2020 GIRLS BASKETBALL
SECTIONALS FOREST PARK n HERITAGE HILLS n JASPER NORTHEAST DUBOIS n SOUTHRIDGE
The Herald â– yo u r c o m m u n i t y n e w s pa p e r s i n c e 1 8 9 5 duboiscountyherald.com
dubois county, indiana
MONday, february 3, 2020 section b
page 2 ■ girls basketball sectional
the herald ■ Monday, February 3, 2020
Herald File Photos
Southridge coach Greg Werner clipped down the net after the Raider girls basketball team claimed the Class 3A sectional championship in 2014.
Sectional-winning coaches recall past glory BY COREY STOLZENBACH sports@dcherald.com It is a time of year when dreams come true, and hearts are broken. Seasons are cut short, but also nets are cut down. Everything a team has worked for in a given season boils down to a winor-go-home scenario from here on out. An undefeated regular season or a winless regular season are now completely irrelevant. It’s the time when communities rally by basking in their school’s glory. A sectional championship is every team’s goal, but winning it can be easier said than done. “You’re going to get every team’s best shot,” Northeast Dubois girls coach Andy Chinn said. Chinn knows that feeling of cutting down the nets at sectionals. The 2009 Tell City graduate never got to experience it as a shooting guard for the Marksmen, but it took only his second year as coach of the Jeeps in 2018 to put sectional champion on his résumé. The Jeeps emerged with a 35-30 win against Wood Memorial, taking their first crown since 2013. He sees himself fortunate to work in the community he does. Chinn calls sectionals “a lot of fun” where the town shuts down and there’s a pep rally waiting for Northeast Dubois if it can get that championship. This is Chinn’s first head coaching job at the varsity level. He coached junior varsity before taking over from two-time state runner-up Alan Matheis. Chinn credited his predecessor for paving the way for him. His first sectional game as a head coach came Feb. 3, 2017. “There was no feeling like it,” he said. “We got to play our rival, Springs Valley, in the first round, and we played really well (a 53-50 win). Eventually, we lost in the sectional final to the eventual state
Forest Park head coach Tony Hasenour yells during a Dec. 18, 2018, girls basketball game in Ferdinand. champion (Wood Memorial). That was a crazy year, that first year coaching with the state champion coming from our sectional.” The Jeeps have to deal with the Blackhawks, Trojans, Cannelton and Tecumseh in their sectional. Northeast Dubois went 1-1 against teams in its sectional in the regular season. The Jeeps held off Wood Memorial, 45-42, on Nov. 25, but lost, 48-34, on Dec. 5 at Springs Valley. Chinn and the Jeeps will have to go through at least one, if not both of those teams, to get that second sectional championship in three years. “After you get that first one, you want that second one just as much, and then you want the third one, you want the fourth one,” Chinn said. “We want one pretty bad. That’s our standard.
That’s the Lady Jeep basketball standard.” Forest Park coach Tony Hasenour served as a longtime assistant to Marty Niehaus until Hasenour slid into the head coaching job for the 2016-17 season. Hasenour inherited a sectional-winning team that won one during Niehaus’ final season in 2016. The Rangers went 19-9 that season, which included a 10-game winning streak that spanned from Dec. 28, 2015 through Jan. 19, 2016. Their 54-36 win Feb. 6 against South Spencer was the fourth in the career of the current Springs Valley girls coach. “When she told me it was her last year in 2015-2016, I wanted, as an assistant, to do everything I could to help her go out on top at Forest Park,” Hasenour said.
Hasenour tried to soak up as much as he could from Niehaus, and thought she did a great job of being calm and cool headed for the players when it came to the postseason, and he wanted to do the same. He commended his players during his first season for buying in to everything the coaching staff did that year. Forest Park started off the year 4-0, and finished 17-11. The Rangers equaled that feat of four consecutive wins later in the season that included edging Pocket Athletic Conference foe North Posey, 41-37, on Jan. 26, 2017, in the regular-season finale. They managed to string together another three wins in a row, including a 45-35 overtime triumph against another PAC rival, Tell City, on Feb. 4 for the sectional champion-
ship game for the second crown in a row for Forest Park. Hasenour never dreamt he would’ve done it his first year on the job, but there he was, a sectional champion in Season One. “I can still remember one of my seniors that year was Shelby Louden,” he said. “I can remember walking off the floor with her after we had won, and I looked her in the eye and I smiled real big, and I said, ‘Did you ever think this was going to happen this year?’ She just grinned right back at me and said, ‘No, Coach, I didn’t think it would ever happen.’ That was a really neat moment between the two of us.” Forest Park dropped a 51-41 loss to South Ripley in the regional tournament, but Hasenour told his whole team after the season was over they were already going to be special to him because it was his first season, and winning a sectional in his first year made it extra special. It’s something he will never forget. He personally found winning a sectional his first season on the job did a lot for his confidence “Coming in as a first-year coach, you’re not sure if you belong on the varsity level,” Hasenour said. “To be able to come out and get a title under your belt is a big confidence booster, and kind of, not arrogantly, but self assures you that, ‘Yeah. You can do this. You can coach at this level.’” Hasenour has another two sectional tournaments under his belt as a head coach, losing in the second game in 2017-18 and first game in 2018-19. He talked about wanting to win a sectional even more for every year he doesn’t win one. Winning one this year will be worth all the extra hours that’s put in during the summer, See COACHES on the Page 8
the herald ■ Monday, February 3, 2020
girls basketball sectional ■ page 3
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page 4 ■ girls basketball sectional
the herald ■ Monday, February 3, 2020
LADY WILDCATS Win The Sectional!
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the herald ■ Monday, February 3, 2020
girls basketball sectional ■ page 5
Kaiti Sullivan/The Herald
Jasper’s Claire Knies, left, Jaycie Hooten, Kylee Vaal and Kendyl Ruhe place their hand over their heart for the National Anthem during a basketball game in Dubois. Jasper defeated Northeast Dubois in that December 2019 game, 51-34.
