IHSAA girls basketball regional final: Heritage Christian's luck runs out

GREENCASTLE – In their previous two games before Saturday’s Class 3A girls basketball regional final against Brownstown Central, the 10th-ranked Heritage Christian girls had been playing with fire.

First was a thrilling four-overtime sectional championship win over Bishop Chatard the week prior. Then came a narrow four-point escape against No. 15 Danville in Saturday afternoon’s regional semifinal.

The Eagles’ luck ended Saturday night with a 54-42 loss to the No. 16 Braves at Greencastle High School’s McAnally Center. Brownstown Central moves on to its first semistate appearance since 2011, where it will face top-ranked Salem.

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Heritage Christian (19-8) led Brownstown (26-3) just once — 4-2 on an Ariana Wiggins’ jumper with 5:22 left in the first. Happy to take their time with a methodical and patient offense, the Braves led 13-5 after the first and were up 22-12 at halftime.

Brownstown wanted to limit the up-tempo Eagles in transition, said first-year Braves coach Brandon Allman. Heritage Christian entered the game averaging 54.3 points per game. The Braves entered allowing 40.3.

“It was crucial,” Allman said. “I thought they helped play in our hands a little bit. They stayed in their zone a lot longer than I thought, which helped us out. We were able to stay deliberate and patient and get the shots we wanted.”

Heritage Christian senior Sydney Watkins, a Miami (Ohio) commit, picked up two quick fouls and sat most of the second quarter. Brownstown took advantage, outrebounding the Eagles 13-8 in the half, including a pair of offensive rebound putbacks in the second to stretch the lead. 

“Sydney being out with foul trouble really hurt us,” said Eagles coach Rick Risinger. “We were only down seven baskets at halftime in spite of that, but it put us in a hole that was hard to come back from.”

Brownstown stretched its lead to 36-22 and looked in control heading into the fourth but the Eagles flipped the switch defensively, pressing and trapping the Braves to open the period. Heritage Christian cut it to 45-38 on a Wiggins jumper, but they would get no closer. The Eagles had to foul to slow the clock and Brownstown was clutch from the line, hitting 11 of 12 free throws in the fourth.

“We haven’t run that particular press the whole season, but we had to try something,” Risinger said. “We turned them over and gave ourselves a chance, but I don’t think we had quite the energy level to continue with that and that was the difference in the game.”

Brownstown junior guard Katherine Benter led all scorers with 20 points. Senior forward Ashley Schroer added 17 points and 12 rebounds. Freshman Maddy Hackman hit four 3-pointers and finished with 13 points.

Wiggins led Heritage Christian with 17 points and Watkins added 12. 

Heritage Christian knocked out Danville 49-45 in the semifinal, despite 20 points from Warriors senior Ella Collier. Wiggins led the Eagles with 18 points. Watkins added 14.

Brownstown Central topped Cardinal Ritter 54-40 in the other semifinal. Schroer scored 21 for the Braves.

AT GREENCASTLE

BROWNSTOWN CENTRAL 54, HERITAGE CHRISTIAN 42

Brownstown 13  9  14  18  —  54

Heritage Christian 5  7 10 20 —  42

Heritage Christian (19-8) — Tyranny Brown 1 3-4 5, Jazmine Williams 0 2-2 2, Ariana Wiggins 7 2-5 17, Sydney Watkins 5 2-6 12, Emma Williams 0 0-0 0, Ashley Pettigrew 1 0-0 2, Emery Deaton 0 0-0 0, Courtney Lee 2 0-0 4, Grace Wynja 0 0-0 0, Ella Stark 0 0-0 0, Abby Ennis 0 0-0 0. Team: 16 9-17 42.

Brownstown Central (26-3) — Hallen Hehman  1 0-0 3, Ashley Schroer 6 5-6 17, Katherine Benter 5 7-8 20, Kalee Borden 0 0-0 0, Maddy Hackman 4 1-2 13, Avery Koch 0 1-2 1, Emma Klinge 0 0-0 0, Kelsey Wischmeier 0 0-0 0, Hannah Stahl 0 0-0 0, Zoe Stuckwisch 0 0-0 0, Andrea Bair 0 0-0 0, Camryn Thompson 0 0-0 0. Team: 16 14-18 54.

3-pointers: Brownstown  (Hackman 4, Benter 3, Hehman 1); Heritage Christian (Wiggins , Deaton) .