Culver girls basketball preview: After coming quarter short of conference, sectional titles, Lady Cavs return 4 starters

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

The Culver girls basketball team was tied after three quarters with North Miami in their de facto Hoosier North championship game last year.

They lost by 11.

The Lady Cavs were tied after three quarters against Elkhart Christian in the sectional final at Oregon-Davis.

They lost by 10.

As good as they were, they were a quarter away from even more glory and from having their team picture put on the walls of John R. Nelson Gymnasium.

Still, we are in the midst of a standout era of girls basketball at Culver. The Lady Cavs have won 32 games over the last two years. That’s the most for the program in a two-year span since the Gina Hierlmeier-coached Lady Cavs won 33 games between 2013-15 and the Tony Scheub-coached Lady Cavs won 33 games from 2010-12.

And for those who watched them last year, they have a familiar crew back. Returning starters include junior guards Ava McCune and Ashlynn Berndt and senior frontcourt players Eliana Andrzejewski and Brooke Davis.

And there’s even more encouraging news: In the summer of 2025, the head coaching position was in a state of flux as Adam Neace was leaving for LaPorte and younger brother A.J. Neace had not yet been approved as his replacement. The summer of 2024 also had coaching instability as the Neace brothers were not hired as co-coaches until early October.

This summer was much more stable, according to A.J. Neace.

“Just having a full summer with them was huge,” Neace said. “We worked on skill and conditioning, which our girls have all played at the varsity level for three or four years now, so they know what defense we want to run. They all know that. It’s just getting out and playing and tightening their skills down.”

Savanna Harrington is a new starter in the post, but she is also a senior. She brings a flair for rebounding and defense that brings about comparisons to comparisons to Basketball Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman, according to coach Neace.

“She doesn’t really have any varsity minutes coming into this,” Neace said. “She played in garbage time last year, here and there, but she had a huge summer for us. She hit the weight room hard. She’s probably the strongest girl on our team. … She’s going to rebound and set screens like nobody’s ever seen before.”

Andrzejewski is a wing who developed a greater flair for scoring last year. She is already an established defender.

“She is probably our best defender in our zone, and that’s been that way for the last two years,” Neace said. “She really takes pride on that end of the floor. She became a pretty decent shooter this summer. A lot of teams last year laid off her and tried to double Ava and Ashlynn and (Brianna) Schlemmer, and now it’s her time to step up and show she can knock down jump shots like she has been all summer and the first two weeks of (practice).”

Davis is a forward who was able to finish around the basket more last year.

“Two years ago, she was the role player for the team because you had Amiyah Williams and you had Brynn Berndt who were the dominant post players,” Neace said. “Now it’s her time. She took huge strides, especially this summer.”

The sixth player is another veteran in senior sharpshooter Haylie Parker, whom Neace called “a little five-foot-two-inch gunslinger.”

McCune worked on perfecting her perimeter shot during the offseason, and she has also worked on a Trey Kaufman-Renn-style mid-range floater off one foot in the paint.

“She’s turning into a jump shooter,” Neace said. “Everybody knows that she can get to the basket, and she’s fast and has quick hands, but she’s starting to turn into a jump shooter. That was her goal this summer is to develop a consistent jump shot. I think last year, she averaged 10 points a game, and that was pretty much off her defense.”

Berndt is such a good and willing passer that Neace said he sometimes tells her that she needs to shoot more. Berndt is the daughter of basketball coaches. Berndt’s mother Andrea was the Culver girls coach from 2005-07, and her father Brett was the Culver boys coach from 2001-08.

Berndt came out for soccer this fall – Neace is also the Culver girls soccer coach – and improved her foot speed, according to Neace.

Neace calls McCune and Berndt a “two-headed monster.”

“So Ash’s instinct is top-notch, same with Ava’s,” Neace said. “On the defensive end, they read the ball extremely well. Ash might be our best passer on the team, and she’s the most unselfish, which is kind of her Kryptonite, especially having a basketball coach as a dad to where we want her to be our scorer, but she wants to pass and get her teammates involved so much that it also makes her happier getting them involved instead of her scoring.”

Hannah Dolezal is a junior who came out for basketball for the first time. Millie Grove is a sophomore who is known for her shooting. Neace said she has not played basketball since she was a fifth-grader.

Zoey Zehner is a left-handed freshman point guard who will largely play but could also see time on the varsity as a wing.

Culver’s success, however, could come down to whether they can clamp down even further defensively. Culver allowed just 32.3 points per game with the long-armed McCune and Berndt not letting opponents get into their offensive sets. They finished in the top 25 in the state in defensive average.

Neace said his team “ran out of gas” against Elkhart Christian in the sectional final. He said the loss has “lit a fire under them.”

“We sat down with the girls, and we sat down as a coaching staff, and we think we can compete for a sectional championship like we did last year,” Neace said. “We can be at the top of the conference. We should be able to win 15, 16 games again like we did last year. Hopefully, we are competing for a Bi-County championship, stuff like that. Those are the goals the girls gave to us as a coaching staff that they want to try and achieve.”

Lady Cavalier notes

• In addition to Zehner, other freshmen in the program include Payden Burton, Aubrey Woodard, Aubrey Birk, Emmy Biddings and Mia Mateo. 

• Culver’s schedule remains busy early. They play nine games before Thanksgiving and 17 before Christmas but only five games in January. They added LaVille, Logansport and South Bend Washington and dropped Culver Academy, Westville and Frontier.

Culver girls basketball schedule

Nov. 5 – at South Central (Union Mills), 7:30 p.m.

Nov. 7 – vs. Trinity Academy, 12:30 p.m.

Nov. 10 – at Tri-Township, 7 p.m.

Nov. 12 – at South Bend Washington, 7:30 p.m.

Nov. 14 – vs. LaVille, 6:30 p.m.

Nov. 17 – vs. Winamac, 7:30 p.m.

Nov. 19 – vs. Elkhart Christian, 7:30 p.m.

Nov. 21 – at Pioneer, 7:30 p.m.

Nov. 24 – vs. Argos, 7 p.m.

Dec. 2 – at Rochester, 7:30 p.m.

Dec. 4 – at Lakeland Christian, 6 p.m.

Dec. 8 – vs. Oregon-Davis, 7:30 p.m.

Dec. 11 – vs. North Miami, 7:30 p.m.

Dec. 15 – at Logansport, 7:30 p.m.

Dec. 17 – at North Judson, 8 p.m.

Dec. 18 – vs. South Bend Career Academy, 6 p.m.

Dec. 22 – vs. Knox, 6 p.m.

Jan. 7 – at Caston, 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 15 – at Triton, 6 p.m.

Jan. 19-23 – Bi-County Tournament (field includes Argos, Bremen, John Glenn, LaVille, New Prairie, Oregon-Davis, Triton)

Jan. 28 – vs. West Central, 7:30 p.m.

Feb. 2-6 – Class 1A, Sectional 51 at Culver

Class 1A, Sectional 51

Argos, CULVER, Elkhart Christian, North Judson, Oregon-Davis, Tri-Township, Trinity Academy, Triton