Another Miner Victory

Friday night, the end of the girls’ basketball season began with the first of four State Finals games. For the second consecutive year, the Linton-Stockton Miners were headed into the halftime break with a commanding lead, and no sign of slippage in sight. By the end of 32 minutes, Linton-Stockton hoisted the Class 2A trophy for the second consecutive year, knocking off Tipton with relative ease, 63-25. The Miners finished their state tournament run allowing just 27 points per game defensively along that stretch, and they finished their 2020-2021 campaign 27-1 overall. Linton-Stockton Senior guard <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="10685" first="Vanessa" last="Shafford"]</strong> began the contest with the first five points, somewhat reminiscent of her outstanding performance one year ago. Tipton’s Sophomore post, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="127234" first="Ashlee" last="Schram"]</strong>, answered with a free throw and a layup to make it 5-3, but Linton Junior wing <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="157175" first="Jaylee" last="Hayes"]</strong> answered just seven seconds later with a triple from downtown. Tipton’s <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="61076" first="Abigail" last="Parker"]</strong> would make a left-corner 3-pointer of her own in transition, cutting it to 8-6, and giving the Blue Devils some hope this would be a much more competitive game than a year ago, but the Miners finished the first stanza on an 11-2 run, capped by an <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="99363" first="Aubrey" last="Burgess"]</strong> 3-pointer, making it 19-8 Linton-Stockton after the initial eight minutes. The second quarter didn’t start much better for the Blue Devils, as Linton ran off the first seven points and held Tipton scoreless through the first four minutes of the period. Finally, Junior guard <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="61070" first="Ella" last="Wolfe"]</strong> buried a pair of free throws for the Blue Devils to make it 26-10 just before the media timeout. The Miners managed six more points in the quarter, while Parker made two free throws, and Wolfe added a pull-up jumper for Tipton, making it 32-14 in favor of Linton-Stockton at the midpoint. Through 16 minutes, Shafford led all scorers with 11 points, teammate <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="35069" first="Haley" last="Rose"]</strong> had 10 points, while Schram led the Blue Devils with five points and five rebounds at the break. While the first half showcased a strong effort by the Miners, the third quarter gave everyone flashbacks of their 2020 performance. Hayes started with a pair of baskets, making it 36-14. Rose then put an exclamation point on her big night, scoring nine straight over a span of about three minutes, putting Linton-Stockton up 45-14. It wasn’t until 58 seconds left that Tipton finally scored on a 3-pointer by Junior <strong>Olivia Spidel</strong>, but Freshman <strong>Bradie Chambers</strong> answered with a 3-pointer of her own for Linton with just three seconds left, and the Miners’ 18-3 third quarter put them up comfortably, 50-17, heading into the final period. Give the Blue Devils a lot of credit, as they continued to battle throughout the fourth, but the lead was just too big to overcome. Linton-Stockton again won the quarter, this time 13-8, making the Class 2A final score 63-25. The "Big-3" for the Miners were outstanding. Rose finished with a game-high 24 points, while adding six rebounds, four assists, four steals, and a pair of blocked shots. She was also named the Patricia L. Roy Mental Attitude Award winner, a huge accomplishment for the student-athlete. Shafford scored 13 points, grabbed eight rebounds, handed out seven assists, collected five steals, and blocked a shot. Burgess added nine points, four rebounds, two assists, and four steals to the effort. For Tipton, Wolfe scored a team-high eight points, plus she had a steal and a blocked shot. Schram grabbed 16 rebounds, to go along with her six points, two steals, and blocked shot. Parker also scored six points and grabbed five rebounds. &nbsp; <strong>NOTES:</strong> Linton-Stockton will likely being moving to Class 3A next season due to the IHSAA’s postseason success factor. The Tipton Blue Devils finished their season 20-8, after entering the postseason with a 15-7 record. Tipton has no Seniors on their roster, so their entire team is eligible to return in 2021-2022. With the Pacers in Boston last night, the Class 2A game was moved to Friday so the Bankers Life Fieldhouse staff would have plenty of time between games on Saturday to empty the arena, sanitize the venue, then readmit new teams and fans for the next game. Today, the Class 1A rematch between Pioneer and Loogootee will begin at 11:00 a.m., the Class 3A battle between South Bend Washington and Silver Creek is slated to start at 3:30 p.m., while the Class 4A contest between Crown Point and Brownsburg should tip around 8:00 p.m. The first two games will also be shown on Fox Sports Indiana, while the Class 4A game will be shown on Fox Sports Indiana Plus, due to the Pacers game at New York airing on Fox Sports Indiana. &nbsp; <strong>25 - TIPTON (20-8):</strong> E. Wolfe 8, Parker 6, Schram 6, Spidel 3, Phillips 2, Earl 0, H. Wolfe 0, Powell 0, Carter 0, Newcorn 0 <strong>63 - LINTON-STOCKTON (27-1):</strong> Rose 24, Shafford 13, Hayes 10, Burgess 9, Warrick 4, B. Chambers 3, Thuis 0, C. Chambers 0, Wall 0, Brownfield 0, McCammon 0, Jerrells 0