Jasper has seen peaks and valleys this year BY JONATHAN SAXON jsaxon@dcherald.com JASPER — Inconsistency is the major theme which has marked the season for the Jasper girls basketball team. The Wildcats opened with a win over the Dubois County rival Southridge Raiders, but proceeded to drop the next four games. They seemed to catch hold of themselves when they bounced back with wins over the Evansville Central Bears and Heritage Hills Patriots, but the rollercoaster of wins and losses continued to dot the season. The Wildcats struggled with figuring out how their individual pieces fit and work together to accomplish their goals on the floor, which is seen in their up-and-down record. However, the Wildcats believe the gauntlet that is the season will be proven to be the kind of fire that will forge instead of burn them for sectional. “We haven’t had the best season record-wise,” senior guard Claire Knies admitted. “We got that first win over Southridge, then we started not playing to our fullest potential. Now coming into sectional, we’re coming together.” “We started off rocky, and we just pushed past that,” senior guard Brooke Nottingham added. “We had a lot of obstacles we overcame. Now we’re starting to figure things out.” Wildcats coach Jessica Mehringer has been like a scientist running multiple season-long experiments with the team. She decided to tweak the offensive system by adding a few more rules to bring structure to the court, had to contend with some potential starters not coming back for another season and has been tinkering with the lineup all year to maximize the players she
Jasper’s Claire Knies passes the ball during Tuesday’s girls basketball game in Lincoln City. Jasper defeated Heritage Hills 43-36. Marlena Sloss The Herald
has available. Yet, with all of that, she is encouraged not only by what the team has accomplished when it is at its best, but also how the girls responded to the tough times they’ve faced this winter. “You got kids that are stepping up and showing they can do it,” Mehringer said. “For us, we’ve been trying to find the right mix. It’s been nice to go back and forth between kids based on what kind of matchups we’re going to have. We’re finally at the point where everybody knows what their role is, and are working hard to make the team better, whatever that means for them.”
Part of the struggle has also come from living with the inconsistency that comes with younger players with limited varsity experience. After junior guard Emma Shelton injured her hamstring, which took a valuable scorer off the floor for the Wildcats, Mehringer had to plug in other players who had to make their mistakes and grow on the fly for the team. She has watched them take on the challenges and adapt their decision making and on-court temperaments. They’re getting better at creating good shot opportunities and not panicking in situations where their defense
has to carry them. “Those kids are responding and doing a lot of good things,” she said. “Those kids are getting better and more comfortable in their roles. The time that they get, they’re taking advantage of it.” It’s all in service of cresting at the right time going into February. The season is long and the process is not always an easy one, but the Wildcats have confidence they can turn their inconsistent regular season into a postseason run that can take some teams by surprise. The team is confident their focus and synergy are right
where they need to be, and the growth they’ve experienced during the more trying periods will allow them to push through the tough moments to realize their goal of a sectional title. “We’re very capable of making noise,” Mehringer said. “We feel like we have just as good of a chance to win sectional as anybody else. Our focus is on everything we’re doing to get ourselves ready to cut down the nets.” “Every day leading up to the postseason is important,” Nottingham added. “Each (game) helps us get a step closer to our ultimate goal.”
page 6 ■ girls basketball sectional
the herald ■ Monday, February 3, 2020
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the herald ■ Monday, February 3, 2020
girls basketball sectional ■ page 7
photos by Marlena Sloss/The Herald
Southridge’s Kennedy Nalley, left, Mikah Goeppner, Rose Tempel, Marie Tempel and Bailey Keusch listen to head coach Greg Werner during a basketball game in Huntingburg. Southridge defeated Northeast Dubois 32-26 during that January game, which delivered head coach Greg Werner his 200th victory with the Raiders.
Raiders deal with adversity opening sectional BY JONATHAN SAXON jsaxon@dcherald.com HUNTINGBURG — The Southridge girls basketball team has been dealt a tough hand this winter. It started before the games even began when senior forward Grace Sickbert dislocated her kneecap a week before the season’s start. Then junior forward Monica Steckler tore her ACL during the Raiders’ very first practice. Those two injuries were tough enough to deal with, but the injury bug struck the Raiders two more times during the season. First it was sophomore guard Myah Montgomery, who tore her ACL on Dec. 17 against Heritage Hills. Then came junior forward Rose Tempel, who went down with another knee injury against the Northeast Dubois Jeeps on Jan. 14. Through it all, the Raiders have refused to entertain the thought of quitting on their season. Injuries are part of the equation in sports, and though the Raiders have been hit harder than most, they aren’t letting their health woes dull their sense of competitive pride. “No excuses,” Southridge coach Greg Werner said. “As a coach, you always take the hand that you’re dealt and make the best of it.” “We’ve been trying to stay positive and keep getting better everyday,” junior guard Kennedy Nalley said. “We’re looking at making players stronger, not only for sectional, but also for next year. We’re trying to spin it in a positive way.” That’s not to say the Raiders
haven’t experienced positives amidst the hardships. They’ve posted more regular-season wins than they had in the past three seasons, and Werner reached a personal milestone of 200 wins at Southridge. However, the challenge of constantly refiguring the lineup has hampered the efforts of establishing the kind of continuity and consistency the Raiders desire. Getting different players caught up on the schemes and figuring out how to replace the scoring are the big issues the Raiders are working to address before the start of sectionals. The girls believe they’re making progress in growing their confidence to step up in their roles on the floor. “As a team, we’ve been getting more organized offensively,” freshman guard Marie Tempel said. “[Coach Werner] really had to gain trust in me, Nalley and [sophomore forward] Mikah (Goeppner) stepping up and filling in the points we lost. I think we’ve all grown a lot. We know what we have to do to put points on the board. We all just have to have trust in each other on the court.” “We just encourage each other to shoot those shots,” Nalley added. “If we don’t, just pick it up and try again next time. If everyone’s scared to shoot, you’re never going to score. So, we’ve just been trying to stay positive on the floor and pick each other up so we have confidence to take those shots.” Werner said the players have been resilient and have kept good attitudes through all the adversity they’ve experienced this season. Yet he and the coaching
staff have embraced the challenge of coaching up the younger players they’ve inserted into the lineup this season. Even with the setbacks, Werner has seen different players grow into their expanded roles and accomplish different things that were foreign to them before this year. The major point of emphasis he stresses to the girls is for them to stay out of their own way. Mistakes can happen, especially with players who are trying different things and building that continuity. The Raiders have kept themselves from letting the growing pains shift their focus away from executing their basketball agenda. “When they’re on, we can beat anybody,” Werner said. “But they have to play with that confidence every night. They have to play in that zone, and if they play with that confidence together, they’re capable of beating anybody.” Despite the injuries and the many times they’ve had to retool, the Raiders are ready to show what they’re capable of in the sectional tournament. “We’re trying to surprise some people,” Nalley said. “Everybody knows about the setbacks we’ve had this year. But we’re trying to go into sectional, play our hardest and get some wins.” “The one-and-done thing has always set in my mind as a threat, and I want to take that threat head-on,” Marie Tempel added. “I think this team is ready for it, our coaching staff will get us ready for it and we’ll play as hard as we can to get through the tournament.”
