I break 2 ANEC impacted girls basketball sectionals that will be starting Tuesday night. 2A sectionals 35 and 37. Adams Central, Bluffton, Central Noble, Churubusco, Eastside, South Adams, Westview, and Whitko are all apart of one of these two sectionals.
2A 35 @ Eastside
Sectional Titles
Prairie Heights 11 (2006)
Westview 10 (2016)
Fremont 7 (2019)
Eastside 5 (2022)
Central Noble 4 (2023)
Sectional Analysis
With a record of 63-71, this is a very top-heavy sectional. On paper, the 3 best teams in this sectional: (21-3) Eastside, (12-10) Central Noble, and (14-8) Fremont are the only ones with a winning record in what is an all-NECC sectional. If you have found success in this conference, you’re probably going to be favored in this sectional.
The top half of the bracket has Fremont receiving the bye awaiting the winner of the Churubusco-Westview game. Fremont is a team on the rise with a roster of talented athletes and some big time basketball stars. Freshman point guard Grace Scharlach leads the NECC in scoring at 12.8 points per game and is Fremont’s most dangerous shooter. The other big name freshman is forward Mya Turner who averages around 9.5 points per game as another solid shooter that defends extremely well, which gives some flashbacks to another Turner that played under Ed Bentley’s Angola boys basketball team 7 years ago.
The one name a lot of NECC folks should already know before the season began is junior Addy Parr who averages 12.6 points per game as a Top 5 scorer in this year’s NECC scoring race. Parr is a huge part to whether Fremont can overcome a huge task of winning this sectional. Let’s not forget other role players such as Rylee Goetz and Claire Foulk who have shown a few times to delivering in key moments all season long.
The challenge with Fremont is execution and taking care of the basketball. At times this season, Fremont has been suspect to allowing teams to keep games too close for Coach Shae Thomas’ liking. Busco and Westview competed well with Fremont in the regular season, so that is something they cannot take lightly.
Arguably the worst draw of all of the ones we had seen in the selection show came at the bottom half of the bracket drawing the two biggest contenders in the first round, making this the 6th meeting in the last 2 seasons and the 3rd this season alone. Eastside and Central Noble have gotten to know each other a lot over these past 12 months.
Last season, Central Noble swept Eastside in NECC play, NECC Tournament play, and in the sectional semifinals on their way to a 26-3 campaign and a run to the Final Four. This season, it’s Eastside that has won every game against CN so far. Last season, CN hosted. Now it’s Eastside’s turn to host. Will history repeat itself?
When looking at Coach Mike Lortie’s team, this Eastside program has proven to be a really good team that has a variety of basketball talent, shooting, rebounding, and strong team basketball. It’s a flavor of Blazer basketball and strong talent in one. Juniors Lily Kreischer and Paige Traxler are a major part to Eastside’s success this season. Kreischer is their dominant versatile big that can score in many aspects of the game, rebound at a high level, and she’s an elite defender. Her presence is so important to Eastside’s identity as a team that wants to get out and go and be a tough team to play against.
Traxler stabilizes the backcourt with strong upside as a shooter at around 11 points per game and a stingy defensive player grabbing steals and getting that offense going from an energy standpoint. The emergence of junior Sydnee Kessler provides Eastside that extra spark of energy and confidence that this team always needs when their big time players don’t always have their mojo. The Kessler family, like the Kreischer’s, has strong ties to Eastside athletics and their success on the basketball court.
Jayci Kitchen provides senior leadership as an athlete that is primarily known as an excellent infielder on the softball team as a Taylor commit. Freshmen Lucy Kitchen and Taylor Mack are two of Eastside’s most reliable players off the bench, and they play these two a ton for being bench players. And their impact is immediate. Haley Wies is their true center that provides size and rim protection to anchor the rebounding department. This team goes 8-10 girls deep and that depth is a tremendous advantage. And at the best opportune time, they’re starting to understand how to become a championship team after their success in winning the NECC Tournament against defending 3A state champions Fairfield.
