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BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
Girls basketball: Argos 55, Oregon-Davis 24 (Tuesday)
Emma Dunlap scored 14 points, and Bella Stults added 10, and the Argos girls basketball team rode a dominant defensive performance to defeat long-time postseason nemesis Oregon-Davis 55-24 and win the Class 1A, Sectional 50 title at Culver Tuesday.
The sectional title is the fourth in Argos school history and their first since winning back-to-back sectionals in 2016-17.
Argos improved to 16-8, and they will play Fort Wayne Blackhawk at approximately 12:30 p.m. Saturday in a Caston regional semifinal. Kouts and North White will meet in the first semifinal at 10:30 a.m., and the winners return at 8 p.m. for the regional final.
Argos scored at least 52 points in all three of their sectional games after not having done so in any three-game span since the 2016 state tournament, when they did so in regional games against Bethany Christian and North White and the semistate game against Tri-Central.
Baleigh Binkley added nine points, and Lizzy Edmonds added eight, but the defensive resistance might have matched up with the offensive productivity.
Edmonds, Argos’ 6-0 senior post player, helped hold O-D 6-0 senior post player Madilynn Hudspeth to three points. Hudspeth had averaged 33 points in wins over LaCrosse and West Central that got the Lady Bobcats to the sectional final. Hudspeth also scored 17 against Argos in a 46-40 Lady Dragon win in their regular season meeting at Argos on Jan. 13.
Argos knocked Oregon-Davis out of the sectional in 2006 – current O-D coach Aubrey Lady (nee Minix) was a freshman on that team – en route to their first sectional and regional titles in school history. Th3 2005-06 season also was the last time Argos beat Oregon-Davis multiple times in the same season.
But over the last 15 years, O-D had gone 7-0 in sectional games against Argos, knocking them out of the 2007, 2008, 2009, 2013, 2015, 2018 and 2019 sectionals.
This game was different.
Already ahead 15-10 after one quarter, Argos held O-D to one point on a Hudspeth free throw in the second quarter and expanded the lead to 31-11 at halftime.
O-D managed just one field goal in the third quarter as the lead reached 43-16 after three quarters.
Meanwhile, Dunlap, who was held to three points in the semifinal win over Culver the previous night, hit four 3-pointers – one each quarter – to help lead the offense.
Samantha Redinger, Ava Stackhouse and Binkley, a move-in from Culver who became eligible for the Argos varsity on Feb. 5, also hit 3s for Argos.
Mackenna Chessor had 12 points for O-D, who finished 8-14. It’s their first losing season in 18 years.
OREGON-DAVIS (24) (8-14)
Johnson 1 0-0 3, Chessor 3 4-8 12, Wireman 0 0-0 0, Saylor 2 0-0 4, Hudspeth 1 1-4 3, Danford 0 2-2 2, Franklin 0 0-0 0
TEAM: 7 7-14 24
ARGOS (55) (16-8)
Emma Dunlap 5 0-0 14, Samantha Redinger 2 0-0 5, Bella Stults 5 0-0 10, Amanda Fajardo 2 0-2 4, Lizzy Edmonds 4 0-0 8, Sophia Bollenbacher 0 0-0 0, Carleigh Miller 1 0-0 2, Aleasia Sarver 0 0-0 0, Morgyn Barcus 0 0-0 0, Ava Stackhouse 1 0-0 3, Allison Zahm 0 0-0 0, Baleigh Binkley 4 0-0 9
TEAM: 24 0-2 55
Three-point field goals:
Oregon-Davis 3 (Chessor 2, Johnson),
Argos 7 (Dunlap 4, Redinger, Stackhouse, Binkley)
Total fouls: Oregon-Davis 11, Argos 12
Fouled out: Hudspeth (O-D)
Score by quarters
Oregon-Davis 10 1 5 8 – 24
Argos 15 16 12 12 – 55
Girls basketball: Argos 61, Culver 25 (Monday)
CULVER — With Argos leading Culver 41-14 in the third quarter of their Class 1A, Sectional 50 semifinal at Culver, Lady Dragon senior post player Lizzy Edmonds rebounded a Rose Peterson miss and found point guard Emma Dunlap, who dribbled up the right flank.
