Caston girls basketball update: Top-ranked Lady Comets suffer first loss to sectional rival Tri-County …

… but after clinching Hoosier North title outright

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Girls basketball

Caston senior Macee Hinderlider (4) shoots over Culver’s Amiyah Williams during a Jan. 4 game at John R. Nelson Gymnasium. Hinderlider scored a career-high 18 points for the visiting Lady Comets in a 69-29 win. (photo provided by Dee Brown)

Tri-County 47, Caston 42 (Thursday): Addison Zimpleman scored 19 points, and Isabel Scales had 14 points and nine steals, but the Class 1A, No. 1 Lady Comets lost to sectional rival Tri-County at Caston Thursday.

Scales and Zimpleman had six rebounds each.

Tri-County hit seven 3-pointers while Caston hit one.

Sara Zarse and Grace Luck had nine points each for Tri-County, who led 28-19 at halftime.

The Lady Cavaliers, who are the defending Sectional 52 champions, won despite making just six of 15 free throws.

Caston came in No. 1 in the state defensive scoring average at 27.1 ppg. They allowed 28 points in the first half to Tri-County.

Caston dropped to 17-1. The loss leaves Rensselaer as the only remaining unbeaten team in the state.

TRI-COUNTY (47) (14-6)

Arvin 3 1-4 7, Bahler 2 3-4 8, Zarse 3 1-4 9, Durando 1 0-0 3, Luck 3 0-0 9, Spencer 1 0-0 2, Ross 2 1-2 5, Taulman 2 0-0 4

TEAM: 17 6-15 47

CASTON (42) (17-1)

Caston senior guard Addison Zimpleman (13) vies for a rebound with Culver’s Maddy Hamilton (21) during a Jan. 4 game at John R. Nelson Gymnasium. Caston won 69-29 to clinch a share of the Hoosier North title. (photo provided by Dee Brown)

Macee Hinderlider 1 1-2 3, Addison Zimpleman 8 2-2 19, Madi Douglass 0 2-4 2, Isabel Scales 4 6-10 14, Alexa Finke 2 0-0 4, Olivia Thomas 0 0-0 0, Annie Harsh 0 0-0 0

TEAM: 15 11-18 42

Three-point field goals:

Tri-County 7 (Luck 3, Zarse 2, Bahler, Durando),

Caston 1 (Zimpleman)

Total fouls: Tri-County 15, Caston 17

Turnovers: Tri-County 13, Caston 12

Score by quarters

Tri-County 22 6 11 8 – 47

Caston 8 11 8 15 – 42

Caston 46, LaVille 19 (Jan. 6): Isabel Scales scored a game-high 20 points and added nine rebounds and four steals as the top-ranked Lady Comets clinched the Hoosier North title for the second straight season with a home win over LaVille on Jan. 6.

Olivia Thomas, Macee Hinderlider and Addison Zimpleman added six each.

Mikalah Kuskye led LaVille with five points. The Lady Lancers shot 22 percent from the field and made just three of 15 free throws.

Caston led 29-10 at halftime.

Caston finished 7-0 in conference play for the second straight season and will take a 16-game conference winning streak into next season. They have not

Caston senior Annie Harsh (25) looks to shoot over Culver’s Brooke Davis (40) during a Jan. 4 game at John R. Nelson Gymnasium. Caston won 69-29, beating the Lady Cavaliers for the fourth straight year. (photo provided by Dee Brown)

lost a conference game since falling to Knox in December 2021.

Caston also beat LaVille for the fifth straight year.

LAVILLE (19) (6-9, 1-3)

Smith 2 0-3 4, Weil 0 0-0 0, Edison 1 0-4 2, Kuskye 2 0-2 5, Foster 0 2-4 2, Deason 1 0-0 3, Kwiatkowski 1 0-0 2, Mejer 0 1-2 1

TEAM: 7 3-15 19

CASTON (46) (17-0, 7-0)

Macee Hinderlider 3 0-2 6, Addison Zimpleman 2 1-2 6, Madi Douglass 1 1-2 4, Isabel Scales 7 6-7 20, Alexa Finke 1 2-4 4, Olivia Thomas 3 0-0 6, Annie Harsh 0 0-0 0

TEAM: 17 10-17 46

Three-point field goals:

LaVille 2 (Deason, Kuskye),

Caston 2 (Zimpleman, Douglass)

Total fouls: LaVille 16, Caston 16

Turnovers: LaVille 16, Caston 13

Score by quarters

LaVille 7 3 7 2 – 19

Caston 14 15 8 9 – 46

Caston senior Isabel Scales, right, vies for the opening tip with Culver junior Amiyah Williams during a Jan. 4 game at John R. Nelson Gymnasium. Scales had a triple-double – 17 points, 10 rebounds, 12 assists – to lead the Class 1A, No. 1 Lady Comets to a 69-29 win. Caston would go on to beat LaVille 46-19 on Jan. 6 to complete their second straight outright Hoosier North title. Caston has not lost a Hoosier North game since falling to Knox on Dec. 16, 2021. (photo provided by Dee Brown)

Caston 69, Culver 29 (Jan. 4): Macee Hinderlider scored a career-high 18 points, and Isabel Scales had a triple-double with 17 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists as the top-ranked Lady Comets beat host Culver at John R. Nelson Gymnasium on Jan. 4.

Hinderlider made all eight of her field goal attempts and both of her free throws. Scales also had a team-high seven steals.

Addison Zimpleman added 12 points, five rebounds and five steals, and Madi Douglass had 10 points, six rebounds and three steals. Annie Harsh hit three 3-pointers off the bench and had nine.

Elexa O’Brien hit four 3-pointers and led Culver with 12 points.

Caston led 31-9 after one quarter. They also held Culver scoreless in the fourth quarter.

Caston improved to 16-0 overall and 6-0 in the Hoosier North with the win. They clinched a share of the conference crown. Culver fell to 4-11, 1-4.

CASTON (69) (16-0, 6-0)

Macee Hinderlider 8 2-2 18, Addison Zimpleman 6 0-0 12, Madi Douglass 4 0-3 10, Isabel Scales 7 3-4 17, Alexa Finke 0 0-0 0, Kylee Logan 1 0-0 3, Haley Miller 0 0-0 0, Grace Wright 0 0-0 0, Olivia Thomas 0 0-0 0, Kaitie Hutsell 0 0-0 0, Annie Harsh 3 0-0 9

TEAM: 29 5-9 69

CULVER (29) (4-11, 1-4)

Grace Sieber 2 2-2 8, Maddy Hamilton 0 0-0 0, Elexa O’Brien 4 0-0 12, Brooke Davis 0 0-0 0, Amiyah Williams 1 1-8 3, Giselle Villegas 0 0-0 0, Haylie Parker 0 0-0 0, Brianna Schlemmer 2 0-0 6, Ivon Torres-Escobar 0 0-0 0

TEAM: 9 3-10 29

Three-point field goals:

Caston 6 (Harsh 3, Douglass 2, Logan),

Culver 8 (O’Brien 4, Sieber 2, Schlemmer 2)

Total fouls: Caston 11, Culver 14

Turnovers: Caston 9, Culver 18

Score by quarters

Caston 31 7 19 12 – 69

Culver99110–29