Southridge’s Mikah Goeppner shoots a 3-pointer during a January girls basketball game in Huntingburg.
page 8 ■ girls basketball sectional
the herald ■ Monday, February 3, 2020
Marlena Sloss/The Herald
Northeast Dubois head coach Andy Chinn played with his nephew Henry Holliden of Tell City, 3, after defeating Wood Memorial at Wood Memorial High School in 2018. The Jeeps won 35-30 to claim the Class 1A Sectional title.
Coaches (Concluded from Page One) during the preseason, scouting and watching film. Failure to win a sectional championship causes a reflection on what went wrong, or how the team could have been better. It leads a coach to analyze oneself, seeking to dissect weaknesses and trying to change them. He spoke from experience when he said he doesn’t think anything can prepare someone for a sectional atmosphere. “Everybody’s excited,” Hasenour said. “Everybody’s fired up. It doesn’t matter if you’re 20-0 or 0-20, everybody comes in with an 0-0 record and believing that they can win on that night. So, you got to be there. You got to be ready, and there’s more people in the stands. There’s more students there, and it’s a just whole different vibe in the gym, but it’s great. I love it. I wish every game was like that, because it’s fun to be in that environment. It’s fun to win.” Southridge’s Greg Werner is the most experienced, and also the most decorated, among local girls coaches who have won a sectional. Werner won two regional championships in 1999 and 2001 with Washington Catholic, and two sectionals at Southridge in 2007 and 2014. Werner never got to experience that as a player at Northeast Dubois, losing to the Raiders as a senior in the 1991 sectional championship despite the Jeeps having a double-digit lead one time in the game. “You know what you go through as a player that you put in all that time, all that effort and you want to be rewarded for what you put into it,” Werner said. “It was one of those things that was kind of unfinished business when you start out kind of as a coach. You want to get your kids to that level and let them have that satisfaction.” Werner thought Washington Catholic should have won a sectional championship in 1998, but the Cardinals missed free throws against North Daviess, who ended up winning the sectional. “We had one senior that year (Sandy Halter) and we felt really bad,” Werner said. “We put our video together. We promised that we would take care of business the next year and that we would have her cutting down the nets with us.” Helping the Cardinals get to that point to begin with was why
Werner wanted Halter to help cut down the nets, and sure enough, she did. For Werner, it was bittersweet because there was always a dream as a kid, as a player, to do that, and not every coach has gotten to do it in their career. He would like to have even more sectional championships on his résumé, but is fortunate to have cut down the nets at sectionals four times in his career. Local coaches have different positions on how special a specific sectional championship is. The most special to Werner is always
the most recent one he’s won. In this case, it came with Southridge in 2014. “You always want the next,” he said. “To me, it’s that last one going into the next one.” Not winning a sectional drives him. He reflected on not winning a sectional in 1998 driving him in 1999. There’s a desire to maintain after winning, though, but if they don’t, it’s about getting back to where they were. Werner called it a tough stretch in between the 2007 and 2014 sectional championships. The Raiders ran into some tough roadblocks in the tournament. A 42-41 loss to Jasper on Feb. 12, 2011, denied them a berth in the championship game. A 46-41 overtime loss to Evansville Mater Dei on Feb. 10, 2012, eliminated Southridge, while Mater Dei went all the way that year. Werner knows what it’s like to have a great regular season, but to come up empty handed come sectional time. His first season during his first stint at Southridge was in 2004-05. The Raiders went a perfect 20-0 in the regular season, surviving some close calls along the way to perfection. They made it to the sectional championship, where they lost their only game of the year, 44-40, on Feb. 12, 2005, against Forest Park. Werner talked about all of that winning not guaranteeing success, how players must still go out and earn it. He called it a tough year, looking back on it. “That was a very talented team, and it’s a shame,” Werner said. Werner is back in his second stint with the team after a threeseason hiatus. He knows the Raiders are in an underdog role, having dealt with the injury bug this season, but he also thinks his players having that underdog role
means they don’t have a target on their back, so they have nothing to lose and can go free and loose in the tournament. “You go through ups and downs,” he said. “The biggest key is that nothing’s guaranteed in life and so the same thing here — you
want something bad enough, you work for it and you create your own luck. All I can ask is the kids keep working hard, and if they keep working hard, good things will be there for them. You just don’t know when, and you just can’t guarantee it.”
