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.
NECC TOURNAMENT
On the girls side, Eastside rolled their way to the finals with wins over West Noble, Angola and Central Noble. In the opening round, Lily Kreischer led the Blazers by West Noble with a game high 17 points in the 51-11 win, with West Noble only scoring three second half points. Eastside outscored the Chargers 23-2 in the third quarter. In Wednesday’s 58-41 win over Angola, it was Sydnee Kessler with 18 points to lead the way while Kreischer scored 16. In Friday’s win, coach Mike Lortie secured his 100th career victory in a 55-40 game against Central Noble, led by Taylor Mack‘s 15 points.
Fairfield girls bounced Fremont on Wednesday in a great contest with the Eagles making a second half push before falling short 41-38. Fremont outscored the Falcons 21-14 in the second half. Madison Jones led Fairfield with 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting inside the arc. Eva Herbert was held to nine points for Fairfield, but secured 9 rebounds and 5 steals in the Fairfield win. Herbert’s 18 and Jones’ 17 on Friday against Westview sent the Falcons back to the finals again this season.
That meant, Eastside against Fairfield in the girls finals once again for Saturday night. Eastside’s appearance was their sixth overall while Fairfield was in their 11th ever finals.
In the championship game of the NECC girls, Eastside topped Fairfield 45-31 in a super back and fourth game. Fairfield led 23-16 two minutes into the second half, but Eastside massively rallied. Mack’s 12 and Kreischer’s 11 led the way. The Blazers bounced out to a 16-5 lead before being outscored 13-0 in the second frame. But the second half was big for the Blazers, where they held a 29-13 edge. Jones and Paige Park each scored 10 for Fairfield.
Westview boys opened their tournament on Wednesday with a scoring punch, led by 18 points from Owen Brill, who hit four threes in the game, followed by 14 points from Daniel Yoder. On Friday, the Warriors slid by Churubusco 52-33. Nine different Westview players scored, headed up by 11 points from Brill and 10 each from Yoder and Austin Schlabach. Brayden Bianski led Churubusco with 17 points, but Westview was not going to be denied their conference record 28th trip to the NECC Tournament finals.
Garrett‘s boys opened the tournament Tuesday avenging their first loss of the season back in December with a 56-55 overtime victory against Angola. The Hornets led by as many as eight points before Garrett fought back for the win, led by a season high 27 points from Carter Coffman. On Wednesday, Coffman led the Railroaders again with 20 points in the 57-49 win over West Noble. Garrett led by as many as 23 points before the Chargers pushed back; Isaiah King added 14 points for Garrett while Parker Reed had 13. On Friday, Garrett advanced to their first NECC Tournament title game in 21 years with a 47-42 win over Central Noble. It was the second time in as many Fridays for the two teams to meet; this time Central Noble led 42-41 with four minutes to go before Garrett closed out on a 6-0 run. The Railroaders were led by 17 points from Reed.
On Saturday, Westview and Garrett met for the third time ever in the finals with the Warriors winning their 16th ever NECC Tournament title and got to do so on their home court. Brill again got hot from downtown, hitting three triples while his team hit seven overall in the win for the Warriors. Schlabach put together his best game of the tournament with a game high 22 points for Westview in the win, with eight different players scoring. Garrett was led by 17 points from King.
ACAC TOURNAMENT
Did the Adams Central boys answer questions about their scoring depth? Well Tuesday’s 78-30 win over Southern Wells may not have been the biggest test, but the Flying Jets still had 11 different players, led by Trace Mallers‘ 17 points. On Friday, however, it was scoring from six different Heritage Patriots that ended AC’s hopes for a tournament three peat. Landon Lybarger led the way with 15 points while Braden Walter had 13 points; Mallers and Braylend Reber each scored 20 for Adams Central.
Woodlan opened up their end of the ACAC Tournament on Tuesday with a 45-29 win over Bluffton, their second victory over the Tigers in as many weeks. On Friday, the Warriors topped Jay County 60-39 behind a great 33 point point tournament performance from Trey Yoder, while Mason Moore followed with 12. Yoder scored the first 26 Woodlan points in the game.
It set up Saturday’s 102nd ACAC boys tournament final where Woodlan and Heritage met for just the fourth time in a title game. Woodlan got a massive 18 points and 8 rebounds from Oliver Adams in the title game to top Heritage 48-34 and win the crown. Yoder added seven points and 13 rebounds and was named the tournament MVP.
