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Before jumping in with our take on the 2001 IHSAA Girls State Tournament, I went back and read our recap of last season's tournament, which had details about three thrilling games to remember. What a contrast this season! Except for the 4A game, the outcome was pretty much decided by the first quarter in all the others. There was no real suspense, no game deciding, last-second shots, and no real surprises, since every 2000 state champion became a state champion in 2001 as well. Although there were a lot of fine teams and individual talent on display (and not to minimize the importance of this season's state tournament for participating teams), this season's IHSAA State Tournament will not go down in history as one of the most memorable for perennial fans of the game. And it wasn't because the challengers to this season's champions were outclassed by any means, but there was a definite advantage in having been to the Big Dance before, as evidenced by the first-quarter quick starts made by three of this year's repeat champions. In the 1A game, Triton rocketed to a 17-point lead over White River Valley after one quarter, and won the game by the same margin. In 2A, Luers jumped out to a 9-point lead over Shenandoah after one, and won the game by 16. In 3A, Cathedral took over early with a 10-point lead against Plymouth in the first, and went on to win by 15. And although Ben Davis and FW Snider kept it close for the first half, the Giants blew it wide open in the third quarter to take a 19-point lead, winning in the end by 24.
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The comfort factor for returning champions was pretty evident for anyone making an unscientific evaluation of each team's mental and emotional state prior to each game. The players and coaches from Triton, Luers, Cathedral and Ben Davis all looked very loose during warmups and team introductions, smiling and looking confident, while the challengers looked very nervous and out of their element. Lots of quivering legs, tight-gripped hand holding and tight-lipped expressions prior to team introductions gave away the mood on the benches of the first-timers. Being as close as I was to the action (which I'll describe later), the adult in me wanted to go over and put an arm around their collective shoulders and tell them to revel in this moment of their young lives and to not be intimidated by the surroundings or situation. But that is so very easy to say from a spectator's viewpoint. I know how RIDICULOUSLY nervous I get before my daughter's big games, so such words would have had little meaning to a bunch of players getting ready to play the biggest game of their high school careers. But I felt like doing it anyway! I did catch the eye of Plymouth's Lindsay Houin as she sat nervously bouncing her leg waiting for her team's introductions, but my silently mouthed "Good Luck" surely did little to settle the nerves. Although the defenses of Cathedral and Triton were good, those state finals nerves also contributed to the unbelievably miserable first-half shooting percentages of Plymouth (14.8%), Shenandoah (19.2%) and White River Valley (17.2%), teams who averaged 45.4%, 52.2% and 38.0%, respectively, throughout the season. To a team (except for Snider which put together its best performance early), the runners-up stayed with the champions in the second half after getting a grip in the locker room at the break. In the second half of their respective games, Plymouth outscored Cathedral 26-25, Shenandoah stayed with Luers 25-26, and White River Valley was only one bucket behind Triton 25-27.
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Although the Plymouth girls were looking nervous immediately before their game, they looked calm and relaxed sitting directly behind Triton's bench during the 1A game when they came out to cheer on their Marshall County neighbors early in the day. Triton returned the favor by showing up for the 3A game with their first-place medals dangling from around their necks. The Marshall County crowd gave the Trojans a standing ovation as they entered in a combined show of support. Triton had a great student section on hand for their game, led by a handful of blue and yellow clad Triton Trojan Crazy Caped Crusaders running up and down the sidelines throughout the game. They were pretty entertaining and were obediently following the directions of the Conseco security on hand. The Triton and Plymouth girls certainly enjoyed a great following of the Marshall County faithful that day, win and lose.
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The girls state
tournament finally made its way to the modern but seemingly cozy Conseco Fieldhouse after
a stint at Butler's historic and expansive Hinkle Fieldhouse last season.
The most noticeable difference was the optimum lighting for game (and photo) conditions
compared to last season's spotty sunlight on the court during the early session
games. Although some found this feature at Hinkle "nostalgic",
the players and officials had to deal with direct sunlight and the accompanying
glare off the floor last season. (Whoever heard of someone missing a pass
in basketball because the "sun was in my eyes"!) Also, seating
at Conseco was a bit more favorable for fans who ended up sitting on wooden
bleachers for the entire day at Hinkle last year. What was unfortunate, as
has happened for the past three years with class basketball, is that many fans from the
1A game did not stick around to see the 2A game, and vice versa from top to
bottom for all classes. There were many, many empty seats at both
sessions, and if you happened to get stuck with a semi-nosebleed seat at first
(the top tier of seats was curtained off for the day), Conseco security seemed
content to let fans move to one of the better seats found vacant on the main
floor. Official attendance for the first session was 8,659 (although
anyone would be hard-pressed to say that 8,659 were present for both games) and
9,375 for the second session, or 18,034 for the day. I really don't know
how the IHSAA can remedy the attendance situation, especially since tickets were
doled out to participating schools in what seemed to be a musical chair
format. (Triton and Plymouth fans seemed to occupy the same seats during
their respective games, but I think that was because they all changed shirt
colors during the day in a show of support for one an other.) But it was
disheartening to see so many empty seats at every game throughout the arena, and
it was
especially sad as many fans who did happen to stick around to see games
following their own made a quick exit at the half when the games looked to be
runaway wins.