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the herald ■ Monday, February 3, 2020
girls basketball sectional ■ page 9
HERITAGE HILLS PATRIOTS
Members of the Heritage Hills High School girls basketball team are, from left, first row: Avery Neff, Brianna Quinn, Ella Schnieders and Hadley Lytton. Second row: junior varsity coach Ray Kaetzel, Madison Begle, Grace Mangan, Rebekah Gordon, Lauren Sisley, Sarah Mangan, Nevah Barnett and coach Kim Brown.
G I R L S b a s k e t b a ll s e c t i o n a l h is t o r y YEAR
WINNER
1976 Southridge 1977 Jasper Tell City 1978 Jasper Castle 1979 Jasper Boonville 1980 Jasper Boonville 1981 Jasper Boonville 1982 Jasper Boonville 1983 Jasper Boonville 1984 Forest Park Boonville 1985 Forest Park Boonville 1986 Forest Park Boonville 1987 Southridge Boonville 1988 Southridge Castle 1989 Southridge Heritage Hills 1990 Pike Central Heritage Hills 1991 Pike Central So. Spencer 1992 Pike Central Boonville 1993 Pike Central Heritage Hills 1994 Pike Central Heritage Hills 1995 Pike Central So. Spencer 1996 Jasper Castle 1997 Jasper Castle
RUNNER-UP
HOST
Jasper Jasper Southridge Jasper Heritage Hills Boonville Northeast Dubois Jasper Boonville Boonville Pike Central Jasper Tell City Boonville Springs Valley Jasper Tell City Boonville Northeast Dubois Jasper Heritage Hills Boonville Southridge Jasper Tell City Boonville Southridge Jasper Tell City Boonville Northeast Dubois Jasper Cannelton Boonville Northeast Dubois Jasper Cannelton Boonville Northeast Dubois Jasper Tecumseh Boonville Forest Park Jasper Castle Boonville Jasper Jasper Boonville Boonville Jasper Jasper Boonville Boonville Forest Park Jasper Castle Boonville Jasper Jasper Castle Boonville Jasper Jasper Tell City Boonville Southridge Jasper Boonville Boonville Northeast Dubois Jasper Boonville Boonville Jasper Jasper Boonville Boonville Forest Park Jasper Boonville Boonville Southridge Jasper Boonville Boonville
SCORE
YEAR
WINNER
34-21 59-41 45-39 54-28 48-38 54-42 36-34 75-29 44-28 43-34 52-35 52-45 38-33 39-37 34-30 63-47 57-47 67-48 54-46 55-49 52-40 64-57 65-46 56-50 32-31 52-41 36-32 70-48 63-36 41-40 61-58*** 43-41 52-42 40-33 40-36 65-43 43-42 49-42 35-34 47-37 56-47 64-25 57-36
1998 Jasper Southridge NE Dubois Ev. Memorial 1999 Jasper So. Spencer NE Dubois Ev. Memorial 2000 Jasper Forest Park NE Dubois Ev. Memorial 2001 Jasper Forest Park NE Dubois Ev. Memorial 2002 Jasper Southridge New Harmony Gib. Southern 2003 Sullivan Southridge NE Dubois Ev. Memorial 2004 Washington Tell City NE Dubois Ev. Memorial 2005 Jasper Forest Park NE Dubois Ev. Memorial 2006 Gib. Southern So. Spencer NE Dubois Ev. Memorial 2007 Gib. Southern Southridge NE Dubois Ev. Bosse 2008 Vincennes Tell City NE Dubois
RUNNER-UP
HOST
SCORE
Gibson Southern Vincennes 47-40 South Spencer Wood Mem. 68-57 Tecumseh Tecumseh 45-26 Ev. Bosse Ev. Bosse 62-54 Gibson Southern Jasper 46-35 Perry Central Wood Mem. 68-57 Cannelton Tecumseh 69-44 Boonville Heritage Hills 54-50 Vincennes Lincoln Washington 41-39 South Spencer Southridge 46-32 Springs Valley W. Washington 52-40 Ev. Bosse Boonville 66-50 Vincennes Lincoln Washington 69-57 Crawford County Southridge 50-35 Springs Valley W. Washington 58-53* Ev. Mater Dei Boonville 68-55 Sullivan Washington 56-44 Forest Park Southridge 40-28 Tecumseh Wood Mem. 65-52 Ev. Memorial Boonville 48-39 Vincennes Lincoln Washington 57-53 Tell City Southridge 50-41 New Harmony Tecumseh 51-44 Ev. Bosse Boonville 80-59 Vincennes Lincoln Washington 48-46* South Spencer Southridge 48-39 Crothersville W. Washington 56-33 Ev. Mater Dei Boonville 83-54 Gibson Southern Washington 43-49* Southridge Southridge 44-40 Springs Valley Springs Valley 51-38 Heritage Hills Boonville 60-32 Jasper Washington 49-37 Perry Central Southridge 41-40 Springs Valley Orleans 57-34 Ev. Boss Boonville 69-52 Vincennes Lincoln Washington 43-41 Forest Park Southridge 43-34 Orleans W. Washington 43-28 Boonville Boonville 67-44 Jasper Washington 44-38 Ev. Mater Dei Forest Park 58-42 Crothersville Springs Valley 52-47*
YEAR
WINNER
2009 Vincennes North Posey NE Dubois 2010 Jasper Ev. Mater Dei NE Dubois 2011 Jasper Forest Park NE Dubois 2012 Jasper Ev. Mater Dei NE Dubois 2013 Jasper Ev. Mater Dei NE Dubois 2014 Southridge North Posey Wood Mem. 2015 Jasper North Posey Wood Mem. 2016 Vincennes Forest Park Springs Valley Ev. Memorial 2017 Vincennes Forest Park Wood Mem. Ev. Memorial 2018 Castle Vincennes Ev. Mater Dei NE Dubois Ev. Memorial 2019 Castle Gib. Southern Ev. Mater Dei Tecumseh Vincennes
RUNNER-UP
HOST
Heritage Hills Southridge Perry Central Ev. Mater Dei Crothersville Orleans Southridge Washington Perry Central Forest Park Orleans Springs Valley Southridge Southridge Ev. Mater Dei Ev. Mater Dei Springs Valley Orleans Washington Washington Forest Park Southridge Springs Valley Orleans Mitchell Washington Perry Central Southridge Tecumseh Wood Mem. Vincennes Vincennes Tell City Forest Park Northeast Dubois Wood Mem. Washington Jasper Forest Park Forest Park Northeast Dubois Tecumseh Southridge Princeton South Spencer Forest Park Wood Memorial Springs Valley Boonville Heritage Hills Princeton Vincennes Tell City Forest Park Northeast Dubois Tecumseh Heritage Hills Gib. Southern Ev. North Ev. Central Princeton Princeton North Posey Forest Park Wood Memorial Wood Mem. Gib. Southern Mt. Vernon Ev. North Jasper Ev. Memorial Gib. Southern Tell City Forest Park Springs Valley Springs Valley Princeton Vincennes
SCORE 60-34 49-38 58-56* 41-26 45-27 46-28 42-41 65-52 37-31 39-32 61-40 55-44 65-53 68-29 49-42 46-41 42-17 62-57* 58-43 44-42 60-40 48-39 54-36 49-48 64-31 56-52 45-35* 59-42 55-40 41-37 69-54 46-29 35-30 56-41 44-32 65-52 52-40 71-57 46-32
* overtime ** double overtime *** triple overtime
page 10 â– girls basketball sectional
the herald â– Monday, February 3, 2020
JASPER WILDCATS