Woodlan now has 14 total ACAC Tournament titles, the most among active members of the conference and trailing only Leo, who is now in the NE8.
The Bluffton girls eliminated one of their biggest challenges in the ACAC Tournament on Tuesday with a 67-52 win over Woodlan. Isabella Stout scored 23 points to lead the way with Konley Ault scoring 17 and Khloe Dick scoring 14. The game was tied at six when Bluffton went on a 12-0 run to take the lead. On Friday, the Tigers officially ended Jay County’s streak of title game appearances with a dominant 71-24 win over the Patriots. Leaving Friday night’s semi final game, Khloe Dick – just a freshman for Bluffton – had shot 7-of-13 from three point range.
Southern Wells advanced to the title game fairly convincingly after a slow start. The Raiders went on an 18-3 run during the second quarter and took a 16 point halftime lead, eventually finishing off Heritage, who they topped 68-31.
In Saturday’s ACAC girls tournament final, the Tigers never trailed in their 84-31 victory over the Raiders. Isabella Stout scored 26 points to lead Bluffton and was named Tournament MVP. Ault added 15 points and eight rebounds while Madyson Sonnigsen had seven assists. The win was Bluffton’s first ever ACAC Tournament title, coming one week after wrapping up a conference regular season title. It was the most point ever scored in a ACAC girls tournament championship game by the winning team, breaking the previous Woodlan record from 1991, and also the largest margin of victory in a girls title game.
MORE BOYS NOTES
Blaine Freiburger of Huntington North hit a buzzer beater on Friday night for the Vikings to top Columbia City 66-64; Ethan Zahn led the Vikings with 29 points in the win….Leo‘s Jaiyre Sampson scored a season high 26 points Friday, but the Lions fell to New Haven behind 20 points from Tarvar Baskerville, 17 from Lavell Ledbetter and 16 from Jamal Lawrence….North Side‘s Sebastian Moore scored 48 total points on back to back days with 25 Friday in a win over Northrop and 23 Saturday in a win over Huntington North….Jay County‘s Cole Forthofer scored a career high 22 points Tuesday in a win over South Adams….Jay County coach Jerry Bomholt won his 600th game Tuesday in a victory over South Adams in the ACAC Tournament….Angola‘s 10th win of the season in their NECC Consolation game Thursday matches their win total from last year at eight….Garrett‘s win over Central Noble in Friday’s NECC Tournament guarantees them their first winning season since the 2013-14 season….Manchester‘s Gavin Betten is now the all-time leading scorer in Wabash County with 1,749.
MORE GIRLS NOTES
Brooke Zartman scored 22 points in Wednesday’s 60-point Warsaw‘s win over Mishawaka. In the first quarter, Zartman passed 1,000 career points. On Saturday, Joslyn Bricker scored 26 points and became the 2nd Warsaw player in the week to surpass 1,000 career points….In the win over Mishawka, Warsaw outscored their foe 43-8 in the first half including a 23-0 opening stanza. On Saturday, they had a 28-0 opening quarter against Goshen, going on to win 90-11….Columbia City‘s Addison Baxter bacame the program’s all-time leading scorer on Tuesday with a fast break bucket. She is also the all-time leading girls scorer in the NE8 now as well….Baxter then flirted with a triple double in Saturday’s win over Huntington North with 30 points, 11 rebounds and 5 steals….Northop coach Katie Jackson surpassed 100 career wins on Tuesday as daughter Swynn Jackson scored 25 points in a 61-57 win over Bellmont….Huntington North‘s Luci Reich scored 24 points while hitting six threes Wednesday in a win over Wayne; Haiden Bailey hit five threes of her own in the game for the Vikings….Lakeland‘s Cara Schackow became the 4th player in Lakeland girls history to have 100 career blocks; she is now in third on that list….Bellmont overcame a 22-14 halftime deficit to beat Norwell 47-44….Carroll‘s Jersey Paul broke the program’s career three point record of Abby Noll; the previous record was 203 and Paul now has 205.
FAN VOTES
With so much basketball this week, Fan Voting is extended. Not only will you have until 5 pm on Wednesday, January 22 to cast your vote for best single game performance of the week, the nomination lists are 15 players each.
Due to the ACAC and NECC Tournaments, we couldn’t narrow down nominees to the usual 10-12, so we have extended them for the week. Vote below:
Girls Hoops Performance of the Week, VOTE HERE
Boys Hoops Performance of the Week, VOTE HERE
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
Be the first to comment