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 caught Bounce’s eye this week as we head to the holidays?
BLACKHAWK CAUSING PROBLEMS…AGAIN
We’ve seen it year after year and we’ve seen it multiple times this season, but Blackhawk Christian boys remain a big problem.
Sure, you can just points out surface things like their 76-26 drubbing of defending Class 1A state champion Canterbury this past week. That looks really good for outside of the area people who still have Canterbury ranked in Class 1A. And it was a good one, behind Kellen Pickett‘s 22 points. But the Braves are far more than just the scoring spreads they are putting out.
Blackhawk Christian sits at 6-1 on the season with the outlier being a three point loss to Avon.
What has been impressive is something that we became accustomed to during Marc Davidson‘s run coaching the Braves: the ability to smoothly blend returners, transfers and high school newcomers into a well oiled machine. Kudos to coach Matt Roth for having Blackhawk Christian already so dangerous with that same thing happening.
Kellen Pickett, Bryce Sefton and Luke Mansfield were returners we all knew the Braves would lean on. But with Briggs Pardon and Payton Rhinehart moving into the school and stud freshman class that includes Drake Sefton and Bryce Lacross joining the fold, it is fair to say that we didn’t know how the Braves would be able to balance it all.
Pardon has been fantastic for the Braves, second in scoring right now at 11.7 points per game, trailing just Pickett’s 18.2. Included in that was a 30 point game on 12-of-18 shooting against North Side.
Drake Sefton and Lacross, both freshmen, are averaging just over five points per game each but have shown a smooth transition from the middle school level to a high school varsity court and that is not always an easy ride.
Oh and Pickett, the Indiana All-Star candidate? He’s just averaging 18.2 points, 13.7 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 3.3 blocks per game. So yeah, he’s doing just fine too.
EASTSIDE ROLLING…CAN ANYONE BEAT THEM?
The Blazer girls soared again on Tuesday against in-county opponent Lakewood Park. It was a game that we figured that Eastside would control because of their depth, which is hard to rival at this point no matter who you are. They did indeed come away with the 78-51 win, scoring 45 points in the first half alone.
Depth came into play, because of course it did. Lucy Kitchen led the way with 17 points for Eastside, but three others scored in double figures including 10 points from Adelaide Elden, a name that we haven’t talked about much with the Blazers this season. Almost more impressively, the Blazers gave up just two points to one of the area’s top scorers in Ava McGrade. While McGrade did foul out with five minutes to play, she only got off three shots in the game, with Lakewood Park coach Jared Estep telling Bounce that Kitchen did a good job of containing McGrade’s dribble throughout.
The win pushed Eastside to 11-0, the best start in program history.
On Saturday, the Blazers continued their three game road run with a 77-33 victory at Lakeland. As balanced as Eastside always is in scoring, this game saw a big offensive output with Lily Kreischer scoring a game high 31 points, nearly matching the Lakers herself.
Eastside plays just one more time this calendar year, a December 27 visit to Heritage, who currently sits at 1-11. 2025 will bring seven games not counting the NECC Tournament or the postseason. In those seven games, the Blazers in at least six of them, with a January 3 home game against Bellmont being a really interesting one for them. The Braves are tough and could give Eastside the best shot the remainder of the regular season. From there, can anyone else beat the Blazers? Weirder things have happened and the area is too good to just walk through with the likes of DeKalb’s Ashley Cox and Abbie Harris, Fairfield’s Madison Jones and Eva Herbert and Central Noble’s Grace Swank still on the schedule.
But Bounce really, really likes where Eastside is sitting as of today.
FRONT OF THE NECC (BOYS) GETS CLARITY?
On Tuesday, Lakeland hosted Westview in what could be the game that decides the NECC, but we still have a long time for that right? Westview came in slight favorites in Bounce’s eyes, while my good friend John Harrell had Lakeland with the slight edge. We probably were not at all prepared for how the game started, with Lakeland taking a 16-10 halftime lead. Austin Schlabach scored 8 of Westview’s 10 first half points and as slow as things were, it ended up being a 52-48 game with Lakeland taking the win.
