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.
The last of the weird weeks have passed as the holidays are now over and we are fully in 2025.
That means the girls are at their super unofficial midway point and the ACAC and NECC are headed directly for always interesting in season conference tournaments.
So what went down to close 2024 and open 2025?
A NEW STAR AT THE NORTH?
Junior Sebastian Moore was a candidate for last week’s OTH Fan Vote for Performance of the Week. And this week, he made sure he didn’t slow down.
This week at Richmond’s Bob Wettig Tournament, Moore proved that his recent successes are no fluke at all. In North Side‘s loss to Bishop Luers, the Legends kept things closer than expected with a 64-56 loss where Moore scored 19 with three rebounds and three assists. North Side also lost to a strong NorthWood team 52-42 with Moore’s 20 points leading the way.
In North Side’s two wins at the Bob Wettig, Moore scored 15 points in a win over Purdue Poly and added 14 points in the Legends’ win over Indianapolis Shortridge. He also totalled nine steals in the four games.
As North Side has had to turn the corner on a lot of their roster this season, Moore’s recent emergence is more than noteworthy.
BELLMONT TAKES CONTROL
Eastside? Check. Bluffton? Check.
Two nights, two wins, two state ranked opponents. That is all that Bellmont coach Andy Heim and his team did as the new year took over into 2025.
On Friday night, the Braves used second and third quarter narrow margins to secure a 54-52 win at Eastside in a back and forth affair. The Braves were able to hold all of Eastside’s big scorers in single digits while Emily Bleke led the way for Bellmont and the game with 17 points.
Ashley Bleke‘s 17 points led a 53-47 win over Bluffton on Saturday at The Teepee with Emily Bleke going 7-of-11 from the free throw line as Bellmont shot 28 free throws in the win. Konley Ault‘s 17 points led Bluffton in the loss.
Eastside was ranked 10th in Class 2A going into Friday night and Bluffton was ranked 8th in Class 2A. Bellmont meanwhile is likely to get a bump when the new standings come out; they were ranked eighth in Class 3A before the games.
They were Bellmont’s first two games finishing in single digits all season and kind of quietly, the Braves are now 14-1 on a current eight game win streak after starting the season 6-0 leading into that one loss. They Braves have a big one on Friday as they travel to Columbia City with the NE8 perhaps on the line. But Bellmont follows that up with games against Northrop and Norwell so their gauntlet is far from over.
WIN STREAKS WITH IMPACTS
In Kendallville, things are starting to trend back positive on the boys side for East Noble. The Knights have won their last three games. After falling on December 28 to Garrett in the opening round of the Max Platt Tournament in their own gym, the Knights have put together a win streak. Later that night, they defeated John Glenn and this week they won on back-to-back days, holding off a furious Churubusco comeback attempt on Thursday and then winning at Central Noble on Saturday.
Both of this week’s wins were led by Nathan Bowker, who had 22 points in each outing. Bowker added 6 rebounds in the win over Churubusco while Alex Scott scored 18 points and Kobe Ritchie scored 15. Ritchie added 12 points and eight rebounds in the win over Central Noble.
Mason Treesh made his season debut during the Garrett loss. Fellow footballer Landon Swogger is expected back soon to help bolster this lineup. And lets be real, the guys who had to start and play a lot in their absences earned some valuable experience even in the team’s struggles. The win over Central Noble completed a double header of wins for East Noble on the girls and boys sides. It was the first girl/boy doubleheader between the two county rivals since the 2013-2014 season.
Warsaw girls scored 195 points in two games on Saturday and held their opponents to a combined 50 points as the Tigers took home the championship of their own tournament. In game one, they beat New Haven 105-21, scoring the most points ever for a Warsaw girls team in a game; 59 of those points came in the first half. They also hit a school record 18 three pointers while Brooke Zartman matched her own school record with eight long range makes of her own in the win. Brooke Winchester‘s 20 rebounds in the win over New Haven, the third most ever rebounds for a Warsaw girls basketball player.
