2025-26 Season Preview: Class 3A, Sectional 21

<!-- wp:paragraph {"fontSize":"small"} --> <p class="has-small-font-size"><em>The featured image is of [player_tooltip player_id='751099' first='Mackenzie' last='Collins'] (2027) from Leo High School (in white).</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Now that the previews for Classes 1A and 2A are complete, it's time to turn to Class 3A. These should come almost two to a day over the next week, because the season is a week underway, and I wanted to continue offering you a glimpse at what the 2025-26 season could hold with a preview of each of the state's 64 Sectionals once again. During the Spring of 2024, the IHSAA moved to a traditional enrollment-based format, realigning all classes with hard enrollment cutoff lines per class instead of taking nearly 400 schools and simply dividing them into four equal classes. With that said, each class has been more competitive, but the bigger classes have fewer teams than the smaller classes. This article serves as one of 64 previewing each Sectional in the state. In this specific article, I will take a look at Class 3A, Sectional #21. Below is a look at the teams in that Sectional, along with some general comments and analysis.<br><small>(<em>SAG = Final 2024-2025 Multiclass Sagarin Rating (398 teams); SOS = Final 2024-2025 Strength of Schedule</em>)</small></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><font color="#FFFFFF">.</font></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><font size="+2">Sectional #21 at East Noble</font></strong><br>East Noble (16-10), SAG 78, SOS 88<br>DeKalb (14-10), SAG 84, SOS 83<br>Bishop Dwenger (12-15), SAG 124, SOS 68<br>Angola (12-11), SAG 155, SOS 111<br>Concordia Lutheran (10-13), SAG 166, SOS 95<br>Leo (11-12), SAG 190, SOS 156<br>Garrett (5-18), SAG 221, SOS 157</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Sectional #21 has several very talented individuals spread throughout the field, but many teams were struck by graduation losses and/or the transfer 'bug'. Because they played zero Seniors a year ago, I still give 2025 Sectional Champion East Noble the best odds to lead this group of teams throughout the 2025-2026 season. 5-7 Junior point guard <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='834926' first='Averi' last='Amstutz']</strong> (<em>11.3p, 2.7r, 3.5a, 2.0s</em>) leads the way for the Lady Knights. She is strong, tough-nosed, and plays extremely hard, plus she has a nice, balanced skillset, as she can fill it up or distribute. 5-9 Junior guard <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1006197' first='Rian' last='David']</strong> (<em>10.4p, 4.4r, 1.6a, 1.5s</em>) is an incredibly intriguing wing. She is extremely long, fluidly athletic, and she is a very good perimeter shooter when set and in rhythm. 5-8 Senior forward <strong>Addison Deming</strong> (<em>9.0p, 3.6r, 2.4a, 1.4s</em>) stepped up nicely last season for the Knights. She is another long, somewhat bouncy prospect who plays with a lot of energy. 5-11 Junior forward <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1006206' first='Ellisyn' last='Will']</strong> (<em>8.8p, 6.0r, 1.3a, 1.3s, 1.4b</em>) spent time this Fall dominating the flag football scene as a tall receiver, with [player_tooltip player_id='1006197' first='Rian' last='David'] (<em>above</em>) throwing to her. Will is yet one more extremely long, bouncy, and very active rebounder/defender type who has shown a nice mid-post game as well. 5-5 Senior guard <strong>Kate David</strong> (<em>6.8p, 3.3r, 2.2a, 1.4s</em>) is as steady as they come and can play point or make shots outside. 5-8 Junior guard <strong>Shaye Ritchie</strong> (<em>4.1p, 2.8r, 1.1a</em>) and 5-5 Senior guard <strong>Makenna Strohm</strong> (<em>3.6p, 2.9r, 2.1a, 1.4s</em>) add to the Knights' backcourt depth with their leadership and experience. With another year under their belts, look for the Lady Knights to not only fight for a Sectional Championship again, but they could very well compete for a Regional title as well.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The team mostly likely to challenge East Noble this year is DeKalb. The Barons did graduate their best player in a few years; however, they return a lot of youthful talent and skill, especially in the backcourt. 5-5 Junior guard <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='890813' first='Abbie' last='Harris']</strong> (<em>10.4p, 1.6r, 1.5a, 1.7s</em>) is entering her third year as a starter, so she should slide right into a leadership role pretty seamlessly. She is a tough-nosed guard, she plays hard, competes, and she can shoot/score it or run the offense and find open teammates. 5-4 guard <strong>Mia Houser</strong> is the lone Senior on the roster, so she can help with veteran leadership, but it also indicates the Barons have a couple of years with nearly all of this group intact. 5-4 wing <strong>Ella Nixon</strong> and 5-9 forward <strong>Reese Schmidt</strong> are a pair of Juniors who have also seen Varsity experience and look for bigger roles this season. The Sophomore class is anchored by 5-8 guard <strong>Mollee Sonnenburg</strong> and 5-4 guard <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1228368' first='Ellington' last='Sparkman']</strong>, plus don't be surprised if any of five different Freshmen see the floor early this season. 5-11 Freshman post <strong>Lucy VanOrt</strong> could be especially important, as she is the only Baron over 5-8 on the Varsity roster. Short of losing their best player and the heart of the offense, DeKalb returns virtually everyone else from their core. If they can figure out where to manufacture just a little more offensive production, they should compete for 15+ wins this season and a Sectional #21 title.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Additional Players to Keep an Eye On:</strong> Angola: 5-9 Sophomore <strong>Kendall VanderWal</strong> and 5-5 Senior guard <strong>Aspen Sutton</strong> (<em>7.2p, 3.5r, 1.2s</em>); Bishop Dwenger: 5-10 Sophomore post <strong>Annie O'Brien</strong> (<em>7.2p, 5.1r</em>); Concordia Lutheran: 6-1 Senior forward <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='462366' first='Alivia' last='Bolinger']</strong> (<em>17.6p, 5.6r, 2.2a, 2.1s, 1.3b</em>) and 6-1 Junior post <strong>Sydney Blackwell</strong> (<em>5.1p, 4.4r</em>); Garrett: 5-7 Senior guard <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1229791' first='Sarah' last='DePew']</strong>, 5-2 Sophomore point guard <strong>Emma Coffman</strong>, and 5-7 Freshman wing <strong>Hailey Jacobs</strong>; Leo: 6-0 Senior forward <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='624881' first='Leah' last='Shappell']</strong> (<em>14.6p, 9.9r, 1.6a, 2.5s, 3.1b</em>) and 5-7 Junior guard <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='751099' first='Mackenzie' last='Collins']</strong> (<em>9.0p, 4.6r, 2.7a 2.3s</em>)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->