HANCOCK COUNTY — With less than a week left until opening night of the high school girls basketball season, local teams are ramping up their preparations.
All four Hancock County teams have been officially practicing since Oct. 19 and scrimmages have commenced this week.
The 2020-21 season’s first girls hoops games will take place on Nov. 2 with Class 2A Eastern Hancock the first to tip-off in the county on Nov. 3 at home against Mid-Eastern Conference foe Wes-Del.
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Class 4A Mt. Vernon hosts Franklin on Nov. 5 to open its season. The Marauders are aiming to replicate last year’s record-setting 22-2 campaign, which was highlighted by a 21-game winning streak and an outright Hoosier Heritage Conference title.
Class 4A Greenfield-Central starts the season on the road at Greenwood on Nov. 5.
The defending Sectional 9 champion Class 4A New Palestine Dragons trek to 3A Connersville to open their schedule on Nov. 5.
Barring any setbacks this winter, girls basketball sectional play will be conducted the first week of February with the state finals set for Feb. 27 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
But, first things first, and as teams rev up towards their openers, here are some returning standouts, in no particular order, to watch out for with the season approaching.
Lexi Shelton, Mt. Vernon
Pos: Forward
Year: Senior
Breakdown: Shelton returns to the court this season with her future set.
This past July, Shelton verbally committed to the University of Saint Francis in Fort Wayne, so the pressure is off.
Or, at least, from the standpoint of her collegiate career path.
Focused on winning before heading off to the NAIA Division-II level, Shelton rarely puts emphasis on numbers, except when it pertains to her Marauders’ Ws.
Last season, the Class 4A Marauders put up plenty and were ranked in the state’s Top 10. They won a program-best 21 consecutive games and secured the Hoosier Heritage Conference championship outright.
Despite the positives, however, Shelton and the team are seeking redemption after losing to rival New Palestine in the Richmond Sectional, 41-32, which halted their aim at a repeat run.
With 995 career points scored and 370 rebounds in three seasons, the senior forward will obviously be one of the many catalysts for the Marauders in 2020-21.
In her prep career, the daughter of Mt. Vernon head coach Julie Shelton, a 2017 Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame inductee, has averaged 13.3 points and 5.0 rebounds per game.
As a junior, Shelton posted a career-high 16.0 ppg and 5.9 rpg while dishing out 1.3 assists and recording 1.5 steals per contest.
Shelton was named the 2019-20 Hancock County Player of Year, and she has the talent to reclaim that moniker once again after improving her outside shooting a year ago, converting 63 of her 140 attempts from 3-point range at 45 percent.
Slowed by injury to start last season, Shelton could see her all-around numbers increase this winter with a healthy start and fellow senior star Abby Worley (108 assists in 2019-20) back.
Isabella Gizzi, New Palestine
Pos: Point Guard
Year: Sophomore
Breakdown: Some called her a freshman phenom. Others described her as relentless. Bottom line, New Palestine’s Isabella Gizzi proved to be a playmaker for the Class 4A Dragons.
Thrust into a pivotal role as the team’s starting point guard, the daughter of Dragons’ head coach Sarah Gizzi, learned on the fly at the varsity level and lived up to her potential quickly.
Worthy of an All-Hoosier Heritage Conference selection, Gizzi was left off the list in 2019-20, but if her game continues to trend upwards as expected, she will be a lock to earn the distinction as a sophomore.
At 5-foot-6, Gizzi’s strengths are evident in her speed, basketball I.Q., court vision and genetics, as the younger sister of Maximus Gizzi, the Dragons’ boys basketball all-time career leading scorer.
In 26 games last year, Isabella Gizzi averaged 11.1 points, 2.6 assists, 5.4 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game to help lead the Dragons to an 18-8 record and the program’s sixth sectional championship all time and second in three years.
Gizzi finished her inaugural campaign with 288 points, 140 rebounds, 67 assists and 42 steals while shooting 34 percent from the field. She reached double digits in points scored 16 times last year, including three times in the postseason for 58 points combined in four state tournament games.
Chloe O’Neal, Eastern Hancock
Pos: Guard
Year: Senior
Breakdown: Eastern Hancock’s Chloe O’Neal didn’t lead the Class 2A Royals in scoring last season, but she was a steady contributor for head coach Shari Doud in 2019-20.
O’Neal was second-best in points per game at 9.1 behind now graduated senior Jocelyn Duncan (15.1 ppg) and ahead of fellow guard Alyson Spaulding (8.0 ppg), who is also gone.
The 2020-21 senior leader won’t be alone with sophomore Grace Stapleton (5.9 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 5.1 apg, 2.4 spg) projected to contribute as well, but the 5-foot-7 guard showed she can fill the stat sheet.
O’Neal finished her junior campaign with 209 points scored in 23 games, shooting 42 percent from the field. She averaged 4.7 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game for 109 boards and 36 thefts.
She posted 10 double-digit performances last season and carries 474 points overall in her career.
The Royals are shooting for a 10th straight winning season, and O’Neal will undoubtedly play a part in reaching that team goal.
Brooke Herrell, Greenfield-Central
Pos: Forward
Year: Senior
Breakdown: The Class 4A Greenfield-Central Cougars lost their two leading scorers to graduation this past summer and will be relying on experience from within to improve upon last year’s 10-13 finish.
Enter senior Brooke Herrell, who among others, could fill the voids left over by the departures of standout guard Hannah Farrell (15.0 ppg) and multi-sport star Crystal Peterson (8.2 ppg).
Herrell averaged 4.8 points and 2.8 rebounds per game as a junior and in two seasons has competed in 43 varsity contests.
An efficient scorer when given the opportunity, Herrell shot 42 percent from the field and posted 110 points overall in 2019-20.
When called upon to provide a boost on offense, Herrell delivered with four double-digit performances, including a season-best 12 points against HHC foe Shelbyville on Dec. 17, 2019.
She turned it on down the stretch last year, scoring a combined 38 points through five games.
Olivia Yeley, Mt. Vernon
Pos: Forward/Center
Year: Senior
Breakdown: Yeley’s height and aggressiveness inside the paint were vital for the state-ranked Class 4A Marauders last season.
The same will hold true this year with the return of the 6-foot, multi-sport standout. A seasoned volleyball player at Mt. Vernon, Yeley’s vertical provided the basketball team with an added dimension to its balanced attack.
While Lexi Shelton and others patrolled the perimeter, Yeley used her agility and athleticism to average 8.8 points and 5.5 rebounds per game with 211 points and 131 boards overall.
She had a pair of double-doubles as a junior and recorded double-digit points in 11 of her 24 games played. Yeley contributed 15 points or more in five games and shot 40 percent from the field.
She was a 74 percent free-throw shooter and hauled in 84 key defensive rebounds to limit the opposition of second-chance opportunities.
With the return of All-Hoosier Heritage Conference honorees Abby Worley (7.9 ppg, 4.5 apg), a senior, and Shelton, who both demand attention, Yeley bares watching as the Marauders’ true interior threat.
