Columbus North’s Braylon Thoman takes the ball to the basket against Columbus East’s Alex Duncan Friday at Columbus North.
Paige Grider | For The Republic
What a difference a year can make.
Four Bartholomew County basketball teams, three of which had losing records last year, have only one loss so far this season. Those three teams are off to their best starts in several years.
Columbus North’s Hadassah Hurt, in blue, prepares to shoot a layup after getting past Columbus East’s Kimberly Carothers, left, and Kenzie Cheek, right, Thursday at Columbus East.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
The Columbus North girls have equaled their win total from last season in opening 11-1, their best since beginning 19-0 in 2015-16. That season ended with a second consecutive trip to the state finals.
“I’m really happy,” North girls coach Brett White said. “The wins are nice, but what I’m really happy about is the fact that we’re progressing. I feel like each day and each practice, we’re getting better, and that’s starting to show out on the floor. We just hope to continue that as we get into the stretch and eventually into the sectional.”
The North, Columbus East and Hauser boys teams have all started strong, as well, with each having only one loss. North and East are 5-1, while the Jets are 4-1.
“I think the key is our motto in our locker room,” North boys coach Paul Ferguson said. “It says, ‘Good teams have great players. Great teams have great teammates.’ Our guys have really committed to being great teammates. We’ve played great team basketball.”
The Bull Dogs are off to their best start since opening 8-1 in 2019-20. They finished 6-16 last season.
“It’s awesome coming off a 6-16 season and just to come out here and be 5-1 and start the season off right, getting our foot through the door,” senior Max Coomes said. “It’s only going to go up from here, and I can’t wait to experience it.”
North returned its entire starting lineup and all but one player overall from last year. Junior Caleb Ferguson (14.8, 4.3) and sophomore Austin Perry (13.7, 4.7) have led the team in scoring and rebounding, but it was senior Nate Enneking (11.0), the Bull Dogs’ top defensive player, who stepped up with a career-high 21 points in Friday’s 59-42 win against East.
“I think that the team really has a whole different mentality,” Enneking said. “Some of the football guys decided to play — Anderson Horn and Braylon Thoman. They’ve brought a lot of energy to the team, and they’ve brought a different mentality to the team, as well as AP (Perry). He’s playing phenomenal. He’s a really good player.”
East, which went 7-17 last season, also is nearing that win total early in the 2024-25 campaign. The Olympians began 5-0, their best start since 2006-07, before the loss at North.
Junior Keaton Lawson (26.0, 11.2) has been a prolific scorer, but East also has gotten big games from junior Carter Patterson (14.8, 5.4) and senior Ethan Bumbalough. Senior Alex Duncan has been the Olympains’ top defender.
“We try to take it one game at a time, and we try to get better every single week,” East boys coach Perry Nash said. “We talk about how, if we are in love with the process — and the process is every single day, when you come to work — the results will take care of themselves. Too many times, people really concentrate on the results and never see the process that happens. For us, it was every single day. We’re getting better this day defensively; we’re getting better offensively; and I thought we were able to do that.”
Hauser’s Gavin Keller goes for a layup while being guarded by Brown County’s Noah Lewis Nov. 26 at Hauser.
Paige Grider | For The Republic
The Hauser boys have started fast for the second consecutive year after opening 10-1 last season. The Jets returned everyone from last season and have benefited from the addition of senior Collin Buck, who has been injured the past two years. Junior point guard Stryker Gill (14.3 ppg, 7.0 apg) and Buck (13.8 ppg, 5.5 rpg) have been the top scorers, along with junior Gavin Keller (13.3).
Meanwhile, the North girls started 8-0, and after a loss to Brownsburg, have bounced back with three straight wins. They’ve been led in scoring by sophomore guards Kaylie Harmon (14.7) and Avery Johnson (10.0), along with senior guard Hadassah Hurt (10.7), who missed the final 16 games of last season with a knee injury. Senior Paige Terry is the top rebounder (6.9) and defender.
“I think we’ve had a great start,” Harmon said. “We’ve only had one loss, but that was a great game. I think we’re going to keep getting better. We’ve been working hard in practice.”
“It really has been great,” Johnson added. “We’ve all been playing together, we’ve bonded really well and I’m excited for the future.”
The Bull Dogs started 8-2 last year, but finished 11-13 after a brutal second-half schedule to the season. They’ll face another tough stretch of games coming up.
“Our schedule in January is pretty loaded,” White said. “You have Center Grove, Carmel, Silver Creek, Bloomington South and I could name some others. But first of all, we have the tournament in Scottsburg, and there are some good teams in that. We’ll start with Bedford (in the Scottsburg Tournament that begins on Friday), and then just see where we’re at after that point. But it’s about the process, building on what we’ve done and continuing to make improvements.”
