What a year 2024 has been on the area hardwood. A calendar year full of titles, coaching carousels, emergence of big talent, D1 commitments, wins, losses and plenty of emotion.
As we close out the year of 2024, Bounce wanted to look back and remember some of the good times.
Will 2025 be as good? Maybe. Maybe not. So while we still can, let us look back on the year that is about to come to a close in area prep hoops with our favorite moments of the year in countdown form.
1. GIRLS TEAMS IN STATE FINALS
Bishop Luers won the state title. Norwell lost their state title game.
But wasn’t it fun to see both there? It certainly was my favorite moment from 2024. And part of that goes into getting to see Mark Pixley and Eric Thornton get to coach at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Two successful coaches who never quite got there.
For Pixley, it was a swan song, his final game as a varsity coach. For Thornton, it was another big checkmark on an always growing legacy that has seen him turn Norwell girls into one of the best athletic programs in Northeast Indiana in any sport, of any gender.
Both teams scrapped and clawed their way to Indianapolis for the state finals. Luers won the thing, got to celebrate with a loaded senior class who bought in and stayed the course under Pixley’s leadership. Norwell fell short, but got what they needed at the end of the game with their best player and eventual OTH Player of the Year Kennedy Fuelling getting a shot at the buzzer that didn’t fall.
It is always great to see Northeast Indiana teams in a state finals, but there was something different about this one, it all just felt right.
SEE RELATED: State finals provide legacy building, defining moments
2. WILL JAMISON’S RETURN
Just before the start of last season, Homestead standout Will Jamison (the 2023 Top 50 #2 player) was tragically injured in an auto accident. It was a time of sadness in the Homestead community. But Jamison rallied in spirit and in health.
On February 6, he made his season debut Tuesday in a loss to Wayne, scoring less than a minute into the contest. Jamison played in the final five games of the regular season, but wasn’t just a guy there to tell a great comeback story. Instead, he played 21 minutes per game and averaged 14.6 points during that time, including 23 points per game over the last two games of the regular season while shooting 42 percent from three point range.
He was eventually named All-SAC Honorable Mention and is continuing his playing career with some success as a freshman at Glen Oaks Community College.
3. RECORD SCORING ON THE GIRLS SIDE
There is too much to talk about here so how about some highlights?
Girls basketball in Northeast Indiana has had a run for the ages in recent years and 2024 is a continued highlight for that. We have seen a lot of girls hit scoring marks, reaching 1,000 points during the course of 2024, but there have been some really big record breakers in single games, seasons and careers.
What Brooke Zartman has done smashing three point records at Warsaw has been amazing to witness. Not once, but three times in the last season and a half, Norwell has seen their single game girls scoring record broken, most recently during the 2024 part of this current season with Vanessa Rosswurm posting a 43 point game.
And what about career scoring titles that have been broken that may have been considered unbreakable? Just recently, Ava McGrade became Lakewood Park’s all-time leading scorer, eclipsing Chloe Jolloff’s mark and in January, Macy Pries surpassed Lexi Dellinger to become South Adams’ all-time leader in point scored.
Did I miss some? Sure. But you get the point. Girls basketball in Northeast Indiana just thrived in 2024.
4. FAREWELL TO LEGENDS
The end of the 2023-2024 season meant the end of some various basketball coaching tenures on both the girls and boys sides.
But while there was some movement in some areas, both in and out, it was the loss of legendary coaches to retirement that was eye opening. That starts on the girls side where Wayne Kreiger left South Adams after returning from his last retirement to lead the Starfires. Kreiger has since taken on a role with PFW’s womens basketball staff after a career with over 600 high school wins. Also on the girls side, Mark Pixley left Bishop Luers after a tremendous run including the 2024 state title.
On the boys side, two long term guys said goodbye after 20 plus year runs at their schools. Matt Kostoff got by the 300 win mark on February 14 with a win at Leo. He spent 25 years at Bishop Dwenger. Kostoff won five Sectional title and three Regional titles. At Leo, Cary Cogdell headed into retirement after 20 seasons, amassing a 282-185 record while leading the Lions. He has earned a lot of success at the helm, getting over the postseason title hump in 2020 with three straight championship seasons that included a state finals appearance.
Do they all stay retired? No coach will ever say “forever,” but it is likely that we have seen the last of these guys patrolling the sidelines.
5. CANTERBURY WINS 1A BOYS STATE
Canterbury stayed the course through the early part of last season, awaiting for the eligibility of four senior transfers. Once those guys joined the lineup, the Cavaliers were a fascinating team that nobody had an answer for in Class 1A.
