It has been a great final week before the holidays and while there will be some games next weekend, it will be a sparse week compared to what we are used to.
So before you gather round the tree or fill your plate for a holiday dinner, take a look back at a few important moments and notes from the basketball week gone by.
RECORD SETTERS
On Tuesday, Bluffton‘s Konley Ault scored 40 points. It was an all-time night for the Tiger standout just on its own. But what made it more special was the fact that it surpassed the previous mark of 38 held by her own mom.
Abby Salscheider Ault, one of the best scorers in the history of Wells County, is Ault’s mother and was on hand as her daughter shot a wild 17-of-25 from the floor in the 79-51 win over Southwood. The mark is also the new high for Northeast Indiana teams this season.
It propelled Ault to the top of the ACAC at 21.5 points per game as we inch towards a conference tournament that the Tigers will be the favorite in. What is more impressive is that Ault is shooting 48 percent from the field during her stellar season.
On Thursday, the New Haven girls got to share in the record setting business by the hands of A’lanah Webb. Webb entered the Bulldogs’ game with South Side just 25 points away from becoming New Haven’s all-time leading scorer. Before the game, she was honored for surpassing 1,000 career points in New Haven’s previous game. Webb went on to score 27 points in the 46-39 loss, breaking that Bulldog career scoring record during the fourth quarter.
Also on Wednesday, Huntington North‘s Luci Reich hit seven threes on her way to 28 points in the Viking’s win over Bishop Dwenger. The seven made three pointers is a new program record.
WILD, WILD WESTVIEW
On Tuesday, the Westview girls improved to 10-2 and 5-1 in the NECC, placing them second in the conference for the time being. The brunt of the NECC schedule was still ahead of the Warriors, including a Thursday meeting with Fremont. But coming off a massive for them win over Central Noble last week, the Warriors are in a place they have not been in some time.
Westview girls won 11 games last season but the 10th win didn’t come until January 15. In 2023, their previous double digit win season, that 10th win didn’t come until Sectional play. Westview last won more than 11 games during the 2018-2019 season, something that is very much in the hunt right now. Westview has been able to contend with a diversity in their scoring; against Lakeland on Tuesday it was JJ Whetstone with 23 points, Olivia Bontrager with 15 and Bre Cory with 12.
On Thursday, they put a solid fight into Fremont, barely being outscored each quarter (4, 2, 3, 6), but those numbers piled up for Fremont in the 55-40 win. Still, the Warriors fought valiantly against one of the NECC’s best and the narrow margin each quarter is something to be happy about if you are Westview. Maddie Grossman led the way with 14 points in the loss.
When we talk about teams who’s successes may get lost in the shuffle, it is the Warriors who are in the best place they have been in before the holidays since that 2018-19 season.
Tuesday wasn’t just about the Westview girls as the boys made it a sweep for the night with a dominant 66-48 win over the Lakeland boys that actually kind of closes off the NECC in some ways. This is a conference where we expected five teams to really jockey for position, but with this loss for Lakeland and Garrett’s early season struggles, things are showing up pretty solidly in Westview’s favor. Lakeland shot 24 percent from three in the game, while Westview hit nine triples for 47 percent; Pierce Yoder drained three of those in the first half as an added wrinkle this year for teams trying to prepare for the Warriors. Austin Schlabach, who’s game just keeps diversifying, led the way with 21 points and Kaden Grau shot 7-of-11 for 18 points and Daniel Yoder added 10 points and 12 rebounds.
The Westview boys took a big step forward in NECC early races on Friday with an impressive win over Angola, 69-53. Despite 10 different Hornets scoring in double figures in the game, Westview raced out to a comfortable lead in the first half by scoring 32 points in the second quarter. Grau scored 12 of his game high 32 points in the second. Westview hit seven triples in the win and went 18 of 26 from the foul line.
BOYS QUICK HITS
South Side beat Peru on Tuesday 93-68 (Terrance Jordan, 21 points); the last time that the Archers surpassed 90 points in a game was 2022 in a 93-91 loss to Snider. Their last 90+ point game in a win was December 13, 2019’s win over North Side….George Poiry scored 33 points for Bishop Dwenger on Tuesday as they handed DeKalb their first loss of the season….Leo had another nice comeback win Tuesday, beating Northrop after training 21-10 after the first quarter. Leo outscored the Bruins 25-9 in the second half and 12-0 in the fourth led by Nolan Hiteshew‘s 18 points….Southern Wells‘ Joshua Aulbach had a 20 points/12 rebound double double Tuesday in a win over Northfield.
GIRLS QUICK HITS
Hamilton followed up their first win of the year on Monday with a win over conference foe Canterbury; Tristen Creager had 11 points and 14 rebounds for the Marines….Norwell had 21 steals in Tuesday’s win over Woodlan, led by 7 from Macie Saalfrank and 6 from Vanessa Rosswurm….Joslyn Bricker‘s season best 28 points on Tuesday closed the gap between her and Warsaw’s all-time leading scorer to 139 points….Leo coach Carrie Shappell won her 250th career game on Wednesday; her daughter Leah Shappell had a 31 point/13 rebound double double in the win over North Side; she now sits 55 points from 1,000. McKenzie Collins flirted with a quadruple double as she finished with 13 points, 9 rebounds, 9 steals and 8 assists for Leo….Whitko outscored East Noble 23-9 in the fourth quarter Thursday after leading by one after three….Kendall Holman had an 18 point, 11 rebound double double Thursday for Angola in a win over Lakeland….Woodlan‘s Alyssa Anderson had a 20 point, 15 rebound double double Thursday against Southern Wells….On Thursday in a loss to Angola, Lakeland‘s Dulce Canedo had 23 points, 7 rebounds and 4 steals.
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