Holiday Break Couldn’t Come Soon Enough For Lady Falcons
After his team’s 33-30 win over visiting LaVille a week ago, Glenn head coach Ted Hayden admitted his Falcons girls basketball team was probably welcoming the holiday break more than any other team in the area.
Hayden’s fourth season in Walkerton has been an up-and-down affair.
Glenn, led by the coach’s senior daughter Kennedy Hayden, is 7-8 overall on the season (4-4 in the mighty Northern Indiana Conference) and in the midst of a two-week hiatus from game action.
To say the least, that long break came at an opportune time.
You see the Falcons have been hit hard by injuries so far this season.
Junior forward Rylee Johnson tore her ACL in the South Bend Clay game Nov. 28 and following the win over Plymouth just over two weeks later, sophomore guard/forward Emma Norton was shut down for the remainder of the season due to a torn meniscus, which will require surgery. It is the second straight year Norton has dealt with knee issues. She tore her ACL last season.
Losing two starters before Christmas is challenging enough, but when you consider how thin the Falcons were to begin with, it certainly compounds the problem.
Glenn entered the season with 14 players counting both varsity and junior varsity squads.
A total of eight players dressed for the varsity game against LaVille.
Needless to say, the Falcons can ill-afford any more injuries the rest of the season.
With 12 able bodies, practices are becoming more and more challenging.
Plus, more and more of the scoring load is having to be shouldered by Kennedy Hayden, who will continue her basketball career next season at Madonna University in Livonia, Michigan.
Kennedy is averaging a team-best 10.1 points per game, while her freshman sister Lucy, is the Falcons’ top rebounder (5.2 per outing). Kennedy also leads the team in assists (2.0) and steals (2.7).
Speaking of the 5-foot-11 Lucy, she’s one of the most promising freshmen we’ve seen this season on MAX 98.3 FM.
Lucy is her team’s second-leading scorer (6.0) and paces the squad in blocks (1.1). She has a lot of upside and could be a dominate post player as her high school career progresses.
Considering Kennedy is Glenn’s lone senior, there will be plenty to build around going forward.
One of those building blocks will be junior guard/forward Sophia Romer, who averages 5.9 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 2.3 spg, 1.9 apg.
Sophomore guards Alivia Turnage and Addison Reese have shown promise as well.
Glenn has five regular-season games remaining, plus the Bi-County Tournament and Sectional.
It will face 8-6 New Prairie twice down the stretch, including a clash in the opening round of the Bi-County, which is really wide open this season.
The Falcons also face 7-5 Northwood, top-10 Marian (12-2), 3-10 St. Joe and 3-13 Winamac.
The new sectional assignments for 2023 have Glenn as one of six teams in a sectional that features Bremen, Culver Academy, Knox, Rochester and Tippy Valley. The Falcons beat Knox and lost to Bremen and Tippy Valley. They haven’t played Culver Academy or Rochester.
The Indiana High School Athletic Association Pairings Show will be Sunday Jan. 22, 2023.
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