Each Sunday, yours truly will take a look at some of the bigger stories and important notes of the week with a wrap up column.
So what are a couple of things to take away from the very first week of the 2024-2025 girls basketball season?
OPENING NIGHT SUCCESSES
Tuesday was a marquee day for a couple of reasons and it wasn’t just because the new season was able to tip off. You can’t imagine how happy Bounce is that basketball is officially back.
One of the big games that made it marquee was South Side and Canterbury opening up against each other. No, neither team is a top area contender but the game between the two of them means important things for each program. Juanita Goodwell‘s 16th year coaching South Side opened with a win, the 210th of her career, but it also marked the Archer’s first win to start the season since 2020 when they were last over .500 for the season.
BriTanya Dierich-Williams scored 19 points to lead South Side in the 62-20 win and Renaesha Autry added 17 points with four Archers in double digit scoring. Does this mean an Archer uptick and potential eventual return to high level prominence? We will see, but its a great start. Across the court, just having Canterbury back in varsity action is tremendous. Brittani Turner has taken over on the sidelines for the Cavaliers after not having a varsity team last season. Canterbury only has 10 total wins since the start of the 2018-19 season, and a return to state power would be hard but the return of their varsity team is great in Bounce’s eyes.
Norwell was another opening night winner, 72-40 over Tippecanoe Valley. Vanessa Rosswurm threw the first punch as one of the area’s best scorers this season with 27 points in the win. She also had six steals while the team had 22 total takeaways with Macie Saalfrank adding six of her own and Jada Dale had five steals. Norwell has now won on opening night every year since 2007’s opening loss to Bishop Dwenger.
Bishop Dwenger opened with a win over Churubusco behind 22 points from Izzie Eke on Tuesday, while Fremont topped South Bend St. Joe behind 18 points from Mya Turner and 15 from Addy Parr.
WHAT ABOUT WARSAW
Warsaw opened a highly touted season with two different types of games and opponents this week. The Tigers started the season on Wednesday with a blowout seasoning opening win at North Side, 66-12. The Tigers held the Legends to just three made field goals, while registering 22 steals against the home team.
It was a start that gets Warsaw going and led them into a nice weekend showdown at Norwell. 10 different players scored, led by 21 points from Brooke Zartman and 15 points from Joslyn Bricker. Kyra Kiser had a team high four steals in the win.
But the biggest win came Saturday when the Tigers upended defending state runner up Norwell, which is big enough, but also factor in that the win came inside The Castle. The win is massive to showcase just how dominant that Warsaw can be this season, even if Norwell is going through somewhat of a rebuild. The Knights were held to just nine steals total, stifling a a strong defense that ran through Tippecanoe Valley earlier in the week and was very solid in a win over Cathedral as part of their three game week.
But Saturday, that belonged to Warsaw in a 74-50 win that was the first area game with two ranked teams. Warsaw came into the game ranked 6th in Class 4A while Norwell was third in Class 3A.
Warsaw helped force 23 turnovers, which is essentially unheard of against a Norwell team. The Tigers also held a high end rebounding advantage, 25-13, that included eight offensive rebounds. Unsurprisingly, Warsaw put four players in double figure scoring, led by Brooke Zartman‘s 24 points while Alexis Neely had 15 points to go with seven rebounds and seven assists in the win. Joslyn Bricker also scored 15 and Brooke Winchester had 14 points and 9 rebounds for Warsaw in the massive opening weekend win.
Warsaw won every quarter opposite Norwell and held the Knights to just six second quarter points.
WHATS UP WITH SOUTH BEND WASHINGTON
South Bend Washington, arguably the best team in the state regardless of class, opened the season 2-0 this week. And believe it or not, but their win Thursday over Goshen by the score of 93-14 isn’t even the headline.
On Saturday, South Bend Washington beat Class 2A Gary Lighthouse 100-0.
SB Washington may not be part of our coverage area, but the final score stands out nonetheless, as does the 4A north team’s status as a possible postseason opponent for our area Class 4A powers like Homestead. The Panther’s scoring discrepancies – averaging 96.5 to 7 points per game – aren’t going to last. But this was just the 7th shutout in girls basketball in the state this century and the first time that a team has won 100-0.
Yeah, Bounce gets coach Steven Reynolds‘ biggest issue, as he told the South Bend Tribute, that nobody wanted to play the Panthers. I get it, I really do. Its a no win situation against the powerhouse, especially this early in the season. But Reynolds still has to fill his schedule and I guess kudos to Lighthouse for taking the game, clearly knowing what was going to happen with their own nearly 30 game losing streak across multiple seasons.
But the question remains why the game HAD to be played. Why aren’t other teams willing to play SB Washington, even if it is a potential loss. Why are we shying away from non-conference losses against the favorite to win a state title? Wouldn’t this game make sense to sharpen some teams in the state that aren’t Gary Lighthouse?
It certainly was an odd footnote for the opening week in the state.
OTHER NOTES
Bishop Luers got a nice start from a somewhat new face Tuesday. Despite a loss to DeKalb, senior Kiora Bell led the Knights with 17 points with 9 rebounds….Prairie Heights held Jimtown to 11 points on Wednesday, with the Panther defense holding quarter point totals to 2, 2 and 0 over the final three quarters. It is the least amount of points scored against Prairie Heights since a 67-0 win over West Noble in 2000….Eastside opened their season hitting 71 points, marking the fourth time the program has hit 70 or more in the last decade. The balanced effort was led by 15 points each from Sydnee Kessler and Lily Kreischer; Paige Traxler (11) and Taylor Mack (11) joined them in double figure scoring….Ava McGrade posted 9 steals (and 30 points) in Lakewood Park‘s season opening win over Churubusco Thursday and followed up with 26 more Saturday in a win over Adams Central….Despite a loss to DeKalb, Lakeland‘s Cara Schackow moved into 6th in program history for career blocks…Highly touted freshman Janaya Cooper helped open her high school career with 12 points and 6 rebounds in Saturday’s loss for Snider to McCutcheon….On Saturday, Bluffton scored 99 points in a win over Canterbury, led by 25 from Isabella Stout, while Konley Ault led with 7 of the team’s 26 steals. The last time Bluffton scored in the 90’s was a 92-32 win over the same Cavaliers in 2020.
VOTING
Every Sunday, voting will open for who had the best single game performance of the week. You can vote now for this week’s girls basketball top performance.
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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