Members of the Jasper High School girls basketball team are, from left, first row: Kendyl Ruhe, Claire Knies, Lexie Jerger, Brooke Nottingham, Aspen Sermersheim and Ava Noblitt. Second row: Emma Shelton, Isabelle Blazey, Kylee Vaal, Hannah Schwenk, Izzy Hopf and Jaycie Hooten.
FOREST PARK RANGERS
Members of the Forest Park High School girls basketball team are, from left, first row: managers Kasady Anderson, Ashtyn Welp and Emma Welp. Second row: Linda Jacob, Faith Zazzetti, Kennedy Sermersheim, Macie Zink, Amber Theising, Kenlee Gehlhausen, Emma Gray. Third row: junior varsity coach Lavina Schwartz, head coach Tony Hasenour, Ali Welp, Amber Tretter, Carley Begle, Lydia Betz, freshman coach Jesse Begle and assistant varsity coach Allison Pund.
the herald ■ Monday, February 3, 2020
girls basketball sectional ■ page 11
NORTHEAST DUBOIS JEEPS
Members of the Northeast Dubois High School girls basketball team are, from left, first row: Jazlyn Sander, Haley Reckelhoff, Madison Cave and Becca Brosmer. Second row: Rhylan Kalb, Reagan Knies, Alexus Royer, Mia Smith, Brinley Royer and Hadley Fuhrman.
southridge raiderS
Members of the Southridge High School girls basketball team are, from left, first row: Ara Wagner, Kennedy Nalley, Monica Steckler, Anna Kappner, Kylie Evans, Ella Mattingly and Marie Tempel. Second row: assistant coach Bernie Main, manager Timothy Ash, Rose Tempel, Grace Sickbert, Myah Montgomery, Abby Kerkhoff, Mikah Goeppner, Bailey Keusch and head coach Greg Werner.
page 12 ■ girls basketball sectional
the herald ■ Monday, February 3, 2020
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the herald ■ Monday, February 3, 2020
girls basketball sectional ■ page 13
Photos by Marlena Sloss/The Herald
The Forest Park bench reacts after Kenlee Gehlhausen’s shot in the final seconds of the first half of a December 2019 basketball game in Ferdinand. Forest Park defeated Southridge in that game, 58-38.
Rangers seek 3rd sectional crown in 5 years BY COREY STOLZENBACH sports@dcherald.com
Forest Park’s Faith Zazzetti shoots a free throw during a January girls basketball game in Ferdinand. Forest Park defeated Jasper on this night, 54-44.
FERDINAND — It isn’t often Forest Park sees a losing season in girls basketball, but 2018-19 was one of those years. The Rangers went 11-13 for their first year with a losing record since going 10-11 during the 2012-13 campaign. The Rangers made sure no such thing would happen again this year. Their fivegame win streak from Jan. 3-14 was a season-high, better than their best two-game win streak last year. Forest Park won its 11th game Jan. 7 at Northeast Dubois, 50-35, and its 12th game, 54-44, on Jan. 9 against Jasper. “I think all the credit goes to the girls,” Forest Park coach Tony Hasenour said. “We had a lot of ups and downs last year, and it was kind of a hard season to go through because of the success we had had before that. The girls were determined to not let that happen again. They came in extra this summer with workouts and lifting and all that, and I’m really happy for them to see that they get to be rewarded after putting in the work to get themselves there.” A sectional championship would deliver the Rangers their third in the past five seasons. Their most recent titles came when they did it in back-to-back years in 2016 and 2017. Hasenour knows the Rangers need to be focused, playing their best defense and putting a complete game together, no matter who they face. Their five-game win streak came to an end on Jan. 18 at Barr-Reeve, but even before then, Hasenour didn’t think his players were peaking. He thought there was more work to do and things to improve on even during the five-game run, hoping for an even better version of the team come sectionals. Hasenour was in his first year as coach of the Rangers when they won their most recent sectional crown. He thinks both teams had a good work ethic and positive attitudes, which go a long way. He told the players on Jan. 15 that they were getting into the grind part of the season, the last
games before it was show time. Hasenour encouraged them not to get grouchy or testy and to be there for one another as good teammates, classmates and friends. He added Forest Park has great team chemistry. The Rangers also have that determination factor to them. Some say how a team performs in practice will translate to the game, but their Jan. 3 win at Crawford County that jump-started the five-game win streak didn’t come after one of their best practices of the year the day before, it came from one of their worst. “I said, ‘Look, Crawford’s super aggressive, and if we go up there and play the way we practiced today, we’re going to get run off the court, we’re going to lose the game by 25 points,’” Hasenour said. “I didn’t know it at the time, but after we won the game in the locker room, the girls were like, ‘Coach, that made us so mad when you said that, that we were just bound and determined that we were going to come out here and get this win tonight.’” Hasenour emphasized the need to play good team defense and communicate well to secure a sectional championship. He has made defense a focal point of the team this year. The Rangers primarily run a man-to-man defense, but try to see what the other team likes to do so they can take it away from them. Hasenour called it their biggest area of improvement, and said there must also be good cutting, good passing and making shots. However, anything can happen in a sectional. Hasenour wants to make sure his players have a cool head on their shoulders and maintain their composure while taking care of the basketball and playing the game. “I think we’re in a good position to be successful in the postseason, but this is my 20th year as a JV or varsity coach, and every year, whether it’s in our sectional or (Class) 1A or (Class) 3A sectional, crazy things happen, and nothing is given,” he said. “So, we know that all it takes is one bad night and it’s over. There’s no tomorrow when it gets to the postseason.”
