After beating Manchester, Lady Zs draw sectional rematch

Valley gets bye; Caston, Pioneer could meet in semis; Culver gets S. Central, Argos draws Trinity Greenlawn; Winamac to play Career Academy

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

The Rochester girls basketball team beat Manchester on Saturday. They found out that they will play them again in the sectional on Sunday.

That was among the revelations of the IHSAA draw. In addition:

• Tippecanoe Valley will not only have the home court advantage in their sectional, but they received a bye as well.

• Caston and Pioneer both drew teams with losing records and could meet in a sectional semifinal.

• Culver was placed in the opposite half of the Sectional 51 draw from No. 5 Elkhart Christian while Argos was placed in the same half.

• If Winamac were to play No. 6 Bremen, it would not occur until the sectional final.

Rochester

The Lady Zs knocked off Manchester 38-29 at the RHS gym Saturday. It was the second fewest points for Manchester in a game this season. Manchester came in averaging 53 points per game.

Manchester will try to figure out Rochester’s 2-3 zone when they meet again in a Class 2A, Sectional 38 quarterfinal at Wabash at 6 p.m. Feb. 3. The winner will meet Lewis Cass, who received a bye, in the semifinals, at 6 p.m. Feb. 6.

Rochester and Manchester have not met in the sectional since a 45-37 Lady Z win in the 2021 sectional final at Manchester. Rochester also beat Manchester 39-33 in the 2020 sectional final at Lewis Cass.

Manchester knocked Rochester out of the 2019 sectional in coach Brian Jennings’ first season.

In the other half of the draw, Eastern (Greentown) will play Wabash with the winner to play Oak Hill, who received a bye.

Eastern and Wabash have a combined record of 6-33. Oak Hill is 18-2 and is the only ranked team in the sectional at No. 12.

Tippecanoe Valley

Valley will host a sectional at Rita Price Simpson Court for the first time since 2016, when they tore through Wawasee, West Noble and Fairfield by an average margin of 24.7 ppg in winning the title.

This time, the Lady Vikings will wait for the Columbia City-West Noble winner in the semifinals of Class 3A, Sectional 20. Columbia City is the defending regional champion and defeated West Noble 60-18 on Nov. 11 in their regular season meeting.

Columbia City is 14-7, and all seven losses are to teams with winning records, including a loss to Homestead and two losses to Warsaw. Columbia City has played 12 Class 4A opponents while Valley has played four.

In the other half of the draw, Wawasee drew Fairfield with the winner to meet NorthWood. Fairfield routed Wawasee 65-16 when they met Nov. 11, and they also have a road win over NorthWood.

Caston, Pioneer

Caston beat North White 48-4 on Nov. 14 during their regular season meeting in Monon, and they will look to duplicate that feat when they meet in a Class 1A, Sectional 50 quarterfinal at North White at 6 p.m. Feb. 3.

North White is 4-14, but they have won their last two games against Twin Lakes and DeMotte Christian. They scored a season-high 60 points in the DeMotte Christian win.

North White senior post player Autumn Reif averages 13 points and 8 rebounds per game. Her season high of 20 occurred on two occasions, one of which was the aforementioned Caston game on Nov. 14.

The Caston-North White regular season game is not often a bellwether for the postseason however. In 2023, Caston beat North White in the regular season but lost to the Lady Vikings in the sectional semifinals. In 2020, Caston lost to North White in the regular season but beat them in the sectional.

The North White-Caston winner will meet the Pioneer-North Newton winner in the semifinals.

Historical records for girls basketball are unclear, but Pioneer and North Newton have not met in at least 25 years, even though both have participated in the Indiana Kitchen Classic for the last three years.

North Newton is 5-16, and they have been held under 30 points in a game 10 times this season. Pioneer is 8-13, and they have been held under 30 five times. 

Pioneer has four wins over higher class teams while North Newton has three.

In the other half of the draw, DeMotte Christian will play South Newton while West Central will take on defending sectional champion Tri-County. Both West Central and Tri-County are 14-5.

Argos, Culver

Argos drew Trinity Greenlawn in a Class 1A, Sectional 51 quarterfinal at Oregon-Davis at 6:30 p.m. Eastern Feb. 4 with the winner to meet the North Judson-Elkhart Christian winner. Trinity Greenlawn edged Argos 25-23 in their regular season meeting in South Bend Nov. 20.

Elkhart Christian won both their first sectional and regional titles in school history last year, and they are 16-4 and ranked No. 5 this year.

Elkhart Christian is No. 8 in the state in defensive scoring average at 29.8, but North Judson, who beat Elkhart Christian 45-37 on Dec. 2, is one of just five teams to score 40 or more in a game against them.

North Judson is also 5-0 against other teams in Class 1A, Sectional 51. That is the backdrop for 

the North Judson-Elkhart Christian rematch, which is scheduled for 8 p.m. Eastern Feb. 4 at Oregon-Davis. 

In the other half of the draw, Culver drew South Central (Union Mills) and Triton drew Oregon-Davis. At 14-5, Culver is the only team in their half of the draw with a winning record. Culver beat South Central 38-34 on Nov. 6, and they also own wins over Triton and Oregon-Davis.

But they also have losses to North Judson and Elkhart Christian, and their season-low of 16 points came against Elkhart Christian Nov. 20. In fact, Culver has lost their last three meetings with Elkhart Christian and and their last 13 meetings with North Judson. They have not beaten North Judson since the Gina Hierlmeier-coached Lady Cavaliers beat the Lady Jays in December 2014.

Culver has not won a girls basketball sectional title since the 2011 team reached the semistate in Class 2A.

Winamac

Winamac drew South Bend Career Academy in a Class 2A, Sectional 34 quarterfinal at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 3 at LaVille. The winner will play LaVille in the semifinals.

Neither Career Academy nor LaVille own a win over a team with a winning record, and Winamac is 15-6.

The Lady Trailblazers are 4-12 and do not own a win over a Class 2A opponent. This is their 10th year in the IHSAA, and they are 0-7 all-time in sectional games. (They did not have a squad in the 2018 or 2020 tournaments).

The other half of the draw is an all-Indiana Northern State Conference affair with Knox drawing Jimtown with the winner to meet Bremen. Bremen is 20-1 with 19 of their wins coming by double digits and their only loss coming to Tippecanoe Valley in overtime. Their 20 wins include a 38-point win over Jimtown and a 40-point win over Knox.

They are a two-time defending sectional champion – their sectional title in 2024 came in Class 3A – and they rank No. 4 in the state in defensive scoring average. 

A potential Winamac-Bremen sectional final could feature top guards with Winamac’s Kandace Kroft and Sadie Popejoy going up against Bremen’s Emma Kincaid and Eliana Grubbs, both of whom have reached the 1,000-point milestone this season.

State tournament details

Sectionals will be held Feb. 3-7, regionals are Feb. 14, semistates are Feb. 21, and the state finals are Feb. 28 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

Sectional tickets are $8 per session or $20 for an all-sectional ticket. Regional tickets are $10, semistate tickets are $12, and state finals tickets are $20 per person per session.