alanah Webb (New Haven)
COACH OF THE YEAR: Eric Thornton, Norwell
Eric Thornton deserved a trip to the state finals. Even if it fell a bit short, he has enhanced girls basketball in Northeast Indiana for so long and been such a great mentor to coaches and players alike, it was only right that he got his shot at the state crown.
Thornton led Norwell to arguably their best season ever and that is saying something when you look at how Norwell basketball has taken shape, especially under his leadership. He had multiple all-state players that he helped develop and his program as a whole is in tremendous shape with the levels below varsity thriving just as much as the top team.
Thornton has been at this a long time, but this year proves that he may only keep getting better as a coach and leader in this conference and in the state.
HONORABLE MENTION: Amy Shearer (Columbia City), Britain Isaacs (East Noble), Andy Heim (Bellmont)
GAME OF THE YEAR: Norwell at Columbia City, December 8
One of the most packed games of the season was great as both of these schools showed out to support two of the best teams in the entire state, let alone this conference.
In a tremendous back and forth battle with absolutely zero backdown from either loaded squad, Norwell upended the then top team in the entire state with a 46-44 win over Columbia City. Dekota Hubble‘s free throws with under 10 seconds to go locked up the win for the Knights, who got a team high 18 points out of Makenzie Fuess in the win.
The Columbia City defense was right on Kennedy Fuelling all night, but her nine points in the fourth quarter were huge in getting Norwell over the hump in the game that ultimately decided the NE8 title.
To have this level of play, of ability and the environment to go with it is rare.
EARLY 2024 SAC CHAMPION PREDICTION: Norwell
Rosswurm’s return is crucial to this as she is likely to take on the role as Norwell’s most featured player. Yes, every other starter graduates but never is the cupboard empty for the Knights.
Junior Ryland Graft and sophomore Addison Norris both provided some quality time for the team this past season. Beyond that, look at the overwhelming success that Norwell had below the state runner up varsity level. Most notably, their JV team went 20-0 this season, meaning that the next Knights up are also ready to KEEP running the NE8. And if any 8th graders happen to contend for a varsity spot next year as freshmen, they are also coming off a NE8 title season.
Those familiar foes at the top like Columbia City, Bellmont and Huntington North all have the ability to reload and teams like DeKalb, East Noble and Leo have bright young pieces to push as well pretty immediately. But at the end of the day, Norwell is the standard and their incoming pieces show that they haven’t dropped off yet.
These opinions represent those of Bounce and Outside the Huddle. No opinions expressed on Outside the Huddle represent those of any of our advertisers. Follow Bounce on Twitter at Bounce_OTH
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