Shock and awe? Exactly how you expected? A little bit of both was in play during girls basketball Sectional week.
While a lot of the Sectional titles came out as projected, some other things were big surprises and there were also some big moments to remember from buzzer beaters to big games.
And of course it makes sense that we start in Class 4A because that is where the biggest surprises took place.
GIRLS CLASS 4A SECTIONALS
Who had Homestead and Warsaw out of the postseason without a single title?
We knew that either Homestead or Norwell wouldn’t make it out with a title as they were destined to meet in the finals of the South Side Sectional. And despite Norwell’s previous win over the Spartans, Saturday’s outcome still left us with an overall surprise that Homestead’s season is over with two of the best scorers in the history of their program.
Norwell reached the title game off a 17 point, 10 rebound, 8 assist night from Vanessa Rosswurm on Friday in a dominant win over Wayne. Homestead got there with a dominant win themselves over Huntington North with four in double figures scoring, led by 15 points from Gabby Helsom.
In their Saturday showdown, Norwell came out with the 47-46 win in a game that was full of the good kind of drama. Homestead opened the game up 14-6 but the Knights turned it on in the second half. Rosswurm is the only player who never left the court in the title game, putting up 28 points to help the Knights win their first Class 4A Sectional title. It was also Norwell’s fifth straight Sectional crown as they eye a third straight trip to the state finals.
Myah Epps ends her Homestead career as the program’s third all-time scorer behind former Miss Basketball winners Karissa McLaughlin and Ayanna Patterson. Right behind her in fourth all-time in scoring for the Spartans finishes classmate Gabby Helsom.
Speaking of best scorers in the history of their programs, Warsaw‘s exit has to be the shock of the week. Kudos to Northridge for their stellar play on Saturday, including the record night from Lily Scholl. She had 31 points and 11 rebounds on Friday as the Raiders beat Concord to reach the final opposite the defending Class 4A runner up.
Northridge came out firing in the second quarter to take a lead into the second half after a 19-10 quarter two in their favor. Warsaw fought back in the third, but the Raiders closed the game out strong to take the 63-60 win. Joslyn Bricker scored 23 points to lead Warsaw, but Scholl was just too much on Saturday night and Warsaw ended their season a bit earlier than expected. Scholl scored a program record 42 points and passed 1,000 for her career in the win.
Bricker leaves Warsaw as the program’s all-time leading scorer and second best female scorer in the history of Kosciusko County. Brooke Zartman ended her time at Warsaw as the program’s second leading scorer all-time and the fifth best in county history.
GIRLS CLASS 3A SECTIONALS
Madison Jones became the 6th Fairfield girls player to ever hit 1,000 career points, doing so on Tuesday in a 15 point outing as the Falcons survived a strong test from Wawasee. She joines teammate Eva Herbert in hitting the 1K mark this season. Macy Worthman started her big week better on Friday with 12 points in a win over NorthWood to put Fairfield back in the finals. In Saturday’s title game, Worthman hit a three to close out the title game as the Falcons were down by one; her heroics gave Fairfield a Sectional crown, something that both of their co-NECC champions also did.
Elsewhere in Class 3A on Friday, Alivia Bolinger led Concordia in a loss to DeKalb with 32 points and six rebounds. It was another big performance for Bolinger, despite the Cadets’ season coming to an end to a thriving DeKalb team that was led by 22 points from Kyla Kjendalen. That lined the Barons up with defending Sectional champions East Noble, who repeated as titleists. Averi Amstutz scored 16 and Rian David added 13 for East Noble as they captured the title. It is the first repeat Sectional title for the Knights since 1983.
Bellmont raced to another Sectional crown, with Ashley Bleke scoring 22 and Lanie French adding 15 points in Friday’s win over Marion as the leaders of four Braves in double figures.
GIRLS CLASS 2A SECTIONALS
13 points from Taylor Mack and 12 from Lucy Kitchen helped Eastside return to the Sectional final on Friday with a great battle against conference foe Westview. Continued respect to the Warriors, who have upped their game late each of the last two seasons. It is a growing program that is going to keep finding more and more success. Grace Swank had 17 points and 10 rebounds Friday for Central Noble in a 51-31 win over Lakeland to set up Saturday’s final opposite Eastside.
Kaydintz Bales scored 18 for Central Noble in the title game, but Eastside took home the 45-38 win in another great postseason battle between NECC teams.
