NORTH MANCHESTER – Drawing a bye into the semifinals of Class 2A Sectional 37 at Oak Hill High School, the Manchester Lady Squires don’t know who they’ll play Friday night.
Whoever the opponent is, though, will provide Manchester with quite a challenge.
“I don’t want to assume anything when it comes to sectional time,” said Manchester coach Jacob Everett, whose team takes an 11-11 record into the 43rd annual IHSAA girls state tournament.
“The tournament is a special experience for any fan or participant of the game, and because of the single-elimination component you can’t take anyone for granted or try to make predictions.”
Action in the six-team field at Oak Hill tips off Tuesday at 6 p.m. when Cass plays North Miami.
Rochester and No. 1 Oak Hill, the defending sectional champion and 2A state runner-up from a year ago, meet in Tuesday’s second game.
Friday’s first semifinal features Wabash against Tuesday’s first winner, followed by the Lady Squires and the Rochester/Oak Hill winner.
The sectional final is slated for Saturday, with the champion advancing to the regional at Eastern (Greentown) High School to face the winner from the Lafayette Central Catholic Sectional.
Manchester went 2-4 this season against the other teams in the sectional field, beating Cass, splitting with Wabash, and losing to Oak Hill, Rochester and North Miami.
Oak Hill, 19-2 overall, is 10-0 this season against 2A teams and 5-0 against the rest of the sectional field.
Oak Hill beat Manchester 44-31 on Nov. 21.
Rochester topped the Lady Squires 40-27 on Jan. 19.
The good news for Everett and the Lady Squires is they only have to be better than Rochester or Oak Hill on Friday night. The regular season records don’t mean anything in the tournament.
“The bye is nice because it means you have fewer games to play in the sectional, which can help with any lingering injuries from the regular season,” said Everett, whose team is looking for the program’s first sectional title since 2007.
“A disadvantage is you’re playing a team that already has a win in the sectional environment, and our nerves might still be there before tipoff. Once the ball goes up, though, those nerves tend to settle themselves and it’s just another basketball game.”
The Lady Squires enter sectional play having won three of their last five games. The two setbacks in that stretch are the loss at Rochester, and a 48-41 loss to Class 3A power Tippecanoe Valley on Thursday.
In the game against Valley, Manchester was within three points of the Lady Vikings after each of the first three quarters.
Though it was a loss on the scoreboard and there are things to be worked on, Everett can take a number of positives from the game.
“I am very happy with the progress we have made this season,” said Everett. We have played some high-caliber teams on our schedule tough and have come away with some solid home wins against county opponents.
“I feel like we are playing some of our best basketball right now as we enter the tournament. The big keys for us going into sectional play are valuing the basketball and not turning it over, and winning the battle of defensive rebounding.
“If we can limit our opponent to one shot every possession, and then make sure we are getting a shot at the basket on our possessions, we can put ourselves in a great place to win a ballgame. If we can focus on those two things, and have confidence in our shooting, we can battle with anyone.”
Junior Kennedy Fierstos, a Times-Union All-Area selection, leads the Lady Squires in scoring with 11 points per game.
Seniors Sydney Day and Erika Kendall both average six points and five rebounds per game, while junior Emma West scores an average of five points.
