Before we get to the Outside the Huddle All-Area Team and our end-of-year awards, Bounce wanted to take some time and take a last glance at area conferences and hand out some league-specific metaphorical hardware.
We continue today with the ACAC.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Isabella Stout, Bluffton
It was an absolutely phenomenal year for Stout, who set the ACAC on fire as Bluffton rallied to become league and tournament champions, ending a pretty impressive run of dominance from Jay County. Stout showed signs a year ago of how good she could be but she absolutely exploded during her senior season.
As one of just four area players to average over 20 points per game on the year, Stout finished Bluffton’s season 20.1 points per game. She opened the season with 25 points in a blowout win over Canterbury and never really looked back. Stout scored in double figures every single game with 12 games of 20 or more points including a 31 point outing against Heritage.
Stout also averaged 4.6 rebounds, 2.4 assists and two steals per contest.
HONORABLE MENTION: Konley Ault (Bluffton), Alyssa Anderson (Woodlan), Ashlie Needler (Southern Wells)
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER: Ashlie Needler, Southern Wells
If you know Bounce’s awards and OTH history, you know MVP means something different than Player of the Year. MVP to us is someone who is legit the most valuable to their team and overall success of that program.
Nobody can hold that claim in the ACAC over Needler. Southern Wells had years upon years of struggling, winning double digits just once over the previous nine seasons. What was the difference this year to hit 16-8? New coach Kyle Penrod was a big help, but Needler exploded as good as anyone in the area for her senior season. She pushed on a double-double average with 13 points and 9.1 rebounds per game, also averaging a pair of steals per contest.
Needler had 17 games of double digit scoring, led by a high of 27 (on 10-of-13 shooting) in a January 4 win over Randolph Southern.
HONORABLE MENTION: Hallie Schwieterman (Jay County), Konley Ault (Bluffton), Laney Trausch (South Adams), Alyssa Anderson (Woodlan)
BREAKOUT/MOST IMPROVED PLAYER: Liz Brunswick, Jay County
There were a handful of freshmen in the ACAC who really were able to assert themselves on their teams and build for the future. Brunswick was one of those freshmen who truly contributed at a high level, and even though Jay County didn’t have the success they had been having, Brunswick gave another shining spot to the future.
She averaged 7.9 points and five rebounds per game, appearing in all 23 Jay County games this season. Her introduction was kind of quiet, though helpful early in the season. Then, she broke out with 21 points against Adams Central. Starting with the AC game, Brunswick helped Jay County to four straight wins putting up lines of 21/7, 18/7, 16/2, and 10/3.
HONORABLE MENTION: Khloe Dick (Bluffton), Kaylee Davis (Southern Wells), Ana Lehman (South Adams), Kate Fisher (Adams Central), Audra Bickel (Heritage)
COACH OF THE YEAR: Doug Curtis (Bluffton)
A 20 win season probably seemed like a pipe dream in Bluffton. Even when the Tiger girls were winning Sectional titles a few years back, they were not winning 20 games in a season. In year two under veteran head coach Doug Curtis, the Tigers did that and were part of the talk of area girls basketball as they dominated the ACAC.
Curtis has a history of winning everywhere he has been and it didn’t take him long to do it at Bluffton, winning 17 in his first season (they won 11 the year before) and then going 22-3 this past season only with losses to a powerful Bellmont, a very early setback against East Noble and a postseason loss to eventual Sectional and Regional champion Whitko.
Curtis’ ability to push and develop players has always been impressive and his team’s domination of the ACAC this season only puts another feather in his cap.
HONORABLE MENTION: Kyle Penrod (Southern Wells)
GAME OF THE YEAR: Adams Central at Jay County, December 13
Everybody loves a good overtime game and this one between two middle of the pack ACAC teams was plenty exciting. Jay County ended a four-game skid with the win as Liz Brunswick’s 21 point, seven rebound effort helped push the Patriots ahead. It helped that Hallie Schwieterman flirted with a triple double as she produced 11 points, 8 rebounds and 11 assists.
Kudos to Adams Central for their battle, despite losing the rebounding battle by 20. Adams Central hit 10 threes in the game to help even out that rebounding discrepency with Kate Fisher hitting six and Ava Stafford adding three more as the Flying Jets shot 33 triples in the game.
In the end, it was Jay County picking up the 53-50 win in overtime and giving them some much needed momentum,
EARLY 2025-26 CONFERENCE CHAMP PICK: Bluffton
The Tigers will have a vacancy with the graduation of Isabella Stout, as well as Maryn Schreiber who was an underrated double double threat her last two seasons with the Tigers. But with Doug Curtis back on the sidelines, a decent returning group and the expectation of winning now firmly at the forefront again in Bluffton, don’t expect too much of a drop off.
Konley Ault is a massive returner for this group after averaging 15.9 points and 2.8 steals per game. Ault is a multi-faceted talent who probably didn’t get enough attention during her junior campaign. Khloe Dick had a breakout freshman season for the Tigers at 8.9 points per game. Freshman Kamryn Ault and sophomore Sophie Eisenhut both return after getting their feet wet on the varsity level.
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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