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.
This week, there is obviously a big focus on the girls season with us crowning Sectional champions and vast majority of our area teams and players seeing their seasons and some careers come to an end.
GIRLS 4A SECTIONALS
Girls basketball has had a purge in the form of the postseason and few area teams remain to seek out Regional titles with some Sectional title games to still be played on Monday.
Friday was a big night for at least one area team even though others in Class 4A seemed to skate by. Snider upended Carroll in the best area 4A game of the night, 58-53 behind 21 points from Saniah Sandlin. She was one of two high scoring Panthers, also getting 14 points out of Janaya Cooper to hold off the Chargers and Cala Haffner‘s 20 points. Carroll’s big third quarter sent the game into the fourth tied before Snider pulled away. Northrop beat North Side on Friday in the other semi final with 19 points from Khala Williams-Thomas and 18 points and six assists from Swynn Jackson. The title game between Snider and Northrop will be played Monday
Warsaw dominated their Friday night outing opposite Elkhart, 67-36. Brooke Winchester had 16 points and nine rebounds to lead the way while Joslyn Bricker added 15 points. On Saturday, the Tigers put away Northridge, 71-54, to capture a Sectional title with Bricker scoring 34 points on 15-of-19 shooting.
Also in Class 4A, Homestead and Huntington North were long on a collision course for the finals, but was the first of the Sectional title games pushed to Monday due to Saturday’s weather. Homestead has won 10 Sectionals in the last 11 seasons. The Spartans have won four straight in the postseason against the Vikings. The title game between Homestead and Huntington North will be played Monday.
GIRLS 3A SECTIONALS
Columbia City got 24 points out of Addison Baxter on Tuesday to overcome some early worry in a 51-20 win over NorthWood. The win wasn’t initially easy for the Eagles, who did not score until the 2:50 mark of the first quarter. It put Baxter just five points behind Whitko alum Aly Reiff as having the most points by a female in Whitley County history and 32 behind Mitchell Wilson as the most for a Columbia City player regardless of gender; she passed Reiff and Mitchell both by the end of the week. Fairfield got to Saturday’s Sectional title game after overcoming a five point deficit to beat Tippecanoe Valley 60-51 on Friday night. In the title game, Columbia City earned their first Sectional title since 2000 behind 26 points from Baxter and 19 more out of Anisa Tonkel.
Norwell had five different girls score in double figures in Tuesday’s blowout win over Marion, led by 20 points from Vanessa Rosswurm as they scored 81 as a team. The Knights shot 82 times in the game and had 19 steals. On the same night, Alanah Webb scored 31 for New Haven in a career outing to beat Heritage. Norwell’s 64-16 win over Mississinewa on Friday night set up a long awaited Saturday rematch with rival Bellmont. Macie Saalfrank had 17 points in the win over Ole Miss, while Rosswurm added 16 and Norwell had the chance to seek their 12th Sectional in 15 seasons. They captured that title behind 41 points from Rosswurm in Saturday’s title game against Bellmont in one of the best revenge games of the season for Norwell to end the season of their rival.
Bishop Dwenger struck first in the always fun Concordia sectional on Tuesday, beating Angola 46-38; a lot of Angola’s struggles down the stretch were attributed to the loss of Lexi Stillman‘s season ending knee injury suffered a couple week back. DeKalb topped Garrett on Thursday in the first postseason meeting between the two county rivals in 30 years (1995) behind 16 points from Ashley Cox; Garrett was led by 15 from Emma Coffman, who hit four three pointers. The Barons ended up falling in Friday’s semi final to East Noble as Rian David hit one of two free throws in the closing seconds to help seal a 33-30 East Noble win; Cox scored 17 for DeKalb and Addison Deming led East Noble with 10 including eight points in the third quarter. Meanwhile, Bishop Dwenger beat Leo 48-45 in overtime to advance to the finals opposite the Knights.
The two teams had never met in the postseason and Saturday’s game looked to be Dwenger’s first title since 1999 while the Knights last won one in 2016 as a Class 4A school. East Noble came out the victors behind Rian David‘s five 3-pointers and team high 17 points.
GIRLS 2A SECTIONALS
In Class 2A, we knew Eastside would be the class of their Sectional field, but looking at some other NECC matchups was intriguing. One of those came Tuesday when Prairie Heights went 14-of-18 from the free throw line in the final quarter to oust Westview with four different players hitting from the line in the quarter; Westview was led by Olivia Bontrager‘s 24 points on six made three pointers. Central Noble also advanced out of Tuesday with a win over Lakeland, led by 13 points from Abby Pliett, to set up another Eastside rematch; Lakeland ended their season with Cara Schackow second all-time in blocked shots for the program and Dulce Canedo (5th) and McKenzie Carlson (11th) finished on the list for most three pointers in a season for the program.