It was an extra special week for Eastside’s Kitchen, who set the Eastside girls hoops record for assists in a season, passing Nici Stuery’s 135 from the 1995-1996 season.
Whitko won another Sectional crown as the growing legacy of that program flies. The Wildcats beat Bluffton 58-44 in a great battle between two top 10 teams in the state, as Kyra Lowe and Jocelyn Luecke each scored 15 points to lead Whitko. Konley Ault finished her career at Bluffton with 22 points in the loss; she ends her career as Bluffton’s fifth all-time leading scorer. In the title game, Whitko met Bishop Luers, who won Friday’s semi final in overtime against Adams Central, led by 30 points from freshman Harvest Green.
GIRLS CLASS 1A SECTIONALS
Fremont started off their quest for another Sectional with a dominant victory on Tuesday over Lakeland Christian, led by Grace Scharlach‘s 20 points. On Friday, it was more domination as Mya Turner scored 29 points when Fremont toppled Hamilton. In the title game against Blackhawk Christian, Scharlach scored a game high 21 points.
A GREAT NE8 BOYS BATTLE
While there were plenty of high level boys games playing out during girls Sectional week, including Homestead/Oak Hill and Blackhawk Christian/Westview, none had the attention or ended up being as intense as New Haven‘s Saturday visit to Huntington North.
As a kind of de facto NE8 title game, everything about this one lived up to the hype. Huntington North took a 68-67 win and knotted up the top of the conference with both teams now at 5-1 with one conference game each remaining. Huntington North next hosts Norwell on Friday, while New Haven hosts East Noble that same night.
Tarvar Baskerville was sensation for the Bulldogs, shooting 10-of-13 from two point range and finishing with a game high 22 points. But despite even a strong start from Baskerville, the Bulldogs trailed 41-36 at the halftime break. In the second half, and especially the fourth quarter, New Haven was really strong in their full court press and forced a lot of New Haven turnovers. At times in the second half, it really felt like the game was played mostly on the New Haven offensive end with Huntington North getting most of their offense on quick hits off the press break and less in the half court setting.
The Vikings turned the ball over 22 times with New Haven’s Lavell Ledbetter picking up five steals and Baskerville adding four.
Yet, when Huntington North needed a bucket, they found it. There was a certain confidence in the second half for the Vikings that the first half had to have built. Titus Schultz attacked the basket and defender Jadrien Ezell strong. Dalton Husband and Blaine Freiburger remained patient around the rim. Brayden Freiburger had a true breakout game for his sophomore season, including a couple of nice pull ups to score in the fourth, leading to a team high 20 points.
It was the kind of back and forth affair that you want to see. And of course it all came down to the very end and the need to make plays. With 9.1 seconds left, Schultz went to the free throw line with the Vikings up one, but missed both free throws. Brayden Freiburger secured the long rebound, his seventh of the game, to send him to the line with 3.7 seconds left. Again though, the free throws fell short – Huntington North just 2/12 for the game – and New Haven secured the ball. After a quick trap by the Vikings, Baskerville got the ball and heaved a three-quarter court shot that looked like it was in the hoop in every way but actually falling.
You could say Huntington North “escaped” with the win, but with how they played throughout the game, they put themselves in the position where they ended up being able to afford some late mistakes and free throw misses. Now, they are right back at the top of the conference with the Bulldogs.
BOYS QUICK NOTES
Bishop Luers‘ Zen Szaferski had 19 points, 5 assists and 4 steals Wednesday in a win over Norwell. Luers hit a three with four seconds left to break a tie at 57 and secure the win….Warsaw‘s Mydin Burgher scored 27 points Thursday in a win over Mishawaka….On Friday, Lakewood Park‘s Kobe Marquardt scored 29 points in a win over Lakeland Christian….Thursday night, East Noble‘s Carson Waltke scored a career best 30 points in a win over Bellmont; Knights coach Ed Bentley picked up his 175th career win in the game. Bellmont‘s Daniel Selking scored 31 in the loss….Also on Thursday, Braylend Reber had 31 points for Adams Central in a win over Fremont; teammate Lawson Deathe added 28 points….Snider came back from a 14 point deficit Thursday to beat Bishop Dwenger 66-51 behind Jordan Woods‘ 19 points….Westview had a balanced effort to hold off Blackhawk Christian on Saturday, 59-58, after leading by 14 at halftime. Daniel Yoder led the Warriors with 16.
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