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Although the four team repeat sweep was a precedent in the short IHSAA history of class basketball, it is unlikely we will see many three-peats next season. Three of the state champions will move up in class next school year with the IHSAA's latest enrollment count. Triton will move to 2A, Luers to 3A and Cathedral to 4A, upping the level of competition for each team in the 2002 state tournament. All four teams lose some impressive senior talent as well, which will contribute to a difficult three-year run. Most notable is Ben Davis who loses nationally rated Shyra Ely (Tennessee) and Ashley Allen (Ohio State), not to mention the unheralded but valuable Kristin VanValin. Cathedral loses interior presence Ellen Rehme (Florida, volleyball), floor general Asjah Zinnerman and team heart & soul Jill Corbett (Vanderbilt). Luers will see the departure of all-everything Rachel King (Charleston), inside scorer Emily Loomis (Notre Dame, volleyball), and defensive specialist Katie Merz, while Triton will lose starters Betsy Salyer, Brandi Ganshorn and Rachel Speicher. If any of these teams do repeat as champions next season, it will be a testament to the strength of their programs, especially with the significant loss of this outstanding graduating talent.
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Speaking of Luers senior Rachel King, many young players could learn a thing or two by observing the way this veteran works the officials in a game. I'm not sure if this is a conscious effort on her part, but a smile and a sidewards look after a contested call (similar to the look your grandmother gave you when she caught you sneaking cookies from the cookie jar between meals) seemed to go pretty far with the officials. King is a natural at getting the officials on her side. As an official, you would have to appreciate this fresh approach, which is totally opposite from the standard eye roll and " I-can't-believe-you-made-that-call" open mouth gape most girls cast an official's way when in disagreement. King only went to the line twice during the championship game, but visited the charity stripe 126 times total for the season. I guess grandma was right when she said you attract more bees with honey than vinegar!
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Many fans of the girls
game and this year's outstanding senior class were happy to see Cathedral senior
Jill Corbett check into the last seconds of
the 3A game. Corbett, who was the catalyst for this season's Irish squad,
broke her leg nearly one month to the day before the state finals.
Corbett, who shot around tentatively during the championship game warmups,
hobbled over to the scorers table to check into the game during the last minutes
to make an inbounds play, getting her name on the stat sheet for the day.
Although she had grander plans of getting fouled and going to the line for a
couple of free throws, Coach Bamrick wisely had other ideas and insisted that
the senior follow orders or sit the bench. Corbett reluctantly agreed and
made a quick exit on the next whistle. Corbett relayed to us before the 3A
game that her recovery is on schedule and that she should be ready to return to
conditioning sometime in April or sooner.
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While a lot of
outstanding senior talent will be making an exit from this year's state finals
teams, a lot of young talent is left behind for all eight teams to build
upon. In 1A, Triton freshman Ashli Senff,
who burst onto the state finals season last year, put in a strong performance
again this year, despite a dubious double-double. The leading scorer for
the Trojans (16.8/game) managed 10 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists in her
team's championship game, but also 10 of her team's 25 turnovers. She'll
have plenty of time to work on that ball handle over the summer however, and
will be Triton's scoring anchor again next season as a junior. Another
Triton sophomore, Gina Westafer, quietly
gave a strong performance to tally 8 points (6 for 6 from the line) and 7
rebounds in 17 minutes of championship play. For White River Valley,
sophomore Holly Halt (6.4 points, 2.9
rebounds/game) will be the main returning offensive threat for the rebuilding
Wolverines, who lose seven seniors and 83% of their offense.
Although she struggled offensively with the rest of her team on the day, 6'0
sophomore Teran Warner of 2A Shenandoah
was impressive with her physical block outs against the Luers post veterans,
pulling down 9 rebounds in her team's loss. Warner and 5'10 sophomore Amanda
Norris (11.1 points/game) will be a formidable post presence for the
Raiders the next two years. Luers junior forward Megan
Dossen had an unbelievable performance for the Knights in the
championship game, leading all scorers with 23 (9 points above her average), and
5'10 freshman forward Jessica Hathaway
looked to have some potential though she scored only 2. Dossen will be looking to
Hathaway and a young supporting cast next season
for expanded scoring as Luers graduates 51% of its offensive firepower.