page 14 ■ girls basketball sectional
the herald ■ Monday, February 3, 2020
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the herald ■ Monday, February 3, 2020
girls basketball sectional ■ page 15
Marlena Sloss/The Herald
Northeast Dubois’ Haley Reckelhoff dribbles towards the basket in a November 2019 girls basketball game in Dubois. The Jeeps defeated Wood Memorial on this night, 45-42.
Northeast Dubois looking to put it all together BY COREY STOLZENBACH sports@dcherald.com DUBOIS — The win-loss record might not be what Northeast Dubois had hoped for this season. The Jeeps took a trio of four-game skids. The program isn’t accustomed to seeing much losing during the past two decades. This is the sectional, though, where every team has a fresh start. Last year’s team won only five games, but nearly had a sixth in a 34-32 loss against Springs Valley in the tournament. The Blackhawks finished as sectional runners-up last season. Northeast Dubois got its sixth win this year on Jan. 25 at Perry Central, 56-38. Jeeps coach Andy Chinn divides the season up into three parts: Before the holidays, the month of January and the tournament. Chinn previously told The Herald during the season after a loss that cutting down the nets at sectional is the main goal. “We play one of the top five toughest schedules in Class 1A,” Chinn told The Herald on Jan. 13. “We’re playing good teams night in and night out, and I think we’re starting to turn a corner a little bit.” The final scores in some of Northeast Dubois’ games don’t tell the whole story. Chinn likes the way his team has played in some games they lost. The Jeeps dropped a 51-34 loss to Jasper on Dec. 19, which primarily came from the Wildcats going on a 24-2 run in the third quarter. However, Northeast Dubois had a halftime lead and outscored Jasper in the fourth quarter. The Jeeps also fell, 50-35, on Jan. 7 against Forest Park, but Chinn was proud of how his players played. The biggest change from November, he said, is that the Jeeps are competing. Chinn said Northeast Dubois can still have small, mental mistakes, but recalled having both the Wild-
Kaiti Sullivan/The Herald
Northeast Dubois’ Madison Cave huddles on the floor with her teammates before a November 2019 girls basketball game in Dubois. The Jeeps came out on the short end of their Blue Chip Conference matchup with South Knox, 56-37. cats and Rangers on the ropes. “I think that Forest Park game really said a lot about us,” he said. “We faced a little adversity at the beginning of that game. We got down double digits and we never quit. We kept clawing back and we were a couple plays away from that game maybe going in our favor. When we played Jasper and we were winning at halftime, I think that shows our younger players that, ‘Hey, we’re
getting better. Things are working. Things are starting to click and the sky’s the limit.’” Chinn added, though, that the Jeeps are still trying to play a full, four-quarter game. He said Northeast Dubois is close, but there’s not one thing he can pinpoint that would make the team play a fourquarter game. The coaches make a point of emphasis that every possession matters, that the first pos-
session is as important as the 20th, and the 20th is as important as the last. He said every player for the Jeeps is learning their role, something the team has tried to figure out during the final month of the season. Everybody has a role, whether they play 32 minutes or no minutes. He echoes the sentiment of New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick: “Do your job.”
Chinn said it’s all about the Jeeps controlling the tempo and being really good at what they’re good at. That, he said, is what they would have done correctly if they win their second sectional championship in three years. “We will have controlled what we can control and we came together as a team, and we’re playing our best basketball at the right time,” Chinn said.
page 16 ■ girls basketball sectional
the herald ■ Monday, February 3, 2020
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the herald ■ Monday, February 3, 2020
girls basketball sectional ■ page 17
Kaiti Sullivan/The Herald
Heritage Hills’ Rebekah Gordon, center, and Nevah Barnett cheer with the team before a December 2019 girls basketball game in Lincoln City. Heritage Hills defeated Pocket Athletic Conference opponent Southridge on this night, 48-21.
