By Tom Reck
Farmersburg — North Central clinched at least a share of the Tri-River Conference girls high school basketball championship Monday night, rallying to defeat Linton 53-46 in the North Central gymnasium.
The Thunderbirds are even at 9-9 but 4-0 in the TRC and can claim the conference title outright by winning at Union on Friday. North Central shared the league title with Union a year ago.
“I could not be more proud of this team. The seniors were determined … winning the conference was one of our goals,” said North Central coach Gretchen Brown.
“You can’t underestimate Union with the rivalry and it is there. We would like to win it outright this year,” she added. North Central will close the season Saturday at home against the Class A 10th-ranked North Vermillion team.
Linton was attempting to clinch the TRC title and go undefeated just as the Miners had done in the SouthWestern Indiana Athletic Conference and had the lead for three quarters in Monday’s contest.
Savannah Mason had all 11 of her points in the first period to help the Miners assume a 17-8 lead; the Miners were up 28-20 at halftime before North Central began its rally, trailing 40-34 going into the final quarter.
After Bre Alsman hit two free throws to give Linton a 44-37 lead, North Central outscored Linton 16-2 the rest of the way to take the victory.
Chelcee Rehmel had six of those points and her basket put North Central ahead for keeps at 47-46 with 1:07 left in the contest. Katie Brown hit four free tosses and Amber Kemp two to close out the scoring.
Jocelyn Boyll had another double-double for the winners with 20 points and 12 rebounds. She was 9 of 14 from the field and was 5 of 5 in the third stanza to keep her team close.
Kemp had 10 points and seven rebounds for North Central. Brown had nine points and Rehmel scored eight, hitting all four shots she attempted, three of them in the fourth period.
Sophomore Ariel Hester saw action in the game, coming back from injury she incurred in December. Coach Brown said none of the other injured players will be back.
“Jocelyn had a great game and did a great job on Stephanie [Fougerousse]. We knew we had to control her. I told the girls at halftime that the shots were there. They didn’t fall in the first half but started to fall in the second half,” said Brown.
North Central shot 49 percent from the field and was 13 of 20 in the second half for 65 percent.
Fougerousse had a double-double for the Miners with 12 points and 16 boards. Mason was the other Miner in twin figures with 11.
Linton closes out the regular season against ranked Barr-Reeve on Thursday at Montgomery.
• Tripleheader set — North Central will have a tripleheader on Saturday against North Vermillion. The action begins with a boys junior varsity game at 4:30 p.m. followed by the girls and boys varsity games.
Boys basketball
• Chrisman 70, Hoopeston 46 — At Chrisman, Ill., Cody Owen had a game-high 27 points, 13 in his team’s 29-point first quarter, as the Cardinals won a nonconference game.
Zack Parsons added 17 points and Shane Anderson 10 for the winners.
HOOPESTON (46) — J.Leigh 2 0-1 4, B.Ramos 1 2-7 4, Vaughn 0 0-0 0, A.Leigh 4 5-7 15, Hufford 0 3-5 3, K.Ramos 3 5-7 12, Lawson 4 0-0 8. Totals 14 FG, 15-27 FT, 46 TP.
CHRISMAN (70) — Anderson 5 0-0 10, Parsons 6 5-5 17, Dixon 0 0-0 0, B.Gardner 1 0-0 3, Owen 9 3-3 27, McCormick 1 0-1 2, Tre.Burwood 1 0-1 2, Ross 3 0-0 6, Humrichous 1 0-0 2, Tra.Burwood 0 1-3 1, G.Gardner 0 0-2 0, Lowe 0 0-0 0. Totals 27 FG, 9-15 FT, 70 TP.
Hoopeston 9 12 11 14 — 46
Chrisman 29 16 19 6 — 70
3-point goals — A.Leigh 2, K.Ramos, Owen 6, B.Gardner. Total fouls — Hoopeston 17, Chrisman 25. Fouled out — none.
