The 48th IHSAA Girls Basketball State Tournament begins tonight at sites all across the Hoosier state!

by: Shawn Martin/Senior Writer

Today we will highlight a team seeking their first sectional championship since 1985.

The Caston Comets won their lone title 38 years ago. They’ve never won a regional title.

Those two streaks could very well end over the next two weeks.

The Lady Comets started by winning thier first 19 games of the season – most in dominating fashion. Only four of those nineteen wins were closely contested – four points or less. Two other wins were by ten points. The rest were by a dozen or more points.

Dominant indeed.

Then they met two outstanding teams in a row – unranked 2A North Miami (17-5) and 2A #6 Carroll (Flora) (20-3). Both of those games were on the road and five days apart. Both were losses – by six-points to the Lady Warriors and nine to the Lady Cougars.

(Those two losses) “allowed us to get more focused and back to the basics in practice” third-year head coach Josh Douglass said. “We talked about how we beat North Miami, and then they beat us.” Caston beat North Miami by 20 points December 28th.

“Same thing with sectionals,” Douglass added.  “We have three teams we have faced and beat, but it doesn’t mean anything if we don’t do it again.”

Everything for the Lady Comets begins with junior Isabel Scales. The 5–8-point guard leads Caston in every statistical category. Points (16.3); rebounds (8.3); assists (3.2); and steals (3.4). Heck, she probably makes the concession stand profitable by hawking popcorn and drinks at halftime.

The coach praised his floor general. “Scales is a tremendous ball player, and that makes everyone around her so much better.”

“Early on in her career she was always focused on needing to score more,” adding “We need her shooting the ball, but she has such an impact on nights she isn’t scoring.”

Scales’ backcourt mate, also a junior guard, is Addison Zimpleman. A softball standout too, Zimpleman is the other double figure scorer at 11.5 points per game. She adds 4.3 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 2.4 steals.

“There is no moment too big for Addison,” Douglass said. ” She is willing to take a tough shot for us and looks to score.”

I challenged her about a month ago to be more aggressive in scoring,” he added. “When she is scoring and being aggressive, it opens up so much for our team.”

Two seniors provide solid leadership and other important contributions as the Lady Comets enter the state tournament as Class 1A’s third ranked team.

“Kenzie and Bailey both have meant so much to me and the team,” the coach said referring to seniors Kenzie Mollenkopf and Bailey Harness. ” Watching them grow over the last 4 years into the players they have become has been huge.”

 “Kenzie came in playing guard on Junior Varsity and I moved her to the post right away, seeing what we had coming up.  She never complained and worked her tail off.  Now she plays one of the most pivotal roles on our team.”

 “Bailey is another one that has worked very hard over the years and put time into getting better,” Douglass added. “She can play every position on the court and guard any position on the court, which makes her so versatile for us.”

 “At one point in her career, she was 0-27 from three.  Now in her senior year, she is pushing 30%.  That doesn’t happen overnight.  That happens from work that she has put in in the offseason.”

 “Both girls’ determination, grit, and competitiveness are a trademark that they will leave for other girls on the team to duplicate and learn from.  They both will be greatly missed.”

Junior Macee Hinderlider rounds out the starting five.

He coached two sectional champions at Riverton Parke in his ten years as head coach there (2012 and 2017). The 2012 team also won the regional.

 “I made it to semi state when I was at Riverton and never dreamed it would happen again,” the veteran coach stated. “With this group of girls, I want them to experience that.”

While Coach Douglass and his team will have to wait until Friday night to hit the court together in the 1A Sectional at Tri County against the winner of West Central and North White, many other teams begin Sectional play tonight.

Good luck to all the teams as they begin their quest.

The following are Excel High School Sports Girls’ basketball sectional selections. These were made January 18th, 2023:  Excel High School Sports Predicts IHSAA Girl’s Sectionals/Wednesday, January 18th – Excel High School Sports (excelhsports.com)