In the very last game recap of 2019, and quite frankly, the last post of 2019, it’s time to recap last night’s DH between WN and PH, as well as some of the notable games for that week. Also, at some point, I would like to have a post to kick off 2020 that recognizes how our NECC alumni are doing in college. That was something I wanted to discuss on from the gecko, but it hasn’t worked out to this point..So, this is in my list to start doing that every once in a while. It won’t be as often as this stuff that you see here, but it’s worth doing something different.
Girls Basketball
West Noble (6-7, 2-4 NECC) 33 @ Prairie Heights (8-6, 5-3 NECC) 36
1st 12-7 PH
2nd 10-9 WN
Halftime 21-17 PH
3rd 7-4 WN
4th 11-9 PH
2nd Half 16-15 WN
When I said Heights needed to get off to a good start, I was not lying about it, and for the second straight game, Heights got off to a solid first quarter. Kennedy Kugler had a very dominant first quarter as she scored 8 of her game-high 19 points in the 1st quarter. She was huge early on, especially when the Lady Chargers trimmed it down to one off of baskets from Shoemaker and Mast.
West Noble started to heat up in the second quarter, which is something we have seen often the entire season. But, the half did not conclude without Kugler making another one with 5 seconds left before intermission. But, she and her Lady Panthers were held in check in the 3rd quarter. In fact, both teams were stuck in a defensive battle where both teams only scored a combined 11 points. Erin Shoemaker was a key player for West Noble in this game, and her triple gave her team a 24-23 lead momentairily before Heights regained the lead going into the 4th.
In the final stance, Heights went on a critical 8-2 run to give Heights a 31-25 lead. Then, the defense held on the rest of the way where West Noble was only able to cut it to one late off off Lilly Mast’s free throws followed by free throws made by Alexis German. Mast led WN with 12, and Tori Franklin also had a nice game with 7. Outside of Kugler’s 19 points, German dropped 8. Heights has won 8 games before January for the first time since 2011-12 and have their most wins in a conference season since winning 6 back in 2012-13.
Heights is playing some very good basketball at the best time of the year as they will get to the final laps of the regular season. They will host Blackhawk on Jan.4, travel to Bronson MI on the 8th, and host Angola on Jan. 10 before they host Fremont in the NECC Quarterfinals.
The Lady Chargers maybe starting to turn some things around, but there is still improvements that can be made as they will have a tough stretch of games they will have to play through. Now, Its difficult to play games when you’re on Holliday break because of lack of routine and some going on vacation. Not having Jazmyn in the lineup obviously made this a challenge, and yet the Chargers have to like the effort and perseverance they brought even in her absence. West Noble will take part in the Jan. 4 Concord Classic and travel to Lakeland on the 10th before going to Garrett for their first-round NECC Tourney game.
Boys Basketball
West Noble Chargers (2-5, 0-3 NECC) 38 @ Prairie Heights Panthers (9-0, 5-0 NECC) 58
1st 11-10 PH
2nd 9-7 PH
Halftime 20-17 PH
3rd 21-11 PH
4th 17-10 PH
2nd Half 38-21 PH
Entering this game, both teams were coming in on completely opposite swings; Heights’ 8 staright wins and West Noble’s 2 straight losses. But, the first half of this game was one that felt a lot like a playoff game.
West Noble’s game plan was to double team, sometimes triple team, on Elijah Malone, which helped them on that part. However, it allowed Heights to open up their perimeter, particularly with Logan Nott. With 4:30 left in the first, it was 11-0 Panthers as Nott connected on 2 triples and added another basket for 8, and Chase Bachelor’s triple gave Heights that early cushion.
But, then West Noble starts to slow down the game, amp up the pressure, and a Braden Brewster triple from the left corner gave the Chargers some life plus the foul on Malone. That was huge at that moment because by the end of the first half Malone would be held to no points, several boards, but 2 fouls. The Chargers would then score an additional 7 points, which included another triple to cut Height’s lead to 11-10 going into the 2nd quarter.
By that moment, West Noble had held the Big 3 to a goose egg..There were only two things West Noble failed to do in that quarter and really the first half.
- Heights perimeter game was still strong, and Logan Nott was easily the MVP of this team in just that first quarter alone
- While West Noble was getting stops on defense, the Chargers missed out on a lot of good looks and opportunities to take the lead. News Flash: they never led in this game.
