TERRE HAUTE —
Who’s healthy is the question at least three of the four teams will be asking tonight when Class 4A girls high school basketball sectional play begins at Terre Haute North.
Both Nicole Anderson of the host Patriots and Mikayla Rowan of Northview are expected to be in the starting lineups — and both are expected to be at less than 100-percent efficiency — for the 6 p.m. opening game, while Terre Haute South is hoping that a completely healthy Tasia Brewer will help the Braves have a better showing against sectional favorite Plainfield in the nightcap.
The Quakers’ 16-5 record is the best in the field, and it included a 10-point win over the Braves back in December. Brewer was still rounding into form after an injury of her own then, coach Cara Stuckey of the Braves noted recently — although she still got the same defensive attention she can expect tonight from Plainfield uberathlete (and Indiana State recruit) Kasey Johnson.
“Our girls are looking forward to [the sectional],” Stuckey said. “Hopefully we can get off to a good start, which has been a problem for us lately … but we’ve been really good at times.
“We’re trying to find a way to make that spurt last a little longer.”
North’s 12-9 record is the second-best in the six-team field, even though Anderson — the Patriots’ leading scorer and rebounder — missed several games with an injured foot. She was absent for two of the losses North incurred that gives the Patriots just a 1-4 record against potential sectional opponents, although a couple of the Patriots’ Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference victories look as significant as any wins the other five teams have during the regular season.
“We’re confident in our chance to be competitive,” coach Mike Allen said.
Coach Scott Buell’s Knights knew, with a freshman-dominated lineup, that they’d have an uphill battle most of the season. When Rowan, perhaps the best of the freshman group, suffered an injured hip that cost her a good portion of the season, their outlook was dimmer.
But Northview picked up its first win of the season last week, and comes into tonight’s game healthy.
“Their attitude has been very good, and at full strength we could have had a few more wins,” Buell said of his players. “The win [over Bloomfield] was huge, a reward for all the hard work. Now we have another opportunity to play one of our rivals.”
Allen is aware of that fact.
“By the end of the season, [the Knights] are no longer freshmen,” he said. “I expect them to be better [than when we played them without Rowan] and looking for an upset.”
Neither of tonight’s winners gets an easy task on Friday either. Gaining byes to the semifinals were defending champion Mooresville — 5-0 against the sectional field — and always-tough Martinsville.
In other tournaments that start tonight, there’s a top-10 team that figures to be the favorite in the Class 3A Owen Valley Sectional (No. 10 Edgewood), the Class 2A Bloomfield Sectional (No. 8 Sullivan) and the Class A Clay City Sectional (the No. 10 host Eels). At the Class A North Vermillion Sectional, sixth-ranked Riverton Parke might get a challenge from the 16th-ranked home team, which took the Panthers to overtime during the regular season.
Neither West Vigo nor South Vermillion has to contend with Edgewood unless one of them reaches the championship game at Owen Valley, although one of the two rivals will reach the semifinals; they play each other in the 6 p.m. opener today.
“I’m surprised it’s not Owen Valley [playing us],” joked coach Ryan Easton of the Vikings, who met the Patriots in the sectional opener five of the past seven seasons. “[Coach] Tim [Terry of the Wildcats] and I both said it may be 20 overtimes [tonight] … it’ll come down to making shots and keeping the other team off the free throw line.”
The Viking nucleus has been seeing varsity action since those players were freshmen, but they are destined to end their careers without a winning season. “That’s disappointing,” Easton admitted, “yet at any point I still feel they could go out and play with anybody … and of course South Vermillion’s thinking the same thing we are.”
Sullivan’s postseason run at Bloomfield doesn’t start until Wednesday, and the Golden Arrows are playing a team that won’t lack confidence against them.
“South Knox beat us in overtime down there, and [the Spartans] won [this sectional] last year,” coach Julie Meeks pointed out recently. “North Knox is strong too, and the tournament is at Bloomfield [which makes the Cardinals a factor].
“I think everybody thought since we went to 2A [after being a ranked Class 3A team a year ago], we would dominate,” Meeks continued. “But [this sectional winner] goes to one of the toughest regionals in the state.”
There’s at least one injury situation in play at North Vermillion, where Riverton Parke will seek its first sectional championship in class basketball without point guard Kenzie Pollard.
Pollard was averaging 10 points and four assists per game when she broke her fibula on Jan. 5, and her team’s defensive average has climbed eight points (from 28 to 36 points allowed per game) in her absence. There’s a chance she could be ready for a regional appearance, coach Josh Douglass said recently, if the Panthers take care of business this week.
“They’re excited, but they know it will be a tough challenge,” Douglass said of his players. “North Vermillion is playing really well right now, and Attica [Riverton Parke’s first-round foe] has really improved.”
E.B. Dickey and Kori Wood have stepped in to help fill Pollard’s shoes, Douglass noted. And as everyone in the Wabash Valley probably knows by now, the Panthers have a possible all-state player in junior guard Sara Dickey.
At Clay City, the two-time defending champion Eels have the same nucleus they enjoyed when they won their first girls sectional crown in 2010. Led by the one-two punch of Carmela Roeschlein and Brielle Drelick, the host team hasn’t had a close game in beating all the other teams in the sectional field — although Shakamak, a potential championship-game opponent, is on a hot streak and hasn’t played the Eels since November.
“We just want to come out and play well … take care of the basketball and rebound,” said coach Chris Ames of Clay City. “Everybody in this tournament will be ready for each other … and they’re all going to want to get back at us and beat us on our home court.”
Indiana girls basketball sectionals
Class 4A
At Terre Haute North
Today — Terre Haute North (12-9) vs. Northview (1-19), 6 p.m., followed by Plainfield (16-5) vs. Terre Haute South (11-10)
Friday — Mooresville (11-9) vs. North-Northview winner, 6 p.m., followed by Martinsville (11-10) vs. Plainfield-South winner
Class 3A
At Owen Valley
Today — West Vigo (5-15) vs. South Vermillion (9-12), 6 p.m., followed by Greencastle (12-9) vs. Owen Valley (9-12)
Friday — Brown County (13-8) vs. West Vigo-South Vermillion winner, 6 p.m., followed by Edgewood vs. Greencastle-Owen Valley winner
Class 2A
At Bloomfield
Today — Linton (1-20) vs. North Knox (12-10), 7 p.m.
Wednesday — Eastern Greene (8-14) vs. North Central (0-20), 6 p.m., followed by Sullivan (18-3) vs. South Knox (14-8)
Friday — Bloomfield (9-11) vs. Linton-North Knox winner, followed by Feb. 8 winners
Class A
At North Vermillion
Today — Riverton Parke (18-4) vs. Attica (11-9), 6 p.m., followed by Turkey Run (2-18) vs. Rockville (7-13)
Friday — Covington (3-17) vs. Riverton Parke-Attica winner, 6 p.m., followed by North Vermillion (17-5) vs. Turkey Run-Rockville winner
At Clay City
Today — Union (5-14) vs. Shakamak (11-9)
Friday — Eminence (4-15) vs. Clay City, 6 p.m., followed by White River Valley (7-13) vs. Union-Shakamak winner
All championship games 7:30 p.m. Saturday
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