Aaron Kirchoff
The saying is “defense wins championships” and although Ft. Wayne Concordia's defense was not stifling, it was enough to take No. 1 Rushville off its game and earn the Lady Cadets the Class 3A girls basketball state championship, 59-48.
“They are a very sound defensive team. They were in great position on every possession,” Rushville head coach Melissa Marlow said.
“We never could get in sink. We just couldn't find our rhythm and that had a lot to do with their defensive effort,” Coach Marlow added. “Their defense was very good. They are just a solid basketball team.”
The Lady Cadets took full advantage early of Rushville being out of sink. Concordia scored the first 10 points of the contest with 6-0 senior center Erynn Meiklejohn leading the way with six points.
After a time-out by Coach Marlow, Kaleigh Andrews drained a 3-pointer to get the Lady Lions on the board and start a run for the Lady Lions. After that 10-0 start, Rushville outscored the Lady Cadets 13-4 to end the first quarter. Shelbie Justice's bucket just before the horn had the deficit down to 14-13 after eight minuets of action.
Concordia's Anna Goeglein opened the second with a bucket, but the Lady Lions answered with a Morgan Herbert basket and two Justice free throws to grab the Lady Lions' first lead 17-16 with 6:27 to play in the second quarter.
The Lady Cadets did not waver. Two free throws from Meiklejohn and a bucket from Andrea Newbauer had Concordia back in front. The Lady Cadets built the lead to five points at 24-19 with 4:40 to play in the half. That was all for the Lady Cadets in the half.
Rushville got buckets from Alexa Bess and Justice to get within one and took the lead at the :53.1 mark with two free throws by Justice. At the half, the Lady Lions had the lead 25-24.
The third quarter turned out to be huge for the victorious Lady Cadets, but in the early going of the second half it was Rushville on top. The Lady Lions took a 28-26 lead on a traditional three-point play by Justice and then pushed the lead to 30-26 on a score from Justice with 6:13 to play in the third.
The Lady Cadets then ran off seven straight points, including a 3-pointer from Annalissa Kammeyer to give Concordia a 33-30 lead. Rushville evened the score with a free throw from Meagan Hittle and steal and lay-up by Andrews.
With the game tied at 35-35, the tide turned in favor of the Lady Cadets. Concordia went on an 11-2 run to close the third quarter. Newbauer's steal and break-away turned into a traditional three point play to push the Lady Cadets on top 44-35.
Justice scored for the Lady Lions to close the gap to 44-37, but Goeglein's buzzer beater had the Lady Cadets on top 46-37 heading to the fourth quarter.
In that third quarter, the Lady Lions hit just 29.4 percent from the field while the Lady Cadets connected on 69.2 percent.
After Concordia opened the fourth with a bucket to push the lead to 11 points, Bess drained a 3-pointer to let the Lady Lion faithful know that they were not done yet as the deficit was down to 48-40 with five minutes to play.
“We were right there and I was hoping that we could get Rush County over the hump and get that team championship,” Coach Marlow said.
Rushville then had its chances to close the gap at the charity stripe. Unfortunately, the rims were unkind as Rushville missed four straight free throws, including the front end of two one-and-one bonus situations.
It was not until under the three minute mark that the score changed. Concordia's Newbauer scored to push the lead to 10.
Rushville fought to cut the deficit to seven at 50-43 (another Bess triple), 52-45 (Herbert bucket) and 55-48 (two Herbert free throws), but could not get any closer.
The Lady Cadets closed out the victory with 4-of-6 from the charity stripe to claim the Class 3A state title 59-48.
“It was a great season...a fun run,” Coach Marlow added. “The support from this community was just great.”
Rushville was led by Justice with a double-double, 18 points and 10 rebounds. Bess and Herbert both had 10 points. Andrews finished with nine points and Hittle had one.
Concordia had four players in double figures: Meiklejohn 16, Goeglein 12, Doerffler 12 and Newbauer 11.
Box score
Ft. Wayne Concordia 59, Rushville 48
Scoring: Rushville – Andrews 3 1 0-2 9, Justice 5 0 8-10 18, Bess 2 2 0-2 10, Herbert 3 0 4-4 10, Hittle 0 0 1-2 1, Niehoff 0 0 0-0 0, Beaman 0 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 3 13-20 48. Concordia – Goeglein 4 0 4-4 12, Meiklejohn 6 0 4-4 16, Doerffler 3 1 1-6 12, Borchelt 0 0 0-0 0, Newbauer 5 0 1-2 11, Hockemeyer 0 0 0-0 0, Kammeyer 1 1 2-2 7, Watson 0 0 1-2 1. Totals 19 2 15-20 59.
