There is nothing like the smell of freshly popped corn in an Indiana high school gymnasium with folks filled inside wanting to watch high school basketball.
Recently I visited three gyms and enjoyed the time. The results of the games I could have done without. All three of the games ended with the team I was rooting for being defeated. Still, it was time well spent.
At the New Albany Sectional last week the North Harrison Lady Cats gave their all against a BNL team that is very talented. I will say it again and I will say it with conviction, the Indiana High School Athletic Association got it wrong by penalizing a public country school for making two trips to the State Finals without winning the championship. The IHSAA, in its infinite wisdom, has a success factor rule that is asinine. Wasn’t class basketball enough? Now this? No team south of Columbus is going to matter much to Indianapolis. It is a fact we deal with down here.
Lilly Hatton and Savanna Rhodes ended their high school basketball careers and they will be both remembered and missed.
Thanks for the memories.
On Friday night, Brother Tim Petty and I sat on the top row of the Ron Ferguson Gymnasium at Marengo’s Crawford County High School. As usual it was a close one. When these two teams meet on the hardwood, you can throw out the record books. It will be a tussle.
It was. Alas, the Cougars were bested. It was still a good game. Props go to the announcers Friday night! Steve Hanger did a great job as the PA man and young sprite from Crawford did a fantastic job with introducing Crawford County’s starting lineups.
This is a great rival game that is enjoyed each year.
Yesterday, my dear wife, Carrie, and I ventured over to Springs Valley High School to watch the first ever Regional game featuring the Lady Eagles from Lanesville High School. They took on a powerful Vincennes Rivet team. The Lady Eagles played hard. I was most impressed by #23 Gracie Adams. She is a fine young ball player and is just a sophomore.
When I was a younger fella, I played on a North Harrison junior high summer league team. I made a shot. I was fouled. I made my free throw. I didn’t have many basketball highlights.
The Lanesville team is coached by my friend and colleague, Angie Hinton. Angie graduated from North Harrison a few years before I did. She was a great track and field star and a good basketball player. She has excelled tremendously as a coach. She led New Albany to a State Championship twenty years ago and she was on the coaching staff at North when they made two consecutive trips to the finals in 2016 and 2017.
Angie took on the Lanesville coaching gig at the behest of an old friend. It worked out. Lanesville had the first winning season in over a decade and won its first girls sectional ever. They had some good coaching.
The guy on the bench there knows a thing or two about basketball also.
Lastly, a Happy 23rd Anniversary to my dear wife, Carrie.
And me, I never get tired of looking at this picture of us in an empty Rose Bowl. I am a blessed man for sure.
Speaking the rights.
Danny Johnson