Central Noble then got a Friday date with Eastside, who beat the Cougars for the third time this season; this time closing it out with a 24-10 fourth quarter while Taylor Mack led the way with 16 points as one of four Blazers in double figures. Churubusco got to a Sectional final with a win over Prairie Heights on Friday to set up the first ever Sectional title game against Eastside. The Blazers closed out their title with a 63-18 win, led by Sydnee Kessler‘s 20 points as Busco was held to just one fourth quarter point.
At Bluffton, it was Jayma Stonebraker making opening highlights on Tuesday with 24 points for Whitko in a win over Woodlan despite 22 points from Warrior post Alyssa Anderson. Whitko had four players in double figures Friday to push by South Adams and set up a date for a Sectional title against host Bluffton, who beat Bishop Luers on Friday night. Maryn Schreiber scored 10 points and grabbed 11 rebounds while Konley Ault scored 26 points for Bluffton in the win. The Tigers’ lead was just 44-42 before a 13-5 run to close the game. On Saturday, Whitko secured their first ever girls basketball Sectional title in a great story of rebuilt program over the last several years by coach Justin Jordan. Reese Stonebraker led the way with 19 points and Whitko used a 16-point run to pull away and hand Bluffton just their third loss of the season. Maryn Schreiber led the Tigers with 24 points and 10 rebounds.
GIRLS 1A SECTIONALS
Fremont got a marquee win out of the gate on Tuesday with a 50-40 win over Lakewood Park to end a great season from the Panthers, ending the high school career of Ava McGrade as one of Northeast Indiana’s most prolific scorers. Fremont overcame an early 12-4 deficit and held McGrade to just eight points; Grace Scharlach led Fremont with 18 points in the opening round win. The big win, in many ways, for area Class 1A teams came Thursday with Hamilton‘s 30-24 win over Canterbury. After trailing 15-2, Hamilton stormed back to win their first postseason game in 8 years. Blackhawk Christian ended that short Hamilton run on Friday to set up a title game opposite Fremont, who were hoping for their first back-to-back titles since 2003. The title game between Fremont and Blackhawk Christian will be played Monday.
RECORD BREAKERS
On Tuesday, in a victory over Canterbury, Wayne senior Trey Dillard became the program’s all-time leading rebounder. In doing so, he surpassed legendary Wayne player turned legendary coach Al Gooden for the honor. Gooden is most recently known for leading Lawrence Central after years at the forefront in the area leading New Haven and Harding.
Dillard sat at 850 career rebounds coming out of the Canterbury win.
On Saturday, Blackhawk Christian‘s Kellen Pickett recorded four blocked shots in a win over Westview. That total made Pickett became the Braves’ all-time leader in blocks to reach 217 for his career. That mark passes former record holder Caleb Furst, who now plays at Purdue. Pickett added 16 points in the win.
OTHER GIRLS NOTES
Lakewood Park‘s Ava McGrade finished her career fourth in scoring amongst DeKalb County girls at 1,581 points, trailing just DeKalb‘s Leigha Brown and Machelle Joseph and Garrett‘s Bailey Kelham….Depsite their loss in Saturday’s Sectional title game, Bluffton girls set a program record for wins this season with 22….Isabella Stout finished as Bluffton‘s 6th best scorer ever at 1,044 career points, scoring the most points scored by a Lady Tiger in a season since Abby Salscheider’s senior year in 1997-98….Bellmont’s Emily Bleke finishes her career with 1,026 points, which places her 4th on the program scoring list.
OTHER BOYS NOTES
Kellen Pickett entered the week with 1,399 career points which is fifth on Blackhawk Christian’s all-time scoring list. At his current scoring pace, he is on track to finish in 2nd all-time for the Braves behind current Purdue Boilermaker Caleb Furst….Heritage‘s 18-point fourth quarter comeback two weeks ago against Adams Central was the 8th biggest fourth quarter comeback in state history according to Hickory Husker….Jay County coach Jerry Bomholt resigned this week for personal reasons, effective immediately, with 602 wins over 44 seasons making him the 19th winningest boys coach in state history. Brogan Gary will take over as head coach for the rest of the season….Fairfield shot 42 free throws in Thursday’s 63-55 win over Garrett, going 31-of-42 from the line….Manchester‘s Ethan Hendrix joined the program’s 1,000 points scored club against Northfield….Bluffton picked up a big win over Heritage Saturday, led by 11 points each from Nolan Lambert and Kaleb Green; the Tigers must now wait to see if Woodlan wins out or if they can claim the ACAC title….Zachariah Belcher had 4 blocks Saturday in a South Side win over Woodlan….43 of the 79 combined points scored in the Norwell/Columbia City game Saturday came in the third quarter.
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