The second quarter was not much better for the Panthers as they seemed to have either just miss the open shots they would normally make or they seemed to have overthought some things on the offensive side of the ball. Nevertheless, the Panthers’ defense still played well enough to have a marginal size lead. I give credit to the Chargers for a playing a pretty tremendous defensive effort on the Panthers’ big guns, and it definitely was a closer game than how the score looked. Chargers basket at the buzzer shrunk the defecit to 3 at the break.
Mike Perkins was contained well, even once he started to get on the scoresheet in the 2nd. The critical moment in the 3rd quarter was when the Chargers failed to capitalize their scoring opportunities and Brandon Christlieb got on the board from the free throw line and later made the basket and harm. The Chargers’ probelm was simply one guy. Logan did Nott mess around from the opening tip and another triple late in the 3rd gave Heights a 12-point lead. The Chargers were held without a field goal for over 4 minutes, and by that point, they were behind the 8-ball.
Once the 4th quarter rolled around, you knew this would probably be too much to overcome. Malone did not score until that quarter when he was able to put up seven in that last stance highlighted by two emphatic jams. Christlieb finished the game with 8, Nott had a career high 16 points, and Perkins ended up with 18.
The freshman, Austin Cripe, for West Noble led his team with 16 points, but the Charger shooters were held in check by Heights’ full-court press. Once their deficit expanded to double digits, they were not able to be patient on the offensive side of the ball like they did earlier and it was too much to overcome.
West Noble has proved that they can guard teams and their defense can keep them in games, but going into the new year, there are areas that need to be cleaned up in preparation for the 2020 NECC tournament.
Heights will travel to Bronson MI on Jan. 4 and host Angola on the 10th before the tourney. West Noble will host Eastside on Jan. 3 in what will be next week’s NECC Game of the Week. They’ll then travel to LaGrange to face the struggling Lakers on the 10th before tourney time.
Other notable scores around the NECC
Girls
Garrett 82 New Haven 41
Dec. 23 was an historic night for the Big Train as Bailey Kelham’s 45 points was a program and Paul Bateman Gymnasium record for points in a game, and Nataley Armstrong’s 12 assists were also a program record. Garrett will play Leo at the Hoosier Gym Jan. 4, host Fairfield Jan. 7, travel to Wawasee Jan. 8 and to Central Noble Jan. 10.
Angola 53 Woodlan 34
While Angola committed over 20 turnovers last Friday, they also connected with 11 triples led by Hanna Knoll with 14, Ally Lorntz with 13, Kayla Fenstermaker with 9, and Lauren Leach with 8. If my calculations are correct, Knoll’s career total now adds up to 872 points, and while getting to the 1,000 point mark might be a difficult task to get to this season, she likely will get it, at the latest, the start of her senior season.
Eastside wins South Adams Classic
Raise your hand if you had Eastside going 12-2 and 3rd place in conference heading into 2020. Don’t be upset if you’re surprised because pretty much the majority of people are. The Lady Blazers continue their strong season by defeating Delta and the host South Adams to win this past Saturday’s mini tournament. We may see Eastside and SA at sectionals in about a month or so.
Lakeland 64 Westview 41
On a night where Lakeland won their 7th game in the last 8, Bailey Hartsough adds to her 1,000 kill milestone and getting past the 1,000 point mark on her 17th point, where she finished with a career tying best of 30 points. Her younger sister, Peyton, ended up with 9, and 6 other players had at least 3 points or more. However, Keirstin Roose did depart from that game with an apparant injury. If you recall, the Coastal Carolina softball commit missed some time during the season with a earlier injury. Part of Lakeland’s early season struggles stemmed from the injury bug. They may have to weather through this storm again as they get closer to the NECC Tournament. They will take part in the Jan. 4 Concord classic followed by a Jan. 10 home game vs West Noble. The Lady Warriors were led by Gloria Miller with 12 and Kate Welsh with 8. Westview will have a flexible schedule before their rematch with Lakeland in the tourney’s 1st round when they travel to South Bend Career Academy Jan. 9.
