Two weeks since a solid showing at the state track meet, Bellmont’s Alexis Harvey was still in shape, and it showed in the Midwest Meet of Champions all-star meet at Northrop.
FORT WAYNE – Despite a record-breaking accomplishment, it was a rough night for guard Rachel Rinehart and the Angola girls basketball team.
Rinehart scored 10 points and became the school’s all-time leading girls scorer, but the Class 3A No. 8 Hornets lost 51-37 at Carroll.
“We were a step slow getting off the bus,” Angola coach John Berger said. “I didn’t like our focus from the get-go. We hustled and tried, but we never really ran the offense all night long.”
In the first half, Rinehart eclipsed the former mark of 1,150 by Amanda Cope on a layup. Rinehart now has 1,156 career points.
“She only needed four points to tie the record and five to break it, and right from the get-go, she was trying to get it,” Berger said.
“I told her it was only five points, just run the offense. It will come. The focus was just not there for whatever reason.”
An IPFW recruit, Rinehart shot only 4 of 19 from the field. Claire Grubb led the Hornets with 15 points, 11 coming in the first quarter, and Rachel’s twin sister, Ericka, chipped in with 10.
Carroll’s Kelsey Ronan had 10 points and 16 rebounds. Sarah Stillwell also scored 10 points.
The NECC tournament champion Hornets (15-3) will try to add an outright regular-season conference championship Friday against Hamilton.
The Chargers (8-11) have won three of their last four.
“After playing all these aggressive teams, we finally gained our composure,” Ronan said. “Our patience and composure and getting the ball inside and out are really helping.”
Coach Mark Redding is in his first year at Carroll after previous stints at Wayne and Elmhurst, which included the 2009 3A state championship.
“It is all coming together right now,” Redding said. “I knew as the season went on, things were going to catch on, hopefully, at this time, and it has.”
After Carroll took a 23-17 lead , the scoring on both sides dried up. The Chargers outscored the Hornets 28-20 over the final three quarters.
“In the first quarter, we just needed to make an adjustment,” Ronan said. “Once they started driving, we kept one person in the paint and everybody helped out. That really helped to stop their offensive scoring.”
Angola made only 14 of 44 shots from the field and had 15 turnovers.
“We did a nice job of holding them to one shot, which was key for us,” Redding said. “The girls did a nice job of playing sound defense and knowing where the Rineharts were at and make sure defensively we kept them from scoring.”