They have a huge first round matchup with good ole Central Noble under Sam Malcolm. The Cougars have an experienced team off of last season, except for the fact Madison Vice and Megan Kiebel graduated after last season. So this is a different team from last season because of that. That being said, this is still a pretty good team when they play 4 consistent quarters of Cougar basketball, and that’s where the challenges start.
The upside is the talent around them with sophomore point guard Abby Pliett becoming CN’s most effective shooter, the scrappiness of Melissa McCoy as a senior, the valuable play of Kierra Bolen as a player that does everything on the floor, the defensive reliance of Taylor Custer as a junior forward, and the potential of Grace Swank as their talented dominant sophomore center.
It was Grace Swank a season ago that kept CN in that Eastside sectional game and allowing the Cougars duo of star players to get hot and put that game away. If CN is going to repeat that part of postseason success, they’re going to need Swank to have a strong game Tuesday game along with some timely scoring and limiting mistakes. And those mistakes include not losing coverage on Kreischer, Kessler, and Traxler.
This game will go a long way in deciding this sectional. Prairie Heights has also experienced a rebound this season after winning just 1 game a season ago to now posting a 7-15 campaign. Emily McCrea leads the pack of hard working Panthers under Bill Morr, but they’ll have a tremendous challenge against either of CN or Eastside.
Final Thoughts
Barring a major upset, expect Fremont in Saturday’s title game with the winner of the CN-Eastside game expecting to be favored to win this sectional. I like my chances with the Green and Gold if they can have a solid week of offense and playing their usual strong defensive performances.
2A 37 @ South Adams
Sectional Titles
Bishop Luers 21 (2023)
Manchester 9 (2007)
Bluffton 4 (2021)
Adams Central 3 (2020)
South Adams 3 (2017)
Sectional Analysis
With an impressive record of 74-54, this sectional is no joke as it is ranked 15th in all of Indiana. Immediately when looking at this sectional, this is a field that has the most diversity when it comes to the styles of basketball that these teams play in.
In the top half of the bracket, Manchester (14-8) and Bluffton (16-6) will play each other for the second time in a week. In their first meeting, Bluffton won 64-49 thanks in part to 4 players scoring in double figures and Hayley Gibson and Madyson Sonnigsen combing to shoot 7-13 from downtown. Manchester only made 4 3’s total as a team.
Doug Curtis has a wide range of success coaching in the sectional tournament winning a sectional in every school he has coached in girls basketball: Angola, DeKalb, Northrop, and more recently Adams Central. Bluffton scores at a high level, but their success is on an elite defense and being a stingy team to score and defending the paint.
Juniors Isabella Stout and Maryn Schreiber provide a huge advantage to attack the basket and being the aggressive playmakers to get to the basket. The backcourt of Gibson, Sonnigsen, and sophomore Konley Ault provides Bluffton with a wide range of athleticism and shooting that forces defense to respect their potential. Their success in this sectional truly bodes down to playing clean basketball, which has been an issue at times this season, and winning the rebounding battle.
The potential of Manchester is one I had seen a year in advance when they were only winning half of their wins total for this season. The explosive playmaking ability and quickness of Brookelynn Buzzard is one that you cannot take lightly. Her ability to get involved on offense is so vital to their success and vision of the Lady Squires’ basketball program.
Manchester thrives off of sharing the basketball and pounding the glass at a high rate of over 30 boards per game. Emma Walker is their talented freshman guard that is only going to expand her game as she matures on this program. Manchester shot poorly against Bluffton a week ago and did not get nearly the offensive support that they’ve been getting all season long.
That means the success for Manchester will bode down to Peyton Ream grabbing some massive offensive boards and getting their uber 3-sport scholar athlete Gracie Lauer involved on offense. Lauer’s 7.8 boards and 45% shooting from the floor are a need for Manchester, who was held in check by Bluffton’s defense a week ago. Manchester is 6-1 when Lauer is scoring in double figures and 3-1 when she’s posting a double-double.
