By RYAN WALKER
ANGOLA— The Norwell girls’ basketball team wore down Angola in its 60-39 victory Saturday night.
Knights’ head coach Eric Thornton’s team executed a game plan that prepared them for its first true road test against a Hornet team that finished 15-10 a season ago.
“I just liked the way we rebounded the basketball tonight. That’s big for us.” Thornton said after the game. “We worked our pressure and tried to finish plays like that. I just thought that was a key for us, being able to get out in transition on offense.”
A speedy and tough Knights (3-0) team just simply outran the Hornets (1-2) for four quarters, winning the turnover battle once again and having a 41-25 advantage on the boards.
It took them a few minutes to heat up, but a spark midway through the first quarter had Angola falling behind by three and forced a timeout from the Hornets’ coach Nick Burlingame. But that wouldn’t slow the Knights, going up 14-9 at the 2:25 mark, eventually ending the quarter down seven.
In the second, Norwell found a way to run down Angola, going up and down the floor on fast breaks and hitting jumpers. The Knights went up 23-12 with 5:42 remaining in the half and scored the next 14 points before allowing a layup with 30 seconds left.
The Knights tacked on two more points, ending the half on a 16-2 run
“I thought that we wore them down,” Thornton said. “You could see it in the second quarter happen and at the end of the second half with our pressure. I thought our kids were relentless tonight, and that made a big difference.”
Kennedy Fuelling and Makenzie Fuess again lit the stat sheet on fire, scoring 11 and 10 points in the first half. The two were all-conference first-team in the Northeast 8 last season and are both now averaging over 17 points per game.
The Knights held the Hornets to less than 10 points in the third and fourth quarters, again dominating the glass and earning easy buckets on fast breaks.
Juniors Haley Green and Dekota Hubble combined for 20 rebounds, helping the pair of Fuelling and Fuess on some of the transition points. Green also added a game-high four steals, Fuess with three.
In addition to rebounds turning into transition points, Norwell runs a full-court press to force the other team to react quickly. The style of play is hard to run and requires the trust and smarts of a team to execute it. Thornton said that the team has worked well together fed into the team’s success so far this season, including the win over Angola.
“I don’t think you can underestimate team chemistry,” he said. “I think team chemistry comes from players seven, eight, and nine. When you’re a starter, and you get to go out there, it’s easy to have that. But when you have seven, eight, and nine on our team, those kids doing really well with that, that’s big for us.”
The non-starters put up 15 points and showed that the team didn’t miss a beat on either side of the ball when they came in.
Green, who got had 12 rebounds and four steals, checked in for 19 minutes off the bench. Ryland Graft scored seven points in her 15 minutes of play, and Vanessa Rossrwurm put up five rebounds and three assists, logging nearly 16 minutes.
Even deeper down the roster and the junior varsity players got experience for the second straight time — Norwell defeated Mississinewa 91-37 last Tuesday.
Thornton liked to see the majority of his team getting into the game.
“It’s just these kids have invested so much. When you can see a group that’s that committed, be able to be good teammates, and that’s something you can take for granted, but it’s something they won’t. They won’t do that. For us, it’s just the ability to play your role and accept it and be happy for each other,” he said.
Norwell will hit the floor next at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 15, at Homestead.
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NORWELL 60, ANGOLA 31
At High School
NORWELL (3-0): Mady Sonnigsen 1-4 0-0 2, Dekota Hubble 1-4 0-0 2, Kennedy Fuelling 6-13 2-2 16, Ryland Graft 3-4 0-0 7, Haley Green 2-2 0-0 4, Ashley Waldman 0-0 0-0 0, Lily Norris 2-4 0-0 5, Addie Norris 2-4 0-0 0, Annabell Johnson 3-5 0-0 6, Makenzie Fuess 6-12 1-1 16, Ali Riley 0-2 0-0 0 Vanessa Rosswurm 1-6 0-0 2. TOTALS: 25-58 3-3 60.
ANGOLA (1-2): Snyder 1-6 0-2 2, Fee 0-5 0-0 0, Caswell 4-14 0-2 8, Rinard 1-3 0-0 2, Stillman 0-1 0-0 0, Gillen 1-2 2-2 4, McClure 0-0 0-0 0, Oberlin 3-14 2-8 9, Holman 3-4 0-0 6. TOTALS: 13-50 4-14 31.
Norwell 16 23 15 6 –– 60
Angola 9 7 7 8 –– 31
Three-point Goals: Norwell 7-21 (Fuess 3-6, Sonnigsen 0-2, Fuelling 2-7, Graft 1-2, L. Norris 1-3, Riley 0-1), Angola 1-11 (Oberlin 1-5, Fee 0-2 Caswell 0-2 Rinard 0-1). Rebounds: Norwell 41 (Green 12, Hubble 8, Rosswurm 5, Riley 3, Graft 3, Fuelling 3, Fuess 2, Norris 1), Angola 25 (Snyder 9, Oberlin 3, Holman 3, Fee 3, Rinard 2, Caswell, Stillman 1). Turnovers: Norwell 23, Angola 29. Fouls: Norwell 13, Angola 9. Fouled Out: None. Technicals: None.
