It was a big week of games, with the ACAC and NECC Tournaments taking center stage. But those conference matchups were not the only big games as there were some major conference implications in both the SAC and NE8.
In addition, there were a lot of great games and moments this week that fell into neither of those categories, so lets talk about it!
THE ACAC
The girls side of the ACAC Tournament provided what was the biggest surprise of Tuesday games in any of this week’s tournaments. No, not because Jay County got the win over Woodlan, but because of how they dominated the win against the ACAC regular season champions. It was a firm reminder of why this has been Jay County’s conference in girls hoops in recent years far more often than it has not been. Hallie Schwieterman finished with 24 points in the Patriot girls’ 50-20 win while Gradin Swoveland‘s 18 led the Patriot boys over Woodlan 65-29. Elsewhere, Konley Ault scored 22 and Sophie Eisenhut had 14 rebounds as the Bluffton girls topped South Adams while Declan Grieser had 16 points and Gavin Grieser had 14 points the Bluffton Tigers boys’ win over the Starfires. The Adams Central girls topped Heritage, 53-34, led by 18 from Kate Fisher while the Heritage boys took the split over AC, 62-45, led by Taurean Brown‘s 21 points.
Friday night saw Heritage pick up a massive win over the Bluffton boys in a tough, physical contest, 63-50. Kingston Galentine led the Patriots with 32 points while Declan Grieser had 18 for the Tigers. Blufton suffered a couple of blows in the game, losing Gavin Grieser to injury and Griffin Morgan to ejection for a hard foul. Jay County would top Southern Wells to advance to the title game on the boys side too with 18 points from Jayden Comer. On the girls side, Karsyn Schwieterman scored 24 points to push Jay County to Saturday’s finals with a win over Southern Wells. Konley Ault pushed Bluffton to the girls final with 23 points against Adams Central.
On Saturday, Bluffton closed out a title with a 65-54 win over Jay County. Konley Ault scored 24 points to lead the Tigers and take home the ACAC Tournament MVP title; Khloe Dick added 20 points in the win. It was the first time that Bluffton ever made back-to-back title games, while Jay County was in their 10th ACAC Tournament final in just 12 years in the conference.
Jay County won the battle of the Patriots on the boys side, 50-41, to win the ACAC Tournament title. The balanced Jay County effort saw Gradin Swoveland lead the way with 16 points, while Cole Forthofer and Jayden Comer each scored 12. This was Jay County’s fifth ACAC Tournament title appearance and first since 2022.
THE NECC
Tuesday provided no real big surprises in the NECC with Lakeland taking care of business in boys and girls and the Prairie Heights boys (Jake Stoy, 19 pts) and Fremont girls getting wins in their respective matchups. Lakeland girls were led by Zoey Bowman‘s 19 points and 10 steals as they beat Churubusco, while Lakeland topped the Busco boys 83-31 behind 21 points from Kyle Hartsough. If there were surprises it was the flip of Central Noble and Garrett from the previous Friday’s regular season meetings. This time, in tournament play it was the Cougar girls and Railroader boys getting wins, the exact opposite of the previous week. Jaylee Slone had 19 points and 7 rebounds for Central Noble girls in the win, while Garrett’s boys got 15 points from Carter Coffman and an 11 point/11 rebound double double from Aiden Reed.
Wednesday’s snow postponed quarterfinal games until Thursday, giving Tuesday winners an extra day to prepare, but also forcing the teams in the conference to win three game in three days to capture a title this season.
On Thursday, there were a lot of dominating performances and one that stayed unpredictable until the end. Fremont girls handled business against Central Noble in a 19-point win led by Grace Scharlach‘s 19 points and 17 from Mya Turner. The Fairfield girls topped Westview to open the school’s double header, led by 20 points from Madison Jones in the 51-25 win. On the bottom half of the bracket, Angola got 20 points from Kendall VanderWal and 18 from Kendall Holman in a 52-38 win over Lakeland. The Lakers had a 16-0 run to tie the game at 34 before Angola used an 18-4 closing run to win it. Eastside also topped West Noble to advance to a semi opposite Angola on the girls side.
On the boys side, Angola, West Noble and Westview all handled business to advance to the semi final round. Niles Knox scored 22 and Tommy Caswell scored 10 as Angola beat Lakeland 48-37, holding the Lakers to 46 less points than they scored in the opening round. Westview was led by Austin Schlabach‘s 20 points and 18 from Daniel Yoder as they hit seven threes as a team in a 60-50 win over Fairfield. The big comeback came at Prairie Heights, where Garrett trailed by 10 with 5:30 left in the game before using a 17-0 closing run to beat the host Panthers 41-34 led by Carter Coffman‘s 15 points.
