Lady Trojans knock out reigning state champs, capture Sectional crown

Sectional champions for the first time since their 2017 state championship, the Wood girls take a 14-10 record vs. No. 1-ranked Lanesville in game two of Saturday’s West Washington IHSAA Class 1A Regional. The sectional final win followed Friday’s 37-35 semifinal edging of the No. 5 Northeast Dubois team that beat them 40-33 on November 21 in Oakland City.

“I challenged our girls to man-up and they did. We played outstanding man-to-man defense all night,” 25-year head coach Johnnie Bartley said after his 297th career win. This, in what loomed as a rebuilding season due to a starting lineup of three juniors, a sophomore and one senior — on a nine-girl squad whose only seniors are starting center Kennedy Shoultz and sub Lucy Schwomeyer.

“I thought we’d grow during the season and have a chance to win the sectional. The girls kept their heads up even when we had five straight losses, all by seven points or closer, and now here we are as sectional champions,” Bartley said before the team traveled back to Wood Memorial for a welcome-home celebration at the high school gym.

Sophomore Katie Sevier, held to two points by Northeast Dubois, erupted Saturday with a game-high 21, including the two free throws that snapped the night’s fourth tie and brought a 43-41 lead with a minute left. When Tecumseh missed a shot on the next possession, she got the rebound.

“Katie played great. After a weak game last night, when she felt pressure, she came back strong tonight and was huge for us,” Bartley said.

“My family has won championships and I wanted to get one. My cousins Sydney Day and Gretchen Reel played on our 2017 state champions and my brother Conner was a good player,” said Sevier.

“Today my teammates helped me and calmed me down. I wanted to get to the basket and did. Now this feels great.”

Tecumseh, before closing with a 10-14 record against a toughened schedule, moved within 42-41 when sophomore Katelyn Marx made her second free throw after missing the first with 11.1 seconds left. Fouled after an inbound pass, Sevier missed the front end of a one-and-one at 10 seconds.

On the ensuing possession, Lady Braves senior floor leader Karsyn Flowers, driving toward the basket, flipped either a shot or a pass off the west backboard, Lady Tigers junior Kamryn Blacklock rebounded and was fouled with 1.5 ticks left. That being Tecumseh’s 10th second-half foul, Blacklock had two free throws. When she missed the first, Bartley called timeout and the guess was he told her to bounce the second off the rim, so that the clock would restart immediately and not give the hosts the chance for a long pass to set up a shot.

“I told Kamryn she didn’t have to make the second free throw, but didn’t tell her to purposely miss it because I thought that might cause her to miss the rim and Tecumseh would inbound with a second-and-a-half left.

Lo, Blacklock, scoreless till then, made the free throw, meaning the Lady Trojans didn’t want to purposely foul when the Lady Braves inbounded the ball. They threw a long pass to Katelyn Marx, who dribbled a few steps and made a layup — but it came after the horn and the Lady Tigers were champions.

“Kamryn did a super job of guarding Flowers,” said Bartley.

“I kept her in front of me,” Blacklock said, “and I think I played harder than she did.”

“Our team has a clear mind and we had chemistry. We stayed close and we out-worked Tecumseh.”

“Lucy Schwomeyer gave us five big points,” Bartley noted of the early sub who kept the first half close with those points.

“This feels amazing,” Schwomeyer said. “We didn’t have this the last three years. I’m more of a defensive player than a scorer. Realizing this could have my last game, I focused hard on defense.”

Junior Josie Page, after scoring a game-high 15 points Friday, became Tecumseh’s defensive focus and worked hard for 10 points, including a driving lay-up that inched the team within 24-18 two seconds before halftime. Her driving lay-up brought a 39-35 lead with 4:30 left, and she did much of the ball-handling against a defense that became full-court most of the second half.

“I think we knew we could do this because we worked so hard all season. Today we played really hard. We wanted this so much and now this feels amazing,” said Josie. “Defensively, we focused on taking the inside game away from them. Offensively, we ran the plays we’ve run all season and we scored enough on them.”

Jillian, who hit two third-quarter threes to ignite the second-half comeback against Northeast Dubois, Saturday capped a 9-0 run to a 27-26 mid-quarter edge by hitting a three and then a rebound basket. “I’m overjoyed. This win is unexplainable,” she said. “At halftime we agreed we had to dig deeper. We focused on free throws and rebounds — we didn’t shoot free throws well (9-for-19), but we had to get rebounds and we did.”

“Now I’m really excited.”

Senior center Kennedy Shoultz settled for two points, on a third quarter that created a 29-29 tie and began a five-point run, but rebounded and played solid defense against 6’ 0” senior Brianna Marx.

“I just kept blocking her out,” the 17-year-old Shoultz said. “Every time she cut to the basket, I bumped her to slow her down. All of us kept playing hard and didn’t let down. Instead of worrying about anything, we just played. This feels so amazing. We couldn’t have done it without everybody.”

Said Bartley: “Kennedy did an excellent job on her, and Katie did an excellent job guarding Donohoo.”

Bri Marx fouled out with a minute left, the foul that led to Sevier’s two free throws that turned the 41-41 tie into a 43-41 lead. Donohoo, who matched Katelyn Marx’ team-high 10 points, fouled out with 25 seconds left.

The Lady Tigers trailed 22-14 late in the first half and 26-18 in the third quarter’s first minute before picking up offensively. Despite taking 37-31 and 39-32 leads, they were caught when the Lady Braves hit all of their three-point goals in a 78-second span of the fourth quarter.

Katelyn Marx’ three inched the hosts within 39-35. And after Sevier’s driving lay-up, Flowers hit a trey and Katelyn another for a 41-41 tie with 2:21 left, which marked their last basket of the game.

“Wood Memorial’s a totally different team in the second half of the season,” said Tecumseh Coach Jennie Toopes, an Oakland City University women’s assistant before succeeding state championship coach Adam Lubbehusen.

“They played close like we did against Princeton and North Posey, so I knew this would be close. Defensively, they got back and shut down our transition. We didn’t hit outside shots until late.”

“They’re so well-coached. Johnnie Bartley does a great job,” said Jennie, whose oldest son Tyler now is Oakland City University men’s and women’s golf coach after preceding second son Tanner as an OCU basketball player.

In going against No. 1 Lanesville, the Lady Trojans face a team that stands 24-2 after whacking No. 9 Borden 58-27 in the latter’s sectional final. No. 16 Springs Valley, a 41-40 winner over Barr-Reeve, and No. 4 Trinity Lutheran open the West Washington Regional.

While the Lady Trojans were cutting down the nets, Bartley said: “We’re not yet thinking about Lanesville. We’re just enjoying this.”

Varsity Girls Basketball

Class 1A Tecumseh Sectional Championship (Kevin Oxley Court)

TECUMSEH (42): Donohoo (4 twos, 2-3 FTs, 10 points); K. Marx (2 threes, 1 two, 2-4 FTs, 10 points); Flowers (2 twos, 1 three, 7 points); Lemen (3 twos, 1-2 FTs, 7 points); B. Marx (2 twos, 4 points); Holder (1 two, 2-4 FTs, 4 points).

WOOD MEMORIAL (44): Sevier (8 twos, 5-8 FTs, 21 points); Jo. Page (4 twos, 2-6 FTs, 10 points); Schwomeyer (2 twos, 1-2 FTs, 5 points); Ji. Page (2 twos, 0-1 FTs, 5 points); Shoultz (1 two, 2 points); Blacklock (1-2 FTs, 1 point).

TEC...11 13 5 13...Total: 42

WM....10 8 14 12...Total: 44