By Mike Deak
InkFreeNews

BOURBON – It’s been a minute since Triton has taken this step in girls basketball. After a decade of near misses, Triton finally closed the deal this past weekend at Oregon-Davis and won a sectional.

Now it’s time to push around some of the big girls.

Kinsey Atkins could be a wild card in Triton’s quest for a regional championship this weekend at Caston. InkFreeNews file photo by Nick Goralczyk

For the first time since 2011, Triton will play in a regional tournament, but will have its hands full with No. 13 Fort Wayne Blackhawk (19-6), a 10:30 a.m. tip at the Caston Regional. It will be the first time the two teams have met in the state tournament, and only the third regional game for Triton dating back to its back-to-back state championships in 2000 and 2001.

“The girls have worked hard each and every week to prepare for whichever team is in front of us,” stated Triton head coach Adam Heckaman. “They understand what we want to do each game and what we need to do to try to limit our opponents. Blackhawk will be another one of those opponents where we will need to execute our game plan in order to have a chance at the end.”

Blackhawk won its fourth sectional championship in its history in a 42-32 win over host Fremont.

Triton (11-11) is just one of two teams in the state to enter the tournament at .500, Class 1-A Clinton Central (12-12) the other. But the 11-11 mark for the Trojans is slightly misleading, as Triton has won seven of its past nine and a pair of close losses to regional teams North Judson and Pioneer earlier in the season.

Triton has the ability to beat teams in different ways, whether its the shooting of its guards or the interior presence of its three post players.

Taren Yates runs the point for Triton, leading the team with 70 assists, but fills in 8.6 points per game and has 89 rebounds and 75 steals this year showing versatility on both sides of the court. Kinsey Atkins has buried 35 three-pointers this season, and Emma Hepler has had her moments in making big plays from the guard position.

Inside, the three-headed monster of Addyson Viers, Abbey Viers and Lexia Hostrawser have continued to create matchup problems for teams. Addy scores at a 50 percent clip, scoring over seven points per night, Abbey has over 100 rebounds and a team-leading 29 blocks while Hostrawser had a team-leading 117 rebounds.

“That’s one of the great things about this group of girls is that whoever is scoring on a given night the rest of the team does what they can to find them and work for them,” said Heckaman. “Some nights it’s our guards and some nights it’s our posts. We have some great options either way and go out each night looking for the line up that is clicking.”

The winner of the first morning game will watch No. 7 Pioneer (21-4) take on Kouts (17-6) in game two. The winners come back at 7:30 p.m. for the regional final.

Looking around the rest of northern Indiana’s regionals involving area teams:

Class 4-A at LaPorte

No. 4 Penn and No. 2 Crown Point are on a collision course for a whale of a regional final. Penn (20-3) will have to take out Merrillville (14-5) first, as will Crown Point (21-1) with LaPorte (13-10), but the two contenders should meet in the night’s finale.

Class 3-A at Jimtown

Lakeland (20-7) will be looking for its first regional win in its fourth trip to the second round. The Lakers will meet Griffith (13-3) in the morning game at Jimtown, with Kankakee Valley (13-10) and No. 8 South Bend Washington (19-5) taking on game two. The Panthers are making its first tournament run since Skylar Diggins took The West Side to four straight state finals.

Class 2-A at Winamac

Fairfield (14-8) will look to win its first regional title since 2018, when the Falcons won its only regional crown. In its way will be Bluffton (14-10) in the semi-final. A 15th win for the Falcons will have it playing either No. 10 North Judson (18-5) or No. 2 Andrean (18-1).

Class 2-A at Frankton

Rochester (12-8) has had an up and down season, but is on the up after winning three straight at the Manchester sectional, including revenge on the hosts in the championship. The Zebras will take on No. 7 Clinton Prairie (20-2) in the semi-final. Opposite is the return of state finalist Frankton (23-3), which won one of the more memorable regional championships last year in an overtime win over South Central. The No. 6 Eagles will meet Tipton (17-7) in game two.

Class 1-A at Wes-Del

Tri-Central (15-8) and No. 6 Blue River (21-3) will open the four-team grid at Wes-Del. The aforementioned Clinton Central will meet No. 13 Northfield (19-5), the Norse winners of 14 straight and champions of the Three Rivers Conference. Northfield clobbered Lakeland Christian in the Northfield Sectional along its route to the regional, its third straight sectional championship, a 2019 regional title among the recent streak.