Boys
Central Noble 67 Bremen 64 OT
Wow, what a surprise…I probably wasn’t tbh. For the 3rd time in the last 5 meetings, they both had to settle for OT. CN had a 32-24 lead going into the break. But, Bremen outscores CN 26-18, including a 14-11 run in the 4th to force extra session. CN jumped out to a 58-50 lead and held on for the 3-point win. This was CN’s worst stretch of games on the season, and rightfully so because they had to play on the road back to back nights after the time off for Christmas. But, the reoccuring themes continue to occur. While the effort is nowhere near as bad as the one from the Westview game, there is a lot that needs to get cleaned up such as the bad defense, sometimes the lack of communication, and not very good ball movement.
The great thing about this game was they didn’t play very well at ALL, and yet they still found a way to beat a below-average, but scrappy Bremen team. I would rather see a team get an ugly win over an ugly loss all day, but they have to get better if they’re going to stay in the tourney and NECC conversation. Look, Connor Essegian and Sawyer Yoder have played very well for most of this season, and Myles Smith and Ryan Schroeder have contributed nicely at times throughout the season. But, this will take teamwork in order to get the job done, and they still need to show improvement within the next couple weeks. CN will have a tough home game Jan. 3 vs a DeKalb team that has some studs over there followed by a tough road game to the Tiger’s Den Jan. 8 vs Bluffton and a Jan. 10 home conference match vs Garrett.
Westview 64 Lakeland 44
Just another night at the Warrior Dome and another Westview win to stay within striking disstance on Prairie Heights. Lakeland got off to a nice start thanks to their fast-tempo offense, and their methodical man-to-man defense. Bracey Shepherd does a nice job getting to the net with his speed and can fire triples. Brady Bontrager got off that scoring slump from the perimeter with some triples and baskets; he had 20. Shepherd finished with 14 and the freshman Ben Keil posted 7.
But, it was Westview that once again found a way to win just like they did vs University, except they won this game convincingly. Charlie Yoder ONLY finished with 26 points, that puts him within 15 points of surpassing Rusty Yoder and just 92 points from surpassing the county’s all-time scoring king and 2015 Prairie Heights grad, Jacob Heller. Lyndon Miller finished with 13, Drew Litwiller 11, Blake Egli 8, and Luke Miller in his debut had 7.
Westview will host East Noble Jan. 7 and Hamilton Jan. 10. Lakeland will host Columbia City Jan. 4, travel to Strugis, MI Jan.7, and host West Noble Jan. 10. These two teams will meet again in the opening round of the NECC Tourney at Lakeland.
Parkway Ohio 57 Fremont 54 North Central Ohio Title game
One year removed from losing by 40 to this same team, Fremont was 8 minutes away from securing a big win and claim the title. After trailing 11-0 to start the game, Fremont battled back to take a 27-24 lead at the break, and had a 10-point lead late in the 3rd. But, Parkway (7-4) fought back to cut it to 5 after 3 and outscored them 21-13 to seal the deal. Dylan Hughes led the Panthers with a game high 21 points with 12 of them coming in the final period. Fremont had 3 guys in double figures led by Pentecost with 15. The Eagles have come a LONG way from where they were two seasons ago, and it’s nice to see them playing in meaningful games. This is the learning stages of how to beat good teams, and they’re showing that they can play with these teams.
Fremont will only have one more game to play for when they host Busco Jan. 10 before their quarterfinal home tourney matchup with 2A #5 Prairie Heights.
Upcoming schedule
As stated earlier, the Eastside @ West Noble boys basketball game will be the NECC Game of the Week for the week of New Year’s; that game will be on Jan. 3.
Then, after that we will have the last NECC Doubleheader of the week before the NECC Tourney. Nearly 90 votes were tallied into this one, and by a small 5-vote margin (47.7%), the Angola @ Prairie Heights varsity girls/boys doubleheader will be previewed for the week of Jan. 10.
After these previews, there will NOT be a Game/DH of the week during tourney play, but I will have in-depth boys and girls basketball previews to guide through each team and how they can make a deep run to Paul Bateman Gymnasium (Garrett, IN) for the title games.
Once tournament play concludes, two previews will be posted: the Jan. 22 Boys game @ East Noble in the Battle of Noble County and the Jan. 24 girls/boys DH between Westview and Fairfield at Benton.
Around the NorthEast Corner 