Edmonds trailed the play and yelled for Dunlap to pass her the ball.
Dunlap complied, and Edmonds stroked a 15-foot jumper that found nothing but net.
Any chance of Culver going on a Cinderella postseason run was about to end. The determined Argos senior wasn’t going to let it happen.
Samantha Redinger outscored the entire Culver team 17-11 in the second half and scored a game-high 21 points. Edmonds added 13 of her 15 in the first quarter, and Argos rolled to a 61-25 win over the Lady Cavaliers.
Argos defeated Culver for the 11th consecutive time and for the seventh straight time in the postseason.
Freshman Brynn Berndt hit a pair of 3-pointers and scored eight points for Culver, who finished 5-18. Rose Peterson, who hit eight 3-pointers and scored 37 points in Culver’s quarterfinal win over defending sectional champion Triton, was held to seven this time.
“I think we did a good walk-through after school tonight,” Argos coach Scott Jennings said. “Talked about getting through screens and help and recover off screens. We talked about our press a little bit better. I thought we were a lot more aggressive tonight with our defense. People were talking and communicating better. I think they really stepped up their game tonight.”
Culver also did not attempt a free throw.
Already leading by 11 at halftime, Jennings urged his players in the locker room to keep the intensity up. Don’t let up.
They listened.
Argos started the second half on a 20-0 run to increase the lead to 45-14. Redinger hit a pair of 3-pointers, and Bella Stults had a steal and layup to make it 33-14, which led to a Culver timeout.
A Stults left baseline pullup, a Redinger left baseline runner, a Redinger short jumper off the pick-and-roll, a Stults transition layup and the aforementioned Edmonds midrange jumper made it 43-14 and led to another Culver timeout.
Sophia Bollenbacher and Dunlap each hit a free throw to cap the run.
Culver committed 10 turnovers in the third quarter and 31 for the game.
“Every bit of that was Argos’ pressure,” Culver coach Shane Lowry said. “We’ve been practicing taking care of the ball. They just make you do that. They just expose weaknesses, and that’s one thing about our rivalry game: It’s either step up, or this is going to happen. And their girls came out on fire. They wanted to make it to the sectional championship. You could just tell.”
In addition to being Argos’ leading scorer, Redinger also had the defensive assignment on Peterson. Redinger face-guarded Peterson. She said face-guarding made her job easier.
“It’s easier than playing regular defense, I feel like,” Redinger said. “When you don’t have to look where the ball’s at, you can just stay right with her.”
Culver’s only lead was 3-2 in the first quarter after a Berndt 3-pointer.
Edmonds hit a 10-footer and a pullup 15-footer to put Argos ahead for good.
After Grace Sieber drove coast to coast for a layup to cut the Argos lead to 9-7, Jennings called timeout and Argos responded with a 14-0 run. Culver did not score for nearly eight minutes.
Meanwhile, Edmonds got a layup working a give-and-go with Stults to make it 13-7. Then she split a pair of free throws. Then she hit a running hook. Then she scored in transition to make 18-7 going into the second quarter.
“Oh my gosh,” Jennings said of Edmonds. “If she played like that all year, she’d average 20 a game. She stepped up her game big time tonight. She was a lot more focused. She still missed a few shots she normally could hit, but she did the job tonight.”
In the other semifinal, Madilynn Hudspeth scored 29 points to lead Oregon-Davis to a 54-38 win over West Central. Annika Smith had 25, and Kailee Bishop had 11 for the Lady Trojans.