In the second game, a 90-29 win over Chesterton, Zartman scored 25 points and Joslyn Bricker added 21. The team hit 16 more three pointers to bring their single day total to 34 makes from three point range. The Tigers also forced 22 Chesterton turnovers.
Zartman hit 15 threes against New Haven and seven more in the win over Chesterton.
The wins move Warsaw to 15-0 on the season and gives them a week off before visiting Northridge on January 11 as the first or back-to-back road games. And on January 21, they visit Homestead in what should be a barn burner.
MORE TOURNAMENT SUCCESSES
The Huntington North boys had several success stories come out of their own hosted tournament this week. That started Thursday morning with a nine point win over Gary Lighthouse, led by Ethan Zahn‘s 23 points and eight assists. But it was also the start of a breakout few days for sophomore Titus Schultz, who scored 15 in the win over Gary Lighthouse. The Vikings fell Thursday night with South Bend Adams hitting 11 threes, but Zahn and Schultz scored 13 and 12 points respectively.
On Friday, the Vikings opened the day with a marquee win over Snider, 68-64. In that game, Schultz scored 29 points in arguably the best game of his high school career. Meanwhile, Zahn flirted with a triple double with 19 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists.
Warsaw boys bounced back from a two-loss, but competitive, Hall of Fame Classic, with a great showing at Richmond’s Bob Wettig Tournament. They opened with a 67-53 loss to Bishop Luers, despite 18 points from Brandt Martin. The Tigers spread out playing time in a 54-46 win over Purdue Poly Tech with Martin and Mydin Burgher each scoring 10. The Tigers also picked up a 76-30 win over Indianapolis Washington with Luke Bricker scoring 21 points and pulling down 11 rebounds. Finally, Warsaw put together an 87-59 win over North Decatur, led by 25 points from Martin. It was the second straight All-Tournament team for Martin, who also was named to the 5-man team last week at the Hall of Fame Classic; Martin shot 24 of 37 from the field during the event.
North Side and Bishop Luers too had good runs at the Wettig, and you can read about North Side a bit to start this column. As previously mentioned, Luers beat Warsaw by 14 to start things off smoothly behind 20 points and 10 rebounds from Drelyn Truesdale, while Dereon Truesdale also scored 20. The Knights beat SAC opponent Norht Side 64-56 to round out their Thursday at the Wettig with Drelyn Truesdale posting another double double with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Luers beat host Richmond 60-49 to finish their run in the Bob Wettig at 3-1 overall. Both of the Truesdale twins were named All-Tournament.
Norwell boys competed in and won the Wawasee Tournament, starting with 14 points from Adam McBride in a win over Elkhart Christian. In a win over Wawasee, McBride led the way with 17 points while Nick McBride added 16 points. Norwell improved to 8-2 as they won the Wawasee Holiday Tournament with the championship win over the host team.
Warsaw girls also won their own host tournament, as mentioned above.
OTHER GIRLS NOTES
Snider alum Johnea Donahue, now at Bowling Green, is leading the MAC with three steals per game; that ranks 17th nationally….Homestead‘s Myah Epps reached 1,000 career points on Thursday in a win over Lake Central. She is the first Spartan to do so since current UConn player Ayanna Patterson….Ava McGrade broke her own Lakewood Park girls single game scoring record by putting up 42 on Thursday against Hamilton….Zoey Bowman had a career high with 23 points Friday for Lakeland in a win over Heritage….Huntington North‘s Marissa Trout reached 1,000 career points Saturday and is the 6th Viking girl to ever do so…With her performance Saturday night, DeKalb‘s Ashley Cox is the first player for the program in 51 years to reach career marks of 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 250 steals and 200 assists.
OTHER BOYS NOTES
Left out of last week’s column, Manchester‘s Gavin Betten had a triple double in the Wabash Tournament against Northfield with 28 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists….Five different Homestead boys players scored in double figures Saturday in an 80-40 win over Leo, led by Mack Welker‘s 19 while Owen Smith hit four threes.
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