Senior John Parent scored a game-high 22 points with 10 rebounds, while senior Devon Lewis had 12 points to secure the Cavaliers’ first state title in their first state trip on March 30.
No boys team other than Blackhawk Christian had won a state title for the area since 2015.
6. COLUMBIA CITY’S MONSTER WEEK
Recency bias here, but Columbia City girl’s week of December 9-14 was amazing. On Tuesday of that week, the Eagles beat Homestead for the first time since 2009-2010. During that season, the two were actually in the same conference but lets be honest in saying nobody is really thinking about the now defunct NHC anymore. In the game, Addison Baxter moved to second on the program’s all-time scoring list, one that she should top by the end of her 2025 run.
Later in the week, Columbia City went to Norwell…yes, The Castle…and beat the Knights to secure control of the NE8. Winning at Norwell is hard, winning in this rivalry was hard. The 74-67 win over Norwell was led by Baxter’s rare but exceptional triple double with 32 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists. Was this week the best week for Columbia City girls ever? I mean we can debate that forever, but it certainly was one of the brightest spots of 2024 overall and especially of the first half of this current girls basketball season.
7. EASTSIDE GIRLS’ DOMINANCE
Eastside had their best season ever in 2023-2024, securing 21 wins—a remarkable achievement for a program that only won six games the season before head coach Mike Lortie took over in 2019. They had a dominant NECC Tournament championship game with a 53-24 victory over Fairfield in January. It was the first NECC Tournament title for the program since 1994.
It led the Blazers to be the clear choice as the top team in the NECC heading into this season. All they have done since is open up 11-0, the best start in program history. They have done so with the top 5 scorers back from the 2023-24 squad, making this calendar year so exceptional for the program.
In 2024, the Eastside girls are 19-2.
8. BELLMONT AT COLUMBIA CITY BOYS, JANUARY 6
In the game that helped determine the NE8 race, the host Eagles came out on the winning end thanks to a tremendous final play that got the ball into the hands of Aiden Denning for a 57-54 win over a Bellmont. Matt Mulligan (29 points) and Jack Scheumann (25 points) did battle all night to make the game already the most compelling in the NE8 all season before the theatrics at the end.
The game came down to a few plays with Scheumann tying the game at 54 with 1.3 seconds left before the Eagles got the win on the Stratton Fuller to Aiden Denning game winner. There is little doubt that this has to be considered one of the best – maybe THE best – games of 2024.
9. COLLEGE AND PRO SUCCESS STORIES
We have gotten to se a variety of college and pro success stories from area players in the year 2024.
From Will Jamison’s good start at Glen Oaks, to Fletcher Loyer being a big part of Purdue basketball’s strong runs, to PFW featuring Fort Wayne area players like Sydney Graber and Sydney Freeman. Trine’s D3 national title team featured East Noble alums Brent Cox and Hayden Jones, Carroll’s Ryan Preston and Central Noble’s Logan Gard. Johnea Donahue (Snider) has had a great start to her college career at Bowling Green in 2024 as a freshman. The players from the 260 have made an impact on various levels of the college game this season.
On the pro level, there has been international successes for players like North Side alum Tre Crews and Bishop Luers’ Deshaun Thomas. In the NBA G League, Warsaw’s Kyle Mangas was part of the league’s Next Up games during All-Star Weekend 2024 in Indianapolis as part of his stellar first year in the G League with the Indiana Mad Ants, a team he is back with this season. And Snider grad Malik Williams did something super rare for a Fort Wayne guy, he made it to the league. After a successful 2023-2024 season with the Sioux Falls Skyforce in the NBA G League, Williams got a call up to the Toronto Raptors, where he played in seven games in the spring of 2024, starting two. He made his league debut on April 3 and scored his first NBA points on April 9. On April 10, Williams posted career highs of 7 points and 14 rebounds against the Brooklyn Nets.
10. SUMMIT SUMMER LEAGUE
This is annually one of Bounce’s favorite things but since it sits outside the typical season in August, we will reserve the 10th spot for it. The third year of the event was a success with games moving to Parkview SportOne Fieldhouse, expansion to 40 players and broadcasts on Summit City Sports. The league continued to provide uniqueness with players switching teams and coaches each week and the use of both a shot clock and the target score (Elam) ending.
This year, we got to see the emergence of players like Isaiah King and Trevon Maley, as well as some standout performances from freshmen like Bishop Luers’ Jayden Moore. The basketball was really good and the concept continues to be so great for its uniqueness.
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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