Well look who is back to take over your Sunday reading.
While I guess we can survive a few more weeks of the bear talking football on Sundays – and props to those who captured postseason titles on the gridiron this past Friday – the weather is turning and that means Sundays are for prep hoops catch up.
So what are some important things to take out of the first week of girls basketball season? Bounce has you covered with things you need reminded of and perhaps even some things you may have missed during the week.
WHAT WE LEARNED NIGHT ONE
Area games tipped off on Tuesday night with some quality performances but not much in the way of surprises around the area.
Warsaw battled in a 41-31 loss to Snider in the biggest game on Tuesday, though the Panthers were without junior standout Janaya Cooper. That doesn’t take away though from the energy and momentum that Warsaw could and can continue to draw from a good battle with one of the area’s best teams, including winning the first quarter 10-7. Warsaw is in the midst of a pretty substantial rebuild under a new head coach, but came out out on the hands of Cassie Jackson, who scored six of her 9 points in the opening frame. The Tigers were paced by 11 points from Charlotte Kesler. The low scoring is a bit of a departure for Warsaw from recent years, but there was good out of Tuesday.
Snider has to feel even better. In Cooper’s absence, McKenzie White picked up right where she left off and opened her sophomore season with 19 points including 10 in the final frame to close out the Tigers in a game where the lead was never more than five until the closing minutes. The Panthers also showed they had a bit of solid depth in the win and all of this coming without a player who could average 20 or more points this season. Snider proved right out of the gate what we kind of expected, that they are very dangerous. Snider fell to Homestead on Saturday morning at the Lawrence North Tournament, before topping South Bend Adams 70-32 in the consolation game.
Cooper returned to the Panther lineup Saturday and had 17 points in a loss to Homestead.
East Noble tallied 17 steals in their win over Garrett to start the season as Rian David led the Knights with 17 points. While East Noble got the win, Garrett‘s Emma Coffman started her junior year strong with a game high 20 points. Garrett had the game within three points early in the second half before the Knights pulled away. The Knights beat Westview on Saturday behind 14 points and nine rebounds from David.
Elkhart pushed back at the end, but fell to Fairfield 53-49 in Brodie Garber‘s return to the Falcon girls sideline. Madison Jones led Fairfield with 24 points and 17 rebounds in the win, while Paige Park added 15 points. The Falcons led 32-19 at halftime, but got outscored 30-21 in the second half. Jones was electric again in Saturday’s win over John Glenn, scoring 21 of Fairfield’s 39 points.
Norwell used a 37-17 run after trailing by as many as five in the first half to put away Delta 49-34. Get used to hearing the Thornton name aligned with Norwell beyond the sideline as sophomore Avery Thornton led the team with 14 points, while Daisy Swineford and Mia Kurtz each added 10 for the Knights, while Kurtz added a game best five steals just to show off that Norwell’s defensive prowess is far from gone as well. On Saturday, the Knights improved to 2-0 as Swineford scored 15 in a win over Warsaw where Haley Williamson added 10 points and five steals, while also taking three charges. It was Norwell’s 20th consecutive win inside The Castle.
Angola‘s duo of Kendall VanderWal and Kendall Holman both got comfortable as the Hornets ran over Concord on opening night. Each of the pair scored 22 points.
Fremont‘s Grace Scharlach had the highest scoring total on opening night with 25 points to lead three Eagles in double figures in a win over the Fort Wayne Guard. Mya Turner added 19 points and Chloe Verdin scored 15 in the season opening win for the Class 1A state runner up.
Elsewhere, Mackenzie Collins scored 13 as Leo beat Northrop and Remi Holmes also scored 13 as Southern Wells opened their season with a win over Eastern. Southern Wells’ 58-22 win against Union City on Saturday moved them to 3-0 on the season, the area’s only 3-0 team in week one of the season.
BEASTSIDE IS BACK
Taylor Mack wasted little time showing just how much trouble she could present for opposing defenses this season. The Eastside standout poured in 32 points against Concordia during opening week, powering the Blazers to a 68-52 victory on Thursday night. It was an early reminder that any plan to slow Eastside will have to begin with finding a way to contain Mack.