Friday saw Niles Knox score 28 points and 12 rebounds as Angola fought past a game West Noble squad 47-43. Trevor Steele led a balanced Charger effort with 12 points. In the other boys semi final, Westview turned a 12-7 first quarter lead into a runaway win over Garrett; Kaden Grau led the way with 24 points and surpassed 1,000 career points during the game. On the girls side, Taylor Mack (28 points) and Eastside outdueled Kendall VanderWal (22 points) and Angola to reach their third straight NECC Tournament final. Their opponent would be Fremont, who topped Fairfield despite Falcon Eva Herbert passing 1,000 career points in the game. Oddly enough, there were two players to hit 1k on Friday with Herbert and Grau, both games happening at Garrett. Mya Turner led Fremont with 24 points in the semi final win.
Angola proved to be game in Saturday’s title contest, but fell 68-65 in overtime to Westview‘s boys, who repeat as NECC Tournament champions. Grau again dominated for Westview, this time turning in 29 points while Austin Schlabach scored 18 and Daniel Yoder had 13. Angola was led by Niles Knox‘s 22 and 20 points from Ryan Stuckey. A big overtime three from Hornet’s Haven Stockamp gave the Hornets big life but Grau had 6 of Westview’s 10 in the extra frame.
Eastside girls won their third straight conference tournament title in a 53-45 win over Fremont. The loss was just the second of the season for the Eagles, both to Eastside and both by eight points. Addison Moughler led the Blazers with 16 points while Lucy Kitchen added 14; Grace Scharlach scored 17 to lead Fremont.
A WORLD OF BALANCE
Things took an interesting turn outside of conference tournaments on Friday with Huntington North boys’ big win over Columbia City. The balanced effort from the Vikings helps put them in the NE8 drivers seat, improving to 3-0 in conference. Dalton Husband scored 14, Titus Schultz added 12 points and Grant Campbell had four steals for Huntington North. That win turned quickly for the Vikings, who were then upended by North Side on Saturday afternoon behind 15 points and six rebounds from Omarion Waites. Husband had 22 points and 10 rebounds for the Vikings in the loss; Brayden Freiburger added 15 points.
Warsaw boys, who have been struggling based on recent Warsaw standards, picked up a monster win Friday by topping previously unbeaten Goshen 49-41 in overtime. Mydin Burgher scored 14 points as Warsaw held a 10-2 advantage in the overtime period. The Tigers shot 6-of-8 from three point range and 17-of-20 from the free throw line. The next night, the Tigers dropped a 61-56 final to…of course…Columbia City. The Eagles brought it all back around after Friday’s disappointing conference loss and led by as many as 18 in the game. Sam Lara had 22 for Warsaw in the loss.
Elsewhere in NE8 action this past week, Norwell all but wrapped up a conference girls basketball title by topping rival Bellmont on Friday night. The Knight still have New Haven and East Noble on the agenda, but topping the Braves 52-42 was a big stand. Macie Saalfrank had 21 points in the win while Vanessa Rosswurm added 17 points and five steals.
GIRLS QUICK HITS
Bellmont‘s Marianne Bleke had 20 points Tuesday in a 57-53 win over Northrop….A’lanah Webb of New Haven had 27 points Wednesday in a 56-23 win over North Side….Whitko girls held Lakewood Park to just nine points in Thursday’s 63-9 victory, the most amount of points given up by Whitko in at least the last quarter century….Concordia‘s Alivia Bolinger posted a 25 point, 11 rebound double double Friday in a win over South Side….Warsaw‘s girls set school records in a 108-14 win over Goshen on Saturday. The 108 total points and 70 point first half were both program records; Joslyn Bricker led the way with 28 points while the Tigers had 31 assists and 30 steals as a team….Hamilton girls beat Canterbury Friday to win their first conference game since 2016….Homestead‘s Myah Epps scored a career high 42 points Friday in a win over Snider….Carroll coach Mark Redding picked up his 200th career victory on Friday against Bishop Luers….In a Saturday NECC consolation game, Garrett beat Prairie Heights behind 25 points, 7 rebounds, 5 steals from Sarah Depew and 15 points, 7 rebounds and 9 assists from Emma Coffman.
BOYS QUICK HITS
Garrett‘s Carter Coffman moved into 10th in the program’s made three pointers list in Tuesday’s win against Central Noble….Lakewood Park‘s Avery MacFarlane scored his 1,000th career point Tuesday with a dunk in the Panthers’ win over Hamilton as part of a 22 point night; this came less than a week after he tied the Lakewood Park single game scoring record with 41….Homestead‘s Mack Welker hit 15 shots and scored an area season best 39 points Tuesday in a win over Blackhawk Christian….Tarvar Baskerville hit seven three pointers and scored 27 points for New Haven Tuesday in a win over Bishop Luers….Bellmont‘s Daniel Selking hit 8 three pointers and finished with 31 points Friday in a loss to Norwell….Snider boys picked up a big win Friday over Homestead, led by 18 points from Trell Hogue.
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