Levi Cook led three double digit Lakers with 17 points while Justin Carlson and Keyan Arroyo each added 11. Schlabach led the game in scoring with 22 points for Westview in the loss.
Westview turned around on Friday and beat Angola, handing the Hornets their first NECC loss of the still young season. Westview led most of the way and really looked to have tamed Angola on the Hornets’ own home court. But in the fourth, Angola surged back and a Landon Leach three late tied the game before Westview was able to wrap things up with Daniel Yoder‘s steal with just under four seconds and two free throws to make it 50-46. The Warriors had a crazy balanced effort with Schlabach’s 12 points leading the way, but Owen Brill, Daniel Yoder and Kaden Grau each adding 11.
The Hornets faced another tough challenge on Saturday with a 53-50 overtime win at Fremont. The Eagles, like Westview Friday, led most of the way and had a 24-16 advantage at halftime but this time Angola was able to complete the late surge to get to overtime.
Right now, it is Lakeland (4-0) and West Noble (2-0) leading the conference with Westview and Angola sitting 3-1, Garrett at 2-1 and Fairfield at 1-1. It is early for clarity, but Angola, Lakeland and Westview playing against each other this week gives us some insight at the very least. It will be a while now before we get more important NECC games, but with Garrett at 7-1 overall and Isaiah King and Carter Coffman both averaging 20 points per game this past week, their January games with Westview and Lakeland add intrigue, as does Fairfield at Westview that same week in late January.
Lakeland will play at West Noble on January 10, but the Chargers need to beat Prairie Heights and Eastside both first for that game with Lakeland to be between NECC undefeateds.
OTHER GIRLS NOTES
Woodlan‘s Alyssa Anderson and Norwell‘s Vanessa Rosswurm had quite a duel Tuesday in the Knights’ 62-51 win. Anderson scored a game high 33 points on 15-of-18 shooting while Rosswurm scored 27 for Norwell….For the second straight week, Columbia City‘s Addison Baxter came a point away from her career high; this time she scored 32 in a Tuesday loss to Warsaw….Blackhawk Christian coach Steph Gongaware won her 100th game Tuesday in a win over Heritage; the Braves were led in scoring by Malea Steele‘s 24 points….Warsaw‘s 65-50 win over Columbia City Tuesday gave them their longest unbeaten streak since starting 18-0 in 2012-13; Joslyn Bricker had 26 points while Brooke Winchester had 10 points and 17 rebounds….On Tuesday, DeKalb‘s Ashley Cox moved into a tie for 4th on the program’s all-time scoring list at 1,105 points….Homestead led Bishop Luers 26-0 after the first quarter Friday before winning 81-17….Jay County trailed New Castle 49-40 leading into the fourth Friday but won 64-54 in overtime.
OTHER BOYS NOTES
East Noble picked up their first win Monday, 60-53 in overtime over West Noble. Nathan Bowker led the way with 23 points, including a logo range three to beat the first quarter buzzer….Trace Maller of Adams Central continued his early season tear Tuesday with 22 points and 9 rebounds in a win over Whitko….Leo hit 11 three pointers in Tuesday’s win over Northrop with Nolan Hiteshew (game high 21 points), Grant Johnson and Colton Wallace hitting three each….On Saturday, Huntington North fell to Marion but senior Ethan Zahn had 32 points, 6 assists and 6 rebounds….Garrett improved to 7-1 with wins agains Bellmont (Wednesday) and Bluffton (Saturday), Garrett has not won 7 of their first 8 in the last 30 seasons nor seven games before Christmas in that time; Isaiah King averaged 20.5 points per game over the week, while Carter Coffman averaged 20 and the Railroaders are the only area boys team currently with seven or more wins….Bellmont‘s Gavin Krull scored 31 points Saturday in a loss to New Haven.
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