THE TOP TEAM TREATMENT
Sometimes, when you are the best, you actually get overlooked in coverage. We are all guilty of it on this side of the aisle. Homestead dealt with it for seasons and seasons at their peak – or are they still at their peak?
That is kind of how Bounce feels about the Norwell girls right now, which is why it was important to talk about them this week with what we expected to be a somewhat challenging non-conference game, followed later in the week with a big conference game. Norwell was 8-1 coming into the week with blowout win after blowout win after blowout win. The only ones that haven’t been that way: their loss to Warsaw and a 59-46 win over Homestead but lets be honest, a 13 point win over Homestead is rare enough for anyone that it could be considered blowout adjacent.
But this week, Angola was coming to town on Monday sitting at 6-2 and being one of the best breakout stories of the season with standout sophomore transfer Kendall VanderWal. What happened though is why Norwell gets overlooked with attention sometimes: a blowout. Norwell’s 45 point win over Angola (76-31) was actually just their third biggest win of the season even. VanderWal scored 14 but was held without a three pointer and forced into eight turnovers by the ever-stingy Norwell defense; Angola had 25 total turnovers to Norwell’s seven.
How does Norwell continue to do this to teams, even ones that look like they are making solid runs in their season? It starts with that defense, where 22 steals were registered Monday, topped by five from Vanessa Rosswurm and four each from Ashley Waldman and Jada Dale. Rosswurm’s stat line alone from the win was wild, scoring 26 points on seven made three-pointers to go with 8 rebounds, 8 assists and that previously asserted collection of steals.
Depth remains at the Norwell forefront too. Rosswurm is a world beater more often than not but she has such a successful variety of help around her. On Monday, Macie Saalfrank added 23 points, Addison Norris scored 13, Alivia Green had 13 rebounds and Norwell got off 33 more shots than the Hornets did. Norwell had two quarters with 23 or more points while Angola never reached double digits in any single frame; and this was a team that we expected could at least challenge Norwell in areas.
Even after the game, Bluffton News Banner’s Ryan Walker tweeted “it’s easy to forget sometimes how incredible Norwell has been for a while, but especially in recent memory.” My thoughts exactly and its like he knew I already had this segment planned for this week’s column. Norwell just wins so while we don’t forget about them, sometimes they just don’t get the love they deserve because the success is so expected.
On Tuesday, Norwell practiced in New Castle and visited the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame. The team will play at New Castle later this month in the respected Hall of Fame Classic on December 22.
The Knights then turned their attention to a Friday night battle with fellow conference unbeaten Columbia City. It marked the first of seven straight away from The Castle; three traditional road games and then two four team single day tournaments to end the month and the year 2025.
Norwell opened with a 14-8 first quarter, which was the biggest gap in any single, quarter yet the Knights grinded out winning each of the four frames. Rosswurm led the way with a game high 20 points, but the bigger news was in another outstanding defensive effort. Norwell again forced a ton of turnovers with their 23 steals – Columbia City had 30 total turnovers.
Rosswurm, Waldman and Norris each had four steals for Norwell against Columbia City.
CELEBRATE THE WINS
Hamilton girls got their first win of the season on Tuesday and the first win since February 6 last year during Sectional play. It was a big moment for the program, who’s early season struggles included losing their coach. Athletic Director David Prokop, the former head boys coach at Eastside, has since taken over.
The 47-42 win over St. Thomas More was poignant. The Griffins had just beaten Lakeland Christian by 22 points on November 22. Hamilton then lost to Lakeland Christian by 14 last week. To be able to erase that theoretical 36 point gap is something substantial.
Junior Bella Rivera finished the night with 11 points, shooting 4-of-6 from the field and 3-of-4 from beyond the arc. Hamilton’s opening quarter pushed them to a 17–6 lead and they maintained a 32–15 advantage going into halftime.
These things may seem minuscule in areas, but Hamilton is always striving to build up their program. It remains important for smaller schools who don’t have he best records to celebrate all of the wins, both large and small.
WHAT MAKES SOUTH SIDE TICK?
Don’t look now but the Archers are thriving. 5-0 for the second year in a row after last year’s 6-0 start. Before that, they had not been 5-0 since 2006. This week marked some quality wins, toppling Leo and rival North Side.
South Side actually trailed Leo 5-0 to open the game on Tuesday, with Nolan Hiteshew back in the lineup for the Lions after missing their first several games. But an 8-0 run and a later 10-1 run pushed South to a 29-18 lead at the half. They finished the game off with a 64-37 win. Terrance Jordan has been a must see player to start the season, he finished with a team high 16 points in the win over Leo. Jayvon Irby added 12 points and the Archers finished with 15 steals, headed by Jordan’s six.
On Friday, they got a big one for the culture by taking back the Reichert-Hey Trophy from their rivalry game with North Side. Despite a big effort from Sebastian Moore of the Legends, South was just too on point especially in a big first quarter. Corte Wallace‘s 22 points led the Archers to their Friday night conference win against their rivals.
The Archers have been one of the best, if not the best story of the very young season. It was a team that was kind of on the backside of the SAC in the preseason and had lost a couple of key players to an out of area move. For them to come out swinging the way they have this season has a lot of attention on South Side.