Argos 61, Culver 25
ARGOS (61) (15-8)
Emma Dunlap 1 1-2 3, Samantha Redinger 8 2-2 21, Amanda Fajardo 1 0-0 2, Bella Stults 4 1-2 9, Lizzy Edmonds 6 3-4 15, Carleigh Miller 0 0-0 0, Sophia Bollenbacher 0 1-3 1, Ava Stackhouse 0 0-0 0, Baleigh Binkley 1 3-4 5, Morgyn Barcus 1 0-1 2, Aleasia Sarver 0 0-0 0, Allison Zahm 1 0-0 3
TEAM: 23 11-18 61
CULVER (25) (5-18)
Brynn Berndt 3 0-0 8, Rose Peterson 3 0-0 7, Lizzie Pugh 0 0-0 0, Avery Garland 1 0-0 2, Amiyah Williams 0 0-0 0, Grace Sieber 1 0-0 2, Ashley Pugh 0 0-0 0, Kaylee Hamilton 1 0-0 2, Kassidy Banks 1 0-0 2, Luci Overmyer 0 0-0 0, Livi Overmyer 1 0-0 2, Maisy McCuen 0 0-0 0
TEAM: 10 0-0 25
Three-point field goals:
Argos 4 (Redinger 3, Zahm),
Culver 3 (Berndt 2, Peterson)
Total fouls: Argos 9, Culver 16
Turnovers: Argos 11, Culver 31
Score by quarters
Argos 18 7 23 13 – 61
Culver 7 7 3 8 – 25
Girls basketball: Argos 52, Trinity Greenlawn 30 (Feb. 5)
Lizzy Edmonds, Emma Dunlap and Samantha Redinger scored 12 points each to lead the Argos girls basketball team to a 52-30 win over Trinity Greenlawn in a Class 1A, Sectional 52 quarterfinal at Culver on Feb. 5.
Baleigh Binkley, a transfer from Culver making her varsity debut for the Lady Dragons, made three 3-pointers and added nine.
Argos made nine 3-pointers while Trinity Greenlawn made none.
Teresa Pingel led Trinity Greenlawn with 12 points. Trinity Greenlawn, who was competing in their first girls basketball sectional after gaining IHSAA membership this school year, finished 9-12. Eight of their nine wins came against non-IHSAA schools.
Argos led 25-12 at halftime and then extended the lead to 42-18 after three quarters.
Argos also beat the Lady Titans 49-22 in their Hoosier Plains meeting on Nov. 19.
Argos will play Culver in the semifinals. The Lady Cavaliers surprised defending sectional champion Triton 56-48 in Saturday’s other quarterfinal.
TRINITY GREENLAWN (30) (9-12)
Pingel 4 4-6 12, Cullinan 2 0-0 4, Tormey 2 0-0 4, M. Curran 3 0-0 6, T. Curran 0 0-0 0, Gabrielse 2 0-0 4, Sandford 0 0-0 0, Skendzel 0 0-0 0, Scroope 0 0-0 0, Adams 0 0-0 0, Woodward 0 0-0 0
TEAM: 13 4-6 30
ARGOS (52) (14-8)
Emma Dunlap 4 0-2 12, Samantha Redinger 4 2-2 12, Bella Stults 2 1-2 5, Amanda Fajardo 0 0-0 0, Lizzy Edmonds 5 2-2 12, Sophia Bollenbacher 0 0-0 0, Carleigh Miller 1 0-0 2, Aleasia Sarver 0 0-0 0, Morgyn Barcus 0 0-0 0, Ava Stackhouse 0 0-0 0, Allison Zahm 0 0-0 0, Baleigh Binkley 3 0-0 9
TEAM: 19 5-8 52
Three-point field goals:
Trinity Greenlawn 0,
Argos 9 (Dunlap 4, Binkley 3, Redinger 2)
Total fouls: Trinity Greenlawn 8, Argos 6
Score by quarters
Trinity Greenlawn 4 8 6 12 – 30
Argos 7 18 17 10 – 52
