It wasn’t supposed to go like this for Norwell this season.
After reaching the Class 3A state championship game a year ago and graduating arguably the best senior class in program history – one that featured the likes of Kennedy Fuelling and Makenzie Fuess – this season was supposed to be about rebuilding for the Knights.
Instead, it was more like reloading.
Contrary to popular belief, Norwell did not take a step back, but rather forward, which culminated in the program’s first-ever state championship with a 53-44 victory over undefeated Greensburg earlier this month.
It was a masterful job by a new crop of players, as well as the coach behind it all – Eric Thornton. For his efforts, Coach Thornton has been named the 2024-25 Outside the Huddle Girls Basketball Coach of the Year.
It all started in the offseason.
“Our off-season focus was to compete in June events against really good teams,” Thornton said. “We had to replace seven seniors and 80 percent of our offensive (scoring) average.”
Vanessa Rosswurm was the only returning starter, and had never played the point guard position. But she took to it incredibly well and became the calming influence the rest of a young starting lineup needed.
“Once we moved Vanessa there, she took ahold of it and our entire rotation began making more sense,” Thornton said. “The girls took off from there.”
They did indeed. The Knights lost just one game in the new year – a two-point loss to Noblesville in overtime. Thornton pushed all the right buttons for his team to survive against top opponents, perhaps not always winning, but gaining valuable experience that would pay dividends in the playoffs.
That was proven when Norwell beat NE8 foe Columbia City 61-53 in the semistate final to reach state, the very same team that had beaten the Knights by seven in mid-December.
“The biggest key this season was to help our players see the big picture of playing a really tough non-conference schedule,” Thornton said. “When you’re playing Cathedral, Warsaw, Northrop, Northridge and Homestead all in a row, it’s easy as a young team to doubt (itself).
“We just kept reminding our team that they were a good team and that playing great competition right away was the quickest and best way we could grow.”
It also benefitted the Knights that, while girls may not have seen much game action last year in the state finals, they went through walkthrough, practice and the state final itself, meaning there was not much in the way of mystery when Norwell returned this season.
“Our team was much more confident throughout the week this time around, and our practice at Gainbridge (Fieldhouse in Indianapolis) was more like a business trip,” Thornton said. “That calmness and focus were on display throughout our state championship game.”
The architect of it all has been Thornton, who has led the program now for 28 seasons and 475 victories. Twenty-plus win seasons have become the norm at Norwell – 12 in the last 17 years. The program has won double-digit games every season since 2005.
And it now has a state championship trophy to display for the first time.
“Norwell is a special place,” Thornton said. “Sustaining the success we’ve had over such a long period of time is the result of the investment of many high-quality people who invest in these young ladies and our program. Our state championship is shared by everyone who helped build the Norwell Lady Knights basketball program.”
Amen. Great choice. He is modest and the girls do what he tells them