By RYAN WALKER
INDIANAPOLIS — In a heartbreaking conclusion, the Norwell girls’ basketball season came to an end, losing to Gibson Southern 63-60 in the Class 3A state championship game.
Norwell mounted a 19-point deficit in the third quarter and eventually shortened it to a one-possession, 63-60 ballgame with the ball in its hands for the final play. On the sideline play, Kennedy Fuelling received an arching pass from Vanessa Rosswurm on the right wing, faked out her defender going to her right and took a dribble to her left. That freed space for a wide-open shot attempt that clunked the right side of the rim. The horn sounded, and it was game over. The Titans had won their first-ever state championship game in school history.
“Obviously, a little bit of anxiety there in the second half,” Gibson Southern head coach Kyle Brasher said after the game, sitting next to five of his players and the state championship trophy. “But at the end of the day (it’s) excitement, pride, joy — just all kinds of adjectives that we could use right now to describe what this group of girls has done. I’m just so happy, excited and proud of them.”
The play designed was called “Hawkeye” as Norwell head coach Eric Thornton described it after the game. It’s rarely used, if ever, during the season, and is designed to get the ball to the Knights’ best shooter, Fuelling.
The call was perfectly designed for the moment and worked up until the shot went a few inches right of the basket.
“That was the look that we were wanting right there,” Thornton said after the game. “Just thought our kids executed that (play). If that goes in, we’re playing four more minutes.”
To earn their way back, it took everything Norwell had, and they did so in an unconventional way to their style of play.
Gibson Southern (26-4) started the game loose and comfortable, jumping out to a 8-2 lead. Four different players scored, throwing off the Knights, who began slow and skittish.
Although the Knights fought back twice in the first quarter, the Titans started to separate themselves over the next two. The lead grew from 15-14 at the end of the first period to 10 points by halftime, then up to 19 points in the third quarter. Gibson Southern’s Chloey Graham went on a rampage, hitting four triples to aid a 16-9 third-quarter run.
Graham made 6-for-8 from downtown, and Norwell, who’s known for taking and making threes, had only one. It was from Fuess by the 5:15 mark in the third quarter.
The Titans 11 made three-pointers, an IHSAA record for a state championship game, regardless of class.
“As soon as I made the first one, I knew I was on a roll and I was just doing everything I could to help the team,” Graham said.
Thornton admitted his team “played a little bit rushed early on,” and tried to adjust to its lackluster 3-14 three-point total. The team frantically dialed up some plays in the first half, but nothing worked to create any spacing. The Titans forced contested layups through 6’2” center Paige Schnaus, who had a game-high 17 rebounds.
Schnaus, along with a well-coached Brasher defense stood strong. It was clear: the team was prepared for Norwell’s attack on offense and defense, and that Fuelling was on their most-wanted list.
“We had 6’7” girls from our JV team go out and we did 5-3 situations. We did as many disadvantage situations as possible (during practice this week),” Brasher said when asked how the team prepared for Norwell’s 1-3-1 zone trap defense. “We don’t see defense like that, not many teams in our state play that (way). We just tried to do as many things as possible to make them prepare for it. It’s tough to go against.”
Their defense perhaps didn’t see its full effect right away, but it finally started to click.
After Graham hit her sixth triple, Norwell needed a timeout to stop the bleeding. The score was 54-39 at that point, seemingly out of range considering there was only 2:51 remained in the third quarter.
But not so fast. Rosswurm, Dekota Hubble, Fuess, Annabelle Johnson and Fuelling, in order, sparked the game’s next 12 points — all two-pointers. — and began stripping the ball away from the Titans. By the end of the quarter, it was a much more manageable nine-point deficit.
The defense swarmed Gibson Southern, forcing 23 turnovers with 16 steals.
Rosswurm and Ally Malone traded three-point buckets to set the tone in the fourth quarter, but Norwell caught another hot streak.
Hubble made one of her two free throw attempts, while Fuelling’s two and Fuess’ three-pointer got the game to one possession down by three. Hubble broke loose on another Titan turnover for an easy layup and now Norwell was in striking distance down 59-58 with 4:02 left.
“It’s the competitiveness of this group,” Thornton answered as to what helped his team during the comeback. “As I mentioned before, it’s a special group and not just how highly I think of them and how great of a team they are, but they have it. They may get down 19, which is not what we wanted, but that’s not going to continue. They’re going to fight, and they’re going to chip away, and they’re going to try to be about the right thing on both ends. They proved that again tonight.”
Right as Norwell picked up steam, Gabby Spink hit the biggest shot of the night. A three-point basket at the top of the key reached 17 points for her night and broke the team record for most in a state championship game.
The closest the Knights got was Fuelling’s 14th and final point of the second half after scoring just three in the first. That got them within two points at 62-60.
Coming out of a Titan timeout, Norwell pressured them into a travel call and got the ball back. The Knights missed the first shot, but Hubble fought for the ball back on the offensive rebound and forced a jump ball with the possession arrow pointing to Norwell.
But with 13.2 seconds left, Fuelling lost the ball near the three-point line trying to dribble and gave it right back to the Titans.
Norwell fouled, and to the free-throw line went Nola Ravellette. She made the first, but missed the second and gave life to the Knights.
That’s when the Hawkeye play was drawn up by Thornton in the timeout, but the shot was just short from Fuelling.
Despite the loss, this Norwell team left a legacy stronger than some of the others in its dominant program history. This team went further than any other since the 1977 team.
But the loss still stings more than perhaps any of the team has had in their lifetime, especially for the seven seniors.
“There’s emotion to this game within this same group and they have that same emotion that goes way beyond basketball,” Thornton said. “That’s why it hurts so much for them. The impact that they’ve made. How they’ve continued to mature and understand and realize how good they can be. How they see themselves has changed from a year ago. How tough they’ve become.”
“It’s an amazing program,” Fuess said. “The way (Thornton) runs it. All of us girls, we all work together and it’s hard to end this way and I’m really going to miss it. It’s been the best four years of my life.”
ryan@news-banner.com
GIBSON SOUTHERN 63, NORWELL 60
At Gainbridge Fieldhouse
GIBSON SOUTHERN (26-4): Chloey Graham 7-11 2-2 22, Gabby Spink 7-22 1-2 17, Paige Schnaus 6-10 0-1 12, Ally Malone 2-2 0-0 6, Nola Ravellette 2-4 1-2 6, Lydia Maurer 0-0 0-0 0, Halle Evans 0-0 0-0 0, Lauryn Adamson 0-0 0-0 0.
NORWELL (23-5): Makenzie Fuess 5-22 4-4 16, Kennedy 6-22 3-4 15, Vanessa Rosswurm 6-15 1-3 14, Dekota Hubble 4-6 1-2 9, Annabelle Johnson 2-2 0-2 4, Haley Green 1-1 0-0 2, Lilly Norris 0-0 0-0 0.
G. Southern 18 18 20 7 — 63
Norwell 14 12 21 13 — 60
Three-Point Field Goals: Gibson Southern 11-19 (Graham 6-8, Malone 2-2, Spink 2-8, Ravellette 1-1), Norwell 3-14 (Fuess 2-8, Rosswurm 1-1, Fuelling 0-5). Rebounds: Gibson Southern 35 (Schnaus 17, Spink 7, Ravellette 3, Graham 3, Malone 2), Norwell 30 (Hubble 10, Rosswurm 6, Fuelling 4, Fuess 4, Johnson 3, Green 1). Turnovers: Gibson Southern 23, Norwell 11. Fouls: Gibson Southern 17, Norwell 12. Fouled Out: None. Technicals: None.
