South Adams falls to Bears in tourney final

BERNE — The Starfires led the fourth-ranked team in the state at halftime.

They were 16 minutes away from an upset and their first holiday tournament title in four years.

The South Adams High School girls basketball team lost its lead in the third quarter and couldn’t catch up in the final eight minutes Saturday as it lost 44-40 to the Monroe Central Golden Bears in the Amy Meyer Memorial Holiday Tournament it hosted at Stardome.

South Adams (8-6), which beat Delta 57-42 in a semifinal earlier in the day, led the Class 2A No. 4 Golden Bears (14-0) 12-11 at the end of the first quarter and 21-14 at half after holding Monroe Central to just three second-quarter points.

But a 14-6 edge in the third quarter erased the deficit and gave the Golden Bears a one-point lead, and they held off the Starfires down the stretch.

Lexi Dellinger led South Adams with 43 points on the day, including a 23-point effort against Delta. Madi Wurster chipped in 16 points against the Eagles and finished with 28 on the day, and Sydney Pierce had 14 total points.

Monroe Central beat Eastside 45-25 to reach the title game.



Jay wrestlers ninth

CONNERSVILLE — The Jay County wrestling team had three finish in the top five as it placed ninth out of 32 teams at the Spartan Classic on Friday and Saturday at Connersville.

Crown Point won the team title with 269.5 points, and Roncalli was runner-up with 245.5 points. Carmel (236), Greenfield-Central (184) and Snider (182) rounded out the top five schools.

Jay County totaled 119 points.

Gaven Hare, a 220-pound senior, finished second in his weight class, and sophomore Mason Winner was third at 160 pounds.

Zakk Atkins (120) finished fifth.

Thomas Hemmelgarn, Mitchel Frasher and Connor Davis all advanced through the first day of the tournament but did not reach the podium.