INDIANAPOLIS
The right kind of aggression proved the key for Greenwood Christian girls basketball in its 57-33 win over host Indianapolis Lutheran in its Class A sectional final on Saturday night.
Faced with the obstacle of Lutheran’s senior center Jaelah Chenault in the paint, the Cougars chose to drive right at her, challenging Chenault to stop their ball movement by herself. The strategy paid off to perfection, as Chenault quickly found herself in foul trouble. Without their first line of defense behind them, the rest of the Saints crumbled in the face of GCA’s onslaught and as the Cougars coasted to the championship.
“We like to be aggressive every time down the court,” GCA coach Alan Weems said. “That’s our goal, and it’s just like anything else; sometimes things go better than other times. I thought our speed was important and our defensive intensity, especially in the first half, really did some things that really helped us.”
Ellie Bigelow scored 12 points on her way to reaching 1,000 points for her career, earning a loud ovation from the GCA fans when her 3-pointer in the fourth quarter pushed her to the milestone. Dani Simon chipped in 11, as the Cougars (14-11) pressed the issue from start to finish and never let the Saints (7-17) get comfortable.
“(Our aggression) definitely worked,” Bigelow said. “We’re a really aggressive team, I feel like, and in this game, we were driving in, drawing fouls and powering it in however we could get in there.”
The Cougars seized control early in the second quarter after their quick start forced Lutheran coach Will Ferris to make a fateful gamble. With Chenault out for a rest, GCA started the quarter with an easy layup from Simon, leading Ferris to send Chenault back to the scorer’s table.
But as soon as she checked in, Chenault picked up her second foul trying to grab a rebound, and Bigelow took full advantage of the opportunity. The next time she touched the ball, Bigelow drove straight at Chenault, earning two foul shots when she connected with the center’s arm.
“We had a plan on that to get her out of the game and get her in foul trouble,” Simon said. “We continued to be aggressive, steal the ball and push right back like they did to us.
“I think that was probably one of our most aggressive games that we’ve had. We had good all-around ball movement, and I think that’s one of our best games we’ve ever played as a team.”
With Chenault anchored to the bench, the Saints had nobody experienced enough to stop the Cougars’ aggression. For the rest of the half, GCA found itself with open shots all over the floor, leading to a 20-2 run that put both the game and the sectional on ice.
At that point, all that remained was getting Bigelow over the line to 1,000 points. With the game well in hand, Weems was free to use a timeout to let Bigelow and her teammates drink in the moment.
“I know that not a lot of people get to experience that,” Bigelow said. “I definitely couldn’t get there without my team and my coaches; it felt really special.”
So did the Cougars’ fourth straight sectional championship and a berth in the regional. Thanks to the storm, the Cougars won’t know their opponent until Tuesday, giving them extra time to enjoy their accomplishment.
“My seniors never lost a sectional game, and that is something to be really proud of,” Weems said. “To be in the Sweet 16 four straight years is pretty sweet, and in the past three, we’ve had one time in the final eight and two in the final four. We’ll go in, try to have a good game plan and go from there.”