Pats look to exorcise ghosts of past early exits BY JONATHAN SAXON jsaxon@dcherald.com LINCOLN CITY — The Heritage Hills girls basketball team is in the midst of a solid year in which they’ve experienced many high points on the court. The Patriots have enjoyed three separate streaks in which they won at least three consecutive games, and head coach Kim Brown reached the 100 wins milestone after a 75-20 victory over the Tell City Marksmen on Dec. 3. “A coach’s hope is to be peaking towards this time of the season,” Brown said. “It’s been a while, but I feel like we’re starting to put things together. Early in the season, our consistency was awful. But now we’re sharing the ball better and understanding when to shoot, who shoots and how often.” “In the last several games, we’ve worked the ball around well,” junior forward Rebekah Gordon added. “We’re learning how to find each other, so our chemistry has really helped us towards the end of games.” However, this is a familiar path the team has traveled before. The Patriots won 17 games in each of the past two seasons, but they weren’t able to translate their regular-season success into an extended sectional run like they wanted. It’s a fact the players have been contemplating as the Patriots look toward another chance to carry their basketball formula into the postseason. “[As long] as I’ve been in school, we’ve lost early in sectional,” junior guard Avery Neff said. “We’ve felt that burden from the past two years,” Gordon added. “We don’t want another year of that.” Learning from the past is an exercise every team is going through as it charts the best
Kaiti Sullivan/The Herald
Rebekah Gordon shoulders much of the scoring responsibilities for Heritage Hills, which returns to the court Tuesday for sectional play. path forward, but Brown doesn’t want the players to shift their focus away from what has powered them for most of the winter. The past doesn’t change the fact that the Patriots have been at their best when they can force mistakes with their defense, and turn those openings into quick points in the open court. The more they can create that kind of outcome, the greater their chances of ex-
orcising the ghosts of past early exits. “We’re going to worry about us,” she said. “Whatever we put together on the floor, we take it to whoever we have to face and see what happens. We have to take control of ourselves and play our game.” The Patriots feel as if the past couple of weeks have drawn them closer together as a team,
and that can only improve their chances of making it out of the first round. They’ve gotten away from playing so fast that they’re out of control, and now they take what’s presented to them. “We’re really starting to work together,” sophomore guard Hadley Lytton said. “Each person is being patient, waiting for their time to score and not forcing it. If we’re all just letting it come and
we’re all in, it’ll be a lot easier.” The past few weeks also gave the Patriots a chance to play three sectional opponents in their last five games, and with that last push to close the season, they believe they’ll be well prepared for the real test when the tournament starts on Tuesday. “We’re taking it seriously, we’re not looking past anybody,” Neff said.
page 18 ■ girls basketball sectional
the herald ■ Monday, February 3, 2020
123
THREE POINTERS Jasper
Southridge
Forest Park
NE Dubois
Heritage Hills
Record: 12-11 Opponent: vs. Castle, 8 p.m. Tuesday at Evansville Harrison
Record: 8-14 Opponent: vs. North Posey, 7 p.m. Tuesday at Forest Park
Record: 17-7 Opponent: vs. Southridge/North Posey, 6:30 Friday at Forest Park
Record: 6-17 Opponent: vs. Springs Valley, 6:30 Friday at Wood Memorial
1
1
1
1
Record: 16-6 Opponent: vs. Gibson Southern/ Evansville Memorial, 7 p.m. Friday at Heritage Hills
1
2
2
2
2
2
3
3
Jasper will finish the season at the very least with a .500 record. Three consecutive wins have allowed the Wildcats to go from a team trying its hardest to climb to .500 or better to reaching that plateau with a 59-33 win Jan. 28 against Princeton. This is the third consecutive year they won’t have a losing season, and a win against Castle would be third straight winning season. Coach Jessica Mehringer believes her players are ready to make a run, and thinks Jasper is more locked in than it has been in previous years. The Wildcats have not won a sectional tournament game since 2015. The past two years have taught Mehringer that all 32 minutes count, as losing a late lead against Evansville Harrison led to an overtime loss in 2018. “We’ve got a lot of kids that hadn’t played a whole lot of varsity and were making some mistakes,” Mehringer said. “We were able to look at those mistakes with those kids and tell them the things they were trying to do, maybe they didn’t need to try to do, or some things that they weren’t doing that they could be doing, and now you see those kids making those adjustments, and that’s paying off for us. We’ve played better basketball because kids are playing smarter.”
3
The Raiders were 7-5 as a team on Dec. 12, then the injury bug bit them and bit them hard. They already were dealing with senior Grace Sickbert and junior Monica Steckler going down to injury before the season even began. The Raiders also lost sophomore Myah Montgomery and junior Rose Tempel, which contributed them to losing nine out of their last 10 games. Southridge did beat North Posey earlier in the year. This was Dec. 10, one week before Montgomery’s injury. Southridge will face a North Posey team that is 5-15 and still to play its regular season finale Saturday against Pocket Athletic Conference foe Gibson Southern. Southridge’s regular season ended Thursday against in a 55-22 loss against PAC rival Tecumseh. The sectional tournament, of course, means a new life for Southridge, which has not enjoyed a winning season since going 21-4 in 2015-16, the final season of Greg Werner’s first stint as head coach. The Raiders won only seven games all year last season, but that final win came against PAC rival Pike Central in their first game of the sectional tournament.
3
The Rangers enter the sectional in prime position to capture their first championship since 2016-17. They won each of their final three games, and eight of their final nine, in the regular season. Their regular season concluded Thursday against North Posey, a team they could see again Feb. 7. Forest Park is the only team in its sectional with a winning record. Forest Park has enjoyed a substantially better record than it did last year, finishing 1113 and bouncing in the first game of the sectional, 62-36, against Evansville Mater Dei, which was foil the last two years. The Rangers had a better record than the Wildcats at sectional in 2018, and they still lost. Evansville Mater Dei could meet Forest Park in the Feb. 8 championship, as both are on the opposite sides of the bracket. A sectional championship would serve as a bookend for five seniors who were on the most recent sectional championship team when they were freshmen: Macie Zink, Faith Zazzetti, Kenlee Gehlhausen, Aspen Sermersheim and Amber Theising. Zink and Zazzetti have been two key cogs to Forest Park’s success this season. Zazzetti led the Rangers with 20 points Jan. 30, while Zink scored 17.
3
Northeast Dubois returned every player from last year’s 5-18 team, but only improved by one game in the regular season. The Jeeps lost 10 out of their lost 12 games, and eight of those losses came by double digits. They dropped their latter two games of the regular season, including a Jan. 30 finale at Vincennes Rivet, 44-24. The Jeeps came so close to playing spoiler last year when they played the Blackhawks in their first game of the sectional round. Northeast Dubois kept it close, but a buzzer beater layup by Kennedy Land broke the Jeeps hearts and eliminated them, 34-32. They’ll have their chance at redemption this year. Northeast Dubois has seen some of its freshmen step up as of late. Rhylan Kalb led the team with 11 points in a 64-43 loss Jan. 18 at Hoosier Gym, and also co-led Jan. 21 in a 40-38 loss against North Knox. Reagan Knies totaled a team-high 12 in a 45-29 loss Jan. 27 against Barr-Reeve, and Knies led the team with 10 against Vincennes Rivet.
