By RYAN WALKER
There was no chance East Noble was going to spoil Norwell’s night to clinch the Northeast 8 Conference championship outright in a 72-33 rout.
It was the final home game, seven seniors honored on Senior Night playing their final game at The Castle and the conference title all on the line — and they played like their life depended on it.
“I don’t know what was different. I just know that they were ready. They were ready to play,” Norwell head coach Eric Thornton said after the game.
That senior group played the biggest role, as they have over their last four seasons in the blue and gold. Makenzie Fuess picked off the opening tipoff for a steal and layup seven seconds in and then nailed her first three-point attempt 20 seconds later.
After Fuess drilled another triple, Kennedy Fuelling entered the scoreboard and produced 12 points in the first quarter to add to Fuess’ 11. It was 27-9 by the end of it.
The scoring ramped up and never simmered down. The Norwell Knights (18-4, 7-0 NE8) followed the first with a 24-point second quarter. Fuess’ five triples led to 22 points in the half alone, while Fuelling tallied 16.
Some of that scoring magic even rubbed off of senior Lilly Norris, who sunk two of her four three-balls in the first half.
“We just keep moving it until we get it and they know when that moment is there. They can feel it that that’s the shot right there,” Thornton said of his team’s red-hot shooting. “They’re just relentless.”
With the score being so far out of reach, one wouldn’t even notice that the East Noble Knights had quite a good season this year, improving its 5-18 record and 7th in the Northeast 8 Conference to a 13-8, (3-4 NE8) record this year. But Norwell drowned that success out with a 51-19 edge by halftime.
There was a running clock by the third quarter that helped translate the 39-point victory for Norwell.
The win encapsulates everything the team has done this season — grueling schedule that featured multiple state-ranked teams, and the team came out with only four losses.
They also went unbeaten in a conference that had only one team without a winning record in it — one that Norwell wasn’t even the favorite in, but the reigning champion Columbia City was. But when the chips were down, the Knights slayed the dragon at their own barn earlier in the season and boosted its quest to take back the crown.
“In a year where the conference was very, very good, this group did an awful lot by going 7-0. It’s super hard to do,” Thornton said, now winning fifth NE8 title in the past six years. “And with that experience, and how they’ve handled the schedule strength this year in and out of the conference, they’ve really been through a lot of battles, and that’s paying off right now.”
Thornton made it clear as he has all season: the conference is just the first step.
Even with the rich history of Norwell’s girls’ basketball team, getting past the semi-state has been tough to get out of. They’ve won just one of them ever, according to the John Harrel website, and just two regional titles since class basketball began.
Thornton and his team knows that this accomplishment doesn’t finish any business it wants to take care of.
“It’s hard for me to say everything that I want to say because I know it’s not over yet but we have just a short time left together and you feel that,” Thornton said. “You want to experience what their goals are. Our goals are to win a state championship, and that’s so hard to do. But this is where we wanted to start.”
Norwell’s postseason journey begins next Friday against the host school Maconaquah or Mississinewa at 6 p.m. Friday, Feb. 2.
After the game, the varsity team posed for a photo with their new Northeast 8 Confernce t-shirts. They took the photo with the junior varsity team, who completed back-to-back undefeated seasons, along with both the eighth and seventh grade girls teams, who both won the Northeast 8 Conference tournament earlier this week.
NORWELL 72, EAST NOBLE 33
At Norwell
EAST NOBLE (13-8, 3-4 NE8): Elli Will 4-9 1-1 11, Rian David 3-5 1-1 8, Averi Amstutz 2-5 2-2 6, Payton Quake 2-3 0-0 4, Addison Deming 2-9 0-0 4, Bailea Bortner 0-4 0-0 0, Brianna Bortner 0-1 0-0 0, Megan Seymour 0-0 0-0 0, Kate David 0-0 0-0 0, Makenna Strohm 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 13-36 6-7 33.
NORWELL (18-4, 7-0 NE8): Kennedy Fuelling 10-25 4-5 27, Makenzie Fuess 7-17 5-11 22, Lilly Norris 4-6 0-0 12, Dekota Hubble 2-2 0-0 4, Vanessa Rosswurm 2-6 0-0 4, Addie Norris 0-2 2-3 2, Alivia Green 0-3 1-2 1, Ryland Graft 0-2 0-0 0, Haley Green 0-0 0-0 0, Annabelle Johnson 0-1 0-0 0, Ali Riley 0-1 0-0 0, Jaada Dale 0-2 0-0 0, Ashley Waldman 0-4 0-0 0. TOTALS: 25-71 10-17 72.
E. Noble 9 10 5 9 –– 33
Norwell 27 24 19 2 –– 72
Three-point FG: East Noble: 1-8 (R. David 1-3, Deming 0-1, B. Bortner 0-4), Norwell: 12-33 (Fuess 5-11, Norris 4-5, Fuelling 3-10, Graft 0-1, A. Norris 0-1, Johnson 0-1, Waldman 0-2, Dale 0-1, Riley 0-1). Rebounds: East Noble: 32 (Will 9, Quake 5, R. Daid 4, K. David 3, Amstutz 2, Deming 1, B. Bortner 1), Norwell: 24 (Green 4, Norris 4, Hubble 3, Rosswurm 2, A. Green 2, Fuelling 2, Graft 2, Johnson 1, Fuess 1). Turnovers: East Noble 30, Norwell 9. Fouls: East Noble: 11, Norwell 9. Fouled Out: None. Technicals: None.
JV: 59-21 Norwell.