A GROWING RIVALRY
It is fair to say that no matchup in the area last season was as captivating as a rivalry as Angola and Garrett. The two teams played three times last season with the Hornets winning the regular season game at home and the Railroaders getting revenge on their own court both in the NECC Tournament and Sectional play. We didn’t know what we’d get in Friday’s game because the two teams were on two very different paths going into the game.
Angola came into the game 4-0; they had nine different scorers in Tuesday’s 74-48 win over Woodlan. Niles Knox (14), Jacob Fraley (13) and Ryan Stuckey (11) all scored in double figures. Garrett got their first win of the young season Tuesday 76-39 at Fremont. Carter Coffman scored 27, hitting six three pointers, while Aiden Reed and Dawson Hedges each scored 11 to pace ten different scorers.
On Friday, the two teams exchanged plenty of big shots, a game with excellent physicality but perhaps also more of a sense of respect for eachother after last season’s battles. In the end, Angola survived a strong Garrett second half for the 67-58 overtime win. The Hornets held Garrett without a made field goal in the extra frame.
But to get there, these two teams added a lot of lore to this rivalry. Angola dominated early and led the game by as many as 17 points before a Garrett run before the half took the Hornet lead to just 9 at the break. Garrett outscored the Hornets 21-10 in the third as Reed and Gabe Armstrong took over on both ends of the court. Angola fought back in the fourth as Knox scored 5 of his 11 points in the final quarter. The Hornets held for a last shot, but turned it over on a 5-second closely guarded call; Garrett’s last shot from Isaiah King wouldn’t fall.
In overtime, the Railroaders couldn’t convert and Angola marched to the free throw line for eight shots, hitting seven of them as Tyler Ruple scored four of his team high 15 points from the line in overtime. King, in just his third game back from an ACL tear, scored a game and season best 18 points for Garrett while Coffman added 16 and Armstrong had 10 points. Stuckey (14) and Cru Weber (12) joined Ruple and Knox as four Hornets in double figures scoring.
Angola was right back in it Saturday, with another overtime game. This time, they fell 50-47 at home despite balanced scoring. Knox led the Hornets on Saturday with 12 points. Garrett doesn’t get their bounce back opportunity until next Saturday as they host Bluffton.
GIRLS QUICK HITS
Lakeland saw two players score 18 each Monday with Dulce Canedo and McKenzie Carlson (career high) leading the win over South Bend Career Academy; Canedo added 8 deflections and 3 steals. The 74 points scored was the most for a Lakeland girls team since 2017….Homestead had five players in double figures scoring Tuesday in a win over Columbia City; Whitney Ankenbruck led the way with 16….Garrett‘s win over Westview on Tuesday gave them their 5th win to match last year’s win total. It was the first Garrett girls regular season overtime win since 2015….East Noble beat Northrop on Tuesday for the first time since 2017; the Knights trailed 7-2 after one quarter….Joslyn Bricker of Warsaw scored 21 points on Wednesday to move her to 190 points from the program’s all-time scoring leader; in the same game, Brooke Zartman hit the 300th triple of her career. On Friday, Bricker scored 23 to close the point total gap to 167 points; Zartman scored 24 to move into 3rd on Warsaw’s all-time scoring list, passing Julie Seiss….South Adams‘ win over Eastbrook on Wednesday was their third straight; it moved them to 5-5 now with more wins than a season ago. The last time South Adams won three straight games was 2022….Snider‘s Janaya Cooper scored 12 of her game high 23 points Friday against Wayne in the first quarter….On Friday, Eastside coach Mike Lortie won his 118th game with the Blazers, making him the winningest basketball coach (girls or boys) in Eastside history; Taylor Mack scored a career high 33 points….Bri’tanya Diedrich-Williams scored an area high (this season) 39 points Friday as South Side won the Riechert-Hey Trophy from North Side….Northrop‘s Khala Williams-Thomas had a triple double Friday with 22 points, 10 assists and 10 steals against Bishop Luers.
BOYS QUICK HITS
Garrett‘s Carter Coffman (27 pts) and Isaiah King (8 pts, limited minutes) on Tuesday became the 10th classmates to surpass 1,000 career points as Railroaders….Manchester got new coach Pat Lepper his first win Tuesday, 62-57 over Tippecanoe Valley in overtime; Tippy Valley’s new coach is Eli Henson who led Manchester to a state title last season….First year Whitko coach Drew Benedict got his first win Wednesday, 65-58 over Adams Central despite 30 points from the Flying Jets’ Braylend Reber….Kaden Grau scored 26 points and Westview shot 16 fourth quarter free throws in Thursday’s win over NorthWood. Grau finished 11-of-12 at the free throw line….Snider sophomore Chance DeRossett hit 7 threes in Friday’s win over Wayne….Warsaw alum Kyle Mangas signed a two-way contract with the San Antonio Spurs over the weekend, putting him in position to join a nice list of Warsaw alums and Warsaw natives to play in the NBA….DeKalb boys are 3-0 for the first time since 2014.
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