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3A Cathedral will return a slew of underclass talent in juniors Sharika
Webb and Jessica Wright and
sophomore Rachel Brockman. Wright had
a stellar performance in her team's championship game with 16 points, 8 rebounds
and 3 steals. Webb also put up the numbers with 12 points, 8 rebounds and
4 steals, while Brockman was a force inside with 9 rebounds. These three
clearly give a good foundation for coach Linda Bamrick
to build upon in the high-level 4A Indianapolis area field next season. Plymouth
will look to junior standout Lindsay Houin
(11.6 points, 6.5 rebounds/game) to build around, but loses 72% of its scoring
to graduation.
Finally, in 4A, Snider will be building upon the talents of juniors Amy
Hayden (10.1 ppg) and Jasmine Fullove
(7.1 ppg), who both scored 7 points in their loss to Ben Davis.
Sophomore Molly Hayden, Amy's sister, will
step up into a starting role for the Panthers next season. Ben Davis will
look to returning the veteran junior guard duo of Megan
Jones and Amber Johnson to lead
the way next season. The underclass player with the most promise on the
Giants squad, however, is freshman Janese Banks
who scored 12 points and picked up 3 steals in the 4A championship win.
Unfazed by the dazzle of the state tournament, Banks held her own on the state's
center court with some of the best 4A players in Indiana.
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The
IHSAA did a great job of moving the celebration ceremonies along between games
in each session. As soon as the the final buzzer sounded, the Conseco crew
was bringing out the ladders and the awards platforms. Players, coaches and
school officials were quickly lined up and, at most, the entire process only took 30-35 minutes
from the end of the first game to the start of the second in each session.
That included the presentation of individual medals to both teams, the
presentation of the team trophies, the announcement of the Pat Roy Mental
Attitude Winner, and the pre-game warm up for the teams playing in the second
game. For the record, the mental attitude award winners for all four games
were as follows:
1A - April Williams, White River Valley
2A - Rachel King, Luers
3A - Carin Benge, Plymouth
4A - Shyra Ely, Ben Davis
The media photographers were hedging their "best shot" bets with each mental
attitude announcement, gathering around the player they thought would win the
award. They were three for four on the day, pretty much hitting it on the
head with Williams, King and Ely. But they really missed the boat on
Plymouth's Carin Benge, who only had the photographers from the South Bend media keyed in on the
Pilgrims' players while the remainder of the camera people were on the other side
of the court bringing members of the Cathedral team into focus.
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This year's state tournament came full circle for one of the coaches on the sidelines. Ben Davis assistant coach, Lisa Winter Finn, Indiana's Miss Basketball in 1995, played for Huntington North in the state championship game that year and snared a state title in a 43-39 win over Carmel. Finn helped coach the Giants to a 4A state title this season and could very well see one of her players become Indiana's Miss Basketball for 2001. For Finn, it must have seemed like deja vu all over again.
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Unlike last season
when I had to sneak my way onto the court for some good pictures, I was granted
a media pass by the IHSAA this season. Needless to say, there isn't a
better way to experience the state finals than right on the sidelines. I
almost felt guilty having such a great vantage point. I know about 120
sets of parents that would have treasured my close proximity to the
action. Along with the great seats came free food and drink in the press
room. I didn't realize this until the second session and with no easy
access to the concession stands, a quick trip to the press room for a soda was a
nice break. Of course, my biggest fear was tripping near the main floor
and flinging my soft drink on a referee, cameraman or some other unwitting soul
on the trip back to my seat. (For those who know me well, this was a real
possibility.) But neither happened and I kept my "legitimate"
media person reputation intact. I was very thankful to the IHSAA for
granting me media credentials, as the security at Conseco was much tighter and
more controlled than at Hinkle Fieldhouse. I would not have been able to
get close enough for pictures without the press pass. There were plenty of
security checks along the way and a separate entrance for media people and
others with the appropriate credentials for the day. My position under the
basket near the visitor's bench was great for the action underneath, but not a
great spot for inbounds plays. I'm sure the girls don't realize they're
doing this on out-of-bounds plays (since I really never realized it either until
sitting at this particular spot through four games), but in-bounds plays = time
for wedgie adjustments. It got to be pretty funny after awhile...
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Our optimum
viewing position was also an optimum photo-taking position, and we were
very happy with the results. We have over 120 decent shots from the
day, but they are not in an album format yet. We plan on doing that
sometime during the couple of weeks. Check back soon!
1A Photo Album now ready for viewing
HERE!
© 2001 REGION ROUNDBALL REVIEW - All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without prior permission.