Northeast Indiana has a pair of teams playing in Saturday’s girls’ basketball state finals in Indianapolis.
Both Warsaw and Norwell will play in the evening session, with the Knights scheduled to tip-off against Greensburg in the Class 3A championship at 6 p.m. at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
Can the Knights secure their first-ever state championship? Outside the Huddle breaks down the matchup.
PREVIEWING THE GAME
Greensburg enters Saturday with a 27-0 record, aiming to become the 18th team to complete an undefeated campaign in state history and the first since Bedford North Lawrence did in Class 4A in 2013.
The Pirates are incredibly balanced in their four-guard lineup. Senior Leah West is the lone starting forward who averages 15 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. Five-foot-10 sophomore Claire Larrison leads the team in scoring and has hit 47 percent of her three-point attempts this year. Guard Mylie Wilkison and Aly Powers also average in double figures for a team averaging over 67 points per game.
Just three of Greensburg’s 27 games this season have been decided by single digits.
Meanwhile, Norwell (22-6) returns to the state championship game despite graduating perhaps the best player in program history last year in Kennedy Fuelling. She led a four-senior starting lineup that pushed Gibson Southern to the brink a year ago before falling, 63-60.
With junior Vanessa Rosswurm the lone starting holdover from last season, it is a bit of a surprise that Norwell has returned to the state finals, but this young group, with no senior starters and just two on the entire roster, are ahead of schedule and looking for the program’s first-ever title.
HOW NORWELL WINS: SEIZE THE MOMENT
There is no arguing the fact that this Norwell team is ahead of schedule. After graduation gutted the lineup last year, this felt like a year in which the Knights would reload, find their way and make a run when Rosswurm and her classmates were seniors.
But here we are, with Norwell avenging a regular-season loss to Columbia City by ousting the Eagles in the semistate final to earn this spot.
And that’s the thing. This team has earned it. If Rosswurm, who averages over 22 points a game, can get hot and get complementary scoring from Macie Saalfrank (14 ppg), along with the moment not being too big for the rest of the youthful roster, Norwell has a shot.
But its margin for error is very small.
HOW GREENSBURG WINS: OWN THE POST
The Pirates are making almost 50 percent of their shots from the field for the season, and they do a lot of their work from inside the paint. Claire Larrison is shooting 62 percent from the field, while Leah West is at 52 percent. It is going to be incredibly difficult for Norwell to hold this team down if the entry passes are there or if Greensburg is able to penetrate with its guard-heavy lineup.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Vanessa Rosswurm has been a huge factor for Norwell in her junior campaign. As the lone holdover from the starting lineup last year, her experience and confidence has been one of, if not THE key this season for the Knights as they reloaded for a return run to state. All eyes will be on her and her 22.6 scoring average as Norwell looks to pull the upset.
While she is the third-leading scorer on the team, Belmont signee and Greensburg senior Leah West is the most impactful player in the lineup. At 6-1, she is difficult to contain in the paint on both ends of the floor. What makes it difficult to defend West is that you have other proven scorers on the floor, meaning you cannot just double-team West to marginalize the Pirates offensive attack.
BOUNCE’S PREDICTION
This is going to be tough for Norwell. Greensburg is experienced, talented and has rolled through the season thus far with 27 wins in 27 games. The Knights will have to play their best game of the season to have a shot in this one. Of course, Coach Eric Thornton knows that, and will have his girls ready come Saturday evening.
Norwell must defend the post incredibly well. Perhaps a weakness of Greensburg is the fact that as a team it only shoots 68 percent from the free-throw line. Do the Knights take a physical approach to the matchup and force Greensburg to beat it from the charity stripe and from long range? It may be the only path to a dub.
Bounce says: Greensburg 64, Norwell 50
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