The winner of that game will await the almighty Bishop Luers Knights (14-6). A defending champion in this sectional, Luers hopes to repeat for the first time since 2013 and looking to build off of the success of the state championship football team this past season.
As one would expect, Luers has a lot of size, and they’re exceptionally talented. This is the most complete team in the sectional. they’re led by their two bigs in senior power forward Addie Shank (Huntington Commit) and the sophomore center Miley Wareing. Their chemistry on the floor showcases how much they love playing with each other, and that combo gives opponents a lot of headaches to challenge them. They combine for 24.7 points, 17.1 boards, 3.6 assists, and 2.9 blocks per game.
Simply put, when they’re on the floor, Luers is a different team, which opens up their entire offense. This team averages 35 boards, 14 assists, 12 steals, and 3.6 blocks per game. This team did beat Columbia City, Bellmont, and Eastside in the regular season. So you know their potential is sky high.
Senior Annika Davis is their big-time clutch performer that when they need that senior guard play, Davis is right there to make plays. When she can shoot but she’s more effective when she can attack the basket.
They have a cast of scrappy athletic kids led by Maggie Parent and Kyndal Tyree who embrace their roles in being tough players. The biggest wild card is junior shooting guard Reese Rhodehamel. Reese is a talented shooter that has experienced moments of being hot-and-cold shooting the basketball this season. As Columbia City, Adams Central, North Side, and South Side can attest to, when Rhodehamel is hot, she is RED HOT. When she struggles to make shots, it can be difficult for her.
To tell you her importance on this team, Luers is 8-1 when Rhodehamel knocks down multiple threes in a game. If she has a strong sectional and state tournament, nobody is beating this team in 2A because everyone is going to be exhausting all resources to contain Shank, Wareing, and Davis. I saw her play dropping 5 3’s and 22 points against Columbia City. That’s a dangerous team when firing at all cylinders.
The challenges with Luers will come with playing against the more county-based style of basketball that differentiates from the “City Ball” style of SAC play. The other is playing disciplined basketball on both ends. They will need their starters to stay out of foul trouble as often as possible without losing that aggressive play style that Coach Pixley’s team have come to know.
Quietly in the mix is the feel-good story of Coach Justin Jordan’s Whitko Wildcats (18-3). Not only are they having their best season since the 2016-17 season, they also clinched a share of a TRC title for only the program’s 2nd ever conference championship (their first since 2008). Unlike the previous 3 teams mentioned, Whitko’s style of basketball is the complete opposite.
Whitko does not have a traditional big. This team relies very heavily on excellent floor spacing, playing relentless defense, and being extremely quick. This all factors into a offense that centers around a strong perimeter offense and a motion style of basketball. This is night and day compare to the other teams in that sectional. None of these teams in this field play quite like these ‘Cats do.
Whether it’s Adriyanna Phillips, Kloe Krieg, Jayma and Reese Stonebraker, or Braisha Harrison, Whitko has 5 players that can shoot the basketball at a clip of 32% from 3. Krieg is coming off becoming the program’s 3rd we’ve 1000-point scorer and dropping 35 points and 7 threes against Lakeland Christian. They’ll await the winner of Adams Central and South Adams in the semifinals.
However, Whitko cannot take lightly on a potential matchup with South Adams (6-15) because of the elite scoring from senior Macy Pries. Pries is South Adams’ all-time leading scorer regardless of gender shattering a 34-year record. Plus you have to factor in Wayne Kreiger being their coach and his 622 wins in his 39-year coaching career. It’s not a great team, but they have the belief they can compete with anyone.
Final Thoughts
I like Bluffton’s chances to end Manchester’s season for the second year in a row. However, that second round matchup with Luers is going to be incredibly challenging to generate enough offense if the Tigers cannot convert inside.
As long as Whitko takes care of business on Friday, I expect Whitko to play for a sectional tirke. However, I don’t love their chances if their opponent is Luers. Obviously, this entire conversation changes if we somehow get someone else not named Bishop Luers.
I hate to do this for all of the Whitko fans, but I project the Wildcats to come up one game shy of a sectional title.
Around the NorthEast Corner 