Eastside took control with a dominant second quarter, outscoring the Cadets 24-6 to turn an 18-15 advantage into a 42-21 halftime lead. The Blazers added another 18 points in the third quarter, stretching their cushion to 24 entering the fourth. Concordia won the final period 16-8, but Eastside’s work over the first three quarters had put the game firmly in its hands.
Mack accounted for nearly half of Eastside’s scoring, but the Blazers also showed the supporting production that could make defending her even more difficult. Lucy Kitchen finished with 13 points, giving Eastside a second scorer in double figures, while Rylan Moughler added eight and Reece Mason scored five. Eight Blazers scored in the victory, while Glory Hedtke led Concordia with 14 points.
For Mack, the performance set a high standard right out of the gate. A 32-point outing this early puts future opponents on notice and gives Eastside a clear offensive centerpiece as the season develops. If Kitchen and the supporting cast continue to provide help around her – which we know to expect good things from Kitchen – defenses could face a difficult choice all winter: commit extra attention to Mack and create opportunities elsewhere, or risk watching her take over the scoreboard.
AND RIGHT THERE TOO IS HOMESTEAD
Homestead graduated a lot. One of their best returning players is out the year with an injury.
But Homestead is Homestead and Saturday proved that louder than we really could have even expected.
The Spartans went into the Lawrence North Tournament and plowed their way to a title already this season. And perhaps more importantly for the area conversation, they started that journey at Lawrence North with a 63-48 win over Snider, a team that would be their top competition in the SAC if the Spartans were eligible for the conference title. After Snider scored the first five points of the game, Homestead went on a 16-0 run. Homestead scored 25 points in the first quarter with Delaney Noll and Eva Scarbeary combining for 24 of those.
Noll had her breakout party in a major way, scoring 29 points in the win over Snider. And just like that, Homestead officially has their new star.
Noll has been fantastic in the past for the roles in which she was needed. At Homestead, that role has never really been the go-to player but we all knew it would be this season. In the summers, she has shined so while Outside the Huddle bases most things on what happens in school season, all of the area and the Midwest and beyond even know who Noll is as a basketball player outside of those previous Spartan roles. In this new one, she couldn’t have debuted as the top option any better than the second highest scoring game in the area this opening week.
The Spartans wasted no time in running all over the host Wildcats either, holding Lawrence North to just 13 first half points and taking a 61-40 win. Lawrence North actually got the deficit down to four points in the third quarter, but the fact that the Spartans still pulled away to win by 21 only adds to their early season lore.
QUICK HITS
Olivia Bontrager scored 14 on Thursday in Westview‘s season opening win, 42-17 over Bethany Christian….Churubusco scored 56 points in their season opening win Thursday against Lakewood Park, a scoring mark they hit just twice last season. Brystol Lortie led the way with 13 points as 11 different Eagles scored. The last time they scored 56 or more points opening night was 2020….Gracelyn Martin led all scorers with 20 points, adding seven rebounds in Lakewood Park‘s season opening loss to Churubusco….Sola Holler led Columbia City with 16 points in Thursday’s win, the first of the coach Kyle Fillman era, while Izzy Knitter scored 14 points and pulled down 8 rebounds….After leading 21-5 after the first quarter, Northridge scored a 68-35 win over Chesterron, setting up a Wednesday showdown with Homestead….DeKalb opened the new season Friday with a 40 point win over Lakeland, where Ellington Sparkman scored 18….South Adams‘ Ana Lehman flirted with a triple double in Saturday’s win over Eastbrook with 18 points, 12 rebounds and 9 steals….Despite falling to Bishop Luers in their Saturday season opener, Central Noble put up solid numbers as Kaydintz Bales and Jaylee Slone led Central Noble with 19 and 17 points, respectively, and each grabbed 7 rebounds. Gwen Swank grabbed 12 rebounds and Cora Mault had 6 assists….In that same game, Luers got the win behind 27 points from sophomore Harvest Green, 15 points (4 made threes) from Campbell Glenn and a four block effort from Avery Sebastian….Khloe Vanderford had a solid week as Concordia went 1-1. She scored 15 points Saturday in a win over New Haven and had 9 points earlier in the week in a loss to Eastside….Hamilton‘s season opening win against Wes-Del was their first win to open a season in 22 years.
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