Heritage Hills wrapped up another successful regular season on Thursday with an 87-43 win against PAC rival Pike Central. The Patriots won their latter two games of the season, and won a season-high four straight games on two separate occasions. Only once did they lose back-to-back games. However, even though the Pats had their fourth consecutive winning season, they’ve their season wiped out in the first game of the sectional tournament in each of the last two years. They last won a sectional game Feb. 3, 2017, at Gibson Southern, by a score of 58-50. They’ve dropped three straight in the sectional tournament since then. Speaking of Gibson Southern, Heritage Hills will get another chance to slay those Titan demons if the Titans can handle business Feb. 4 against Evansville Memorial. They have served as a major roadblock to success for the Pats. Gibson Southern eliminated Heritage Hills, 69-52, last year in the first sectional game, and handed the Pats their only loss in PAC all year this year.
2020 JASPER LADY WILDCATS Tuesday, February 4 8:00 pm
Jasper Time
VS Castle at Evansville Harrison
Go, Fight, Win Sectional! Sponsored by: JHS Girls Basketball Booster Club
the herald ■ Monday, February 3, 2020
girls basketball sectional ■ page 19
Kayla Renie/The Herald
Jasper head coach Jessica Mehringer talks to players during a timeout at the Jan. 28 girls basketball game when the Wildcats hosted Princeton. Mehringer is one of two area coaches who is still in quest of her first sectional championship. Jasper begins sectional play on Tuesday versus Castle at Evansville Harrison.
2 area coaches still in search of sectional title By COREY STOLZENBACH sports@dcherald.com Every high school basketball player and coach in the state dreams of it, but not everyone gets to realize that dream. Coach Kim Brown of Heritage Hills and Coach Jessica Mehringer of Jasper hope this time is different, that this is finally the year that their teams break through and cut down the nets after winning the sectional tournament. “You want to win sectional,” Mehringer said. “In Indiana, that’s what you want to do. You want to win your sectional, and it’s all gravy after that.” Recent history hasn’t been kind to the Wildcats, however. They last celebrated a sectional championship in the 2014-15 season, getting to cut the nets down after besting Washington, 58-43, on Feb. 14, 2015. That was the last time they even won a game in the sectional tournament, being oneand-done each of the past four seasons. Mehringer is in her third year as the Jasper coach, and they’ve endured some heartbreaking losses with her at the helm. The Wildcats know as well as anybody the nature of the beast that is the sectional tournament. Evansville Harrison won only five games during the 2017-18 season, but the final game the Warriors won that year came at Jasper’s expense — a 60-57 victory in overtime. The Wildcats had fallen to a team that won less than half the games that they did. The game was close in regulation, and Jasper led by four at one point in overtime, but could not sustain that lead. “We were ready,” Mehringer said. “We just made some poor decisions down the stretch. From a coaching standpoint, looking back, was there a timeout left?
Could we have called a timeout and talked to the kids about what they needed to do instead of making the assumption that they would know what to do in a lategame situation or what not to do in a late-game situation? From a coaching perspective, those were questions that we were asking ourselves. I guess we should’ve called a timeout and told them what we wanted them to do. We were thinking they were seasoned enough to be able to ride it out.” Jasper again met a team it had a better record than last season in Evansville North for the first sectional game. The Wildcats turned on those rally caps, trimming a 15-point deficit all the way down to one, but being on the losing end of a 93-89 score dashed their sectional dreams once again. However, this contrasted from the Evansville Harrison game, because Mehringer doesn’t think the team was floating around and wasn’t locked in, something she blames herself for. “Maybe last year, we weren’t as ready mentally as what we could’ve been,” she said. Mehringer thinks that mindset has shifted this year to where her players are believers. The Wildcats spent most of the season under .500, but they sit above .500 heading into Tuesday’s sectional against Castle at Evansville Harrison. Mehringer said they are aware they can win this game, versus being mentally on the fence a season ago. It would be the first of three games Jasper would have to win to get to cut down the nets. “Just to get to see these kids get that opportunity would be beyond awesome,” she said. Heritage Hills reeled off an 8743 win against Pike Central on Thursday night, giving Brown the 111th win of her career. None of
Kaiti Sullivan/The Herald
Heritage Hills head coach Kim Brown, one of two area coaches who has not won a sectional title, reacts during a December 2019 girls basketball game in Ferdinand. those wins, however, have been sectional championship winners. A sectional championship for the first time since 1994 still alludes the Patriot girls. Brown thinks there’s some regret that Heritage Hills couldn’t get one for the players who went through this program, but she’s looking on the bright side. “Whenever we do get it, everybody who’s played has been part of it,” Brown said. She thinks the biggest chal-
lenge in her tenure has been consistency. Brown said Heritage Hills is still waiting on a team that wins and gets better consistently. She added the toughest thing to get any team to do is to play four full quarters every night. Some of the games that stick out to her were the 55-40 loss against Evansville Memorial in 2017, and also a 44-41 defeat at the hands of Mitchell in 2013, the latter game being one she believed the Pats should not have lost. Brown also noted
the Pats let one slip away two years ago in a 42-40 loss against Mount Vernon (Posey) in the opening round. That all could change this year, starting Friday. Heritage Hills has the virtue of a bye, and will face either Gibson Southern or Evansville Memorial in the sectional semifinals, and the Patriots are two wins away from cutting down the nets on their home floor. “I don’t care where it is, I just want to cut the nets,” Brown said.
page 20 ■ girls basketball sectional
the herald ■ Monday, February 3, 2020
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