By RYAN WALKER
FORT WAYNE — Carroll scratched and clawed the best it could, but Norwell kicked back enough to pull away 65-55 on the road Tuesday night.
Fresh off of a 1-1 finish and two-part Noblesville Holiday Tournament last Thursday, the Knights (13-4) had to hold off a Charger squad that entered the game with a 4-10 record.
On paper, Carroll wasn’t supposed to be in the game, much less down by one point with 2:40 remaining in the contest. But Norwell head coach Eric Thornton knew that despite losing much of their scoring from last year’s 16-8 squad, the Chargers would come to play.
“No,” Thornton said when asked if he was surprised at the score throughout the game. “I’ve watched four games on (Carroll) just recently, … Their record is not indicative of how far Carroll has come from the beginning of the year.”
Norwell started this game as it has against opponents of similar records. Kennedy Fuelling hit a trio of threes, including one at the end of the first quarter before the horn sounded. Vanessa Rosswurm sprinkled in two of her five-made triples to take a 20-10 advantage.
When Fuelling hit her third from downtown, the Knights were up 29-16 with 3:08 to go before the break, but Carroll wouldn’t go down without a fight just yet.
Ava Meyers answered Fuelling’s three with one of her own to help spark a small 7-4 run and headed to the locker room within 10 points.
The third quarter didn’t look to shape well for them, however, as Fuelling opened the first minute in a five-point swing to her team’s advantage. That was enough for a frustrated Carroll head coach Mark Redding to burn through a quick timeout. Right after, Rosswurm nailed another three and gave the Knights a 41-23 lead and 8-0 start to open the third quarter.
But again, Carroll came through when it needed it most, and Norwell didn’t have an answer for a long time.
Over the next 8.5 minutes, Carroll blasted Norwell for a 19-2 spurt of offense that extended to the fourth quarter.
Over that span, Carroll rallied behind its stars. Leading scorer Lily George picked up a few buckets in the post, including an and-one conversion. Top three-point shooter Jersey Paul got going with a three at the end of the third quarter as the buzzer sounded, heating her and teammate Ava Myers up later in the fourth quarter. To finish it off, the Chargers spread the wealth to Madi Gawthrop, who hit her only two shots back-to-back in the third.
Thornton admitted that how Redding’s group spread the floor made it difficult for them to defend — part of the reason why he thought Carroll was underrated. In the meantime, his team didn’t make a shot over for nearly nine minutes straight until Rosswurm’s three with 5:33 remaining.
“I just thought we were a little impatient during that time,” Thornton said. “I thought we tried to get things too quick instead of being patient and moving the basketball. (Carroll doesn’t) give you anything easy.”
After Rosswurm’s three, Paul hit her third shortly after to create a one-point separation between the two. Fuelling answered a minute later with yet another three, her sixth of the game, and gave the extra kick Norwell needed.
Of course, Carroll had a response. Myers drilled a three followed by George’s bucket and got the score right back to where it was: one point. But that one-point lead Norwell had a tight grasp on never moved closer.
Rosswurm hit a three with 2:15 left to go up by four. Fuess hit a floater for two more, and Dekota Hubble cleaned up a bucket down low to get eight points of breathing room.
Chargers’ Lauren Kirkpatrick made the final shot for her team from deep, but the final dagger was Fuelling’s converted basket and a free throw with 43 seconds left.
Thornton was encouraged by his team’s effort to pull the game out in multiple tough situations. He cited some of the rough scheduling he has put his team through this season, like Columbia City, Homestead, Lawrence North and the recent holiday tournament, as challenges that helped his team win games like Carroll.
When asked if those tough games in the past was a reason for a hard-fought victory, he agreed.
“I think so,” Thornton said. “I think when you look at what we’ve been through and what we’ve had to do. We had the comeback win against (Valapraiso), we get a Columbia City win on the road just kind of hanging in there and having to come from behind. We’ve been in those situations before against really, really good teams. We consider Carroll, again, that record is very deceiving. Our kids really had to execute down the stretch.”
Fuelling’s 30 points led both teams and slots her six points behind Mackenzie Warwick for Norwell’s all-time scoring list at No. 2. Jessica Rupright is No. 1, and Fuelling is 158 points behind with four games left for the regular season.
Rosswurm finished with 19 points and Hubble eight.
For Carroll, George led the way with 19 points followed by Paul’s 13.
Norwell won the junior varsity game 64-13. Jada Dale led the team with 17 points, followed by Macie Saalfrank with 10, Makayla Young nine and Haley Williamson eight.
Norwell will visit Leo in an NE8 match at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 5.
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NORWELL 65, CARROLL 55
At Carroll
NORWELL (13-4): Kennedy Fuelling 10-21 4-5 30, Vanessa Rosswurm 6-15 2-4 19, Dekota Hubble 4-6 0-1 8, Makenzie Fuess 2-12 0-0 4, Lilly Norris 0-2 2-4 2, Annabelle Johnson 1-2 0-0 2, Ryland Graft 0-2 0-0 0, Addie Norris 0-1 0-0 0. TOTALS: 23-61 8-14 55.
CARROLL (4-11): Lily George 9-14 1-4 19, Jersey Paul 5-14 0-0 13, Ava Meyers 3-5 0-0 9, Jaidyn Fuller 3-8 0-0 7, Madi Gawthrop 2-3 0-0 4, Lauren Kirkpatrick 1-4 0-0 3, Callie Mitchell 0-1 0-0 0, Haylee Hoch 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 23-49 1-4 55.
Norwell 20 13 12 20 — 65
Carroll 10 13 17 15 — 55
Three-point FG: Norwell: 11-28 (Fuelling 6-10, Rosswurm 5-7, Hubble 0-1, Graft 0-2, A. Norris 0-1, Johnson 0-1, Fuess 0-6), Carroll: 8-22 (Paul 3-9, Myers 3-5, Fuller 1-5, Kirkpatrick 1-2, Mitchell 0-1). Rebounds: Norwell: 36 (Hubble 7, Rosswurm 7, Fuess 6, Johnson 4, L. Norris 4, Graft 3, Fuelling 3, A. Norris 1), Carroll: 27 (George 8, Fuller 4, Paul 4, Gawthrop 3, Kirkpatrick 2, Myers 1). Turnovers: Norwell: 11, Carroll: 15. Fouls: Norwell: 8, Carroll: 19. Fouled Out: None. Technicals: None.
JV: 64-13 Norwell.
