By GREG MENGELT

Once the calendar turns to February, it’s time for the Eastern Musketeers to shine.

At least, that’s been the case six of the last nine years. The Musketeers won their fourth consecutive sectional championship on Tuesday with a 44-38 victory over upstart Austin (10-12), which entered the championship game on a 3-game winning streak and with a 9-3 record since Dec. 14, to claim the Hoosier Hills Hoops Girls’ Win of the Week.

It’s Eastern’s second win over Austin this season. The Musketeers beat Henryville 54-18 and Providence 46-18 to set up the showdown with Austin in Tuesday’s title game.

Eastern (15-11) has now won seven sectional championships overall. One Saturday, it will try to win its second regional title at Crawford County. The Musketeers last regional championship, in 2017, was a precursor to winning the state championship. Eastern opens the regional against No. 8 Forest Park (22-3) at 10 a.m. Saturday.

By GREG MENGELT

Corydon Central junior Ava Weber continued her impressive season with a pair of Performance of the Week-worth performances during Sectional Week.

Weber started the sectional with 29 points, six rebounds and two steals. She was 11 for 21 from the field in the 52-39 first-round victory over Charlestown (17-6) at the Class 3A North Harrison Sectional first round. In Saturday’s semifinal, Weber put up 23 points, 12 rebounds and four assists in a 59-52 semifinal win over Salem (11-10). She was 7 for 14 from the floor in the victory.

Weber and the Panthers saw their season come to an end Tuesday against defending Class 3A state champion Silver Creek. Weber had 17 points in defeat.

The 12th-ranked Panthers finished the campaign 21-3, more than double the wins from a year ago.

By KENZIE WINSTEAD

NEW ALBANY — Kaleb Wheeler gave the offensive spark needed to help Team New Albany past Team Floyd Central 39-37 in the Floyd County Elementary Basketball League’s boys’ All-Star game on Sunday at Scribner Middle School.

With his team trailing 11-6, Wheeler — a third-grader at Grant Line — hit three consecutive 3-pointers in the second quarter.

Less than a minute later, he stole a pass and went for a layup to boost the New Albany stars to a 19-11 lead. Wheeler scored 11 points in less than two minutes.

He finished with a game-high 19 points.

“He stepped up in a major way today,” Team New Albany coach Kam Guess said. “Actually, he brought us back in the second quarter. I’m proud of him and all the guys. For a third-grader to hit three 3’s in a row, that’s unheard of.”

Floyds Knobs fourth-grader Sutton Turnage paced the Floyd Central stars with 13 points. Connor Jones, also a fourth-grader at Floyds Knobs, added 10.

FLOYD CENTRAL — 9 – 5 – 13 – 10 — 37
NEW ALBANY — 6 – 15 – 7 – 11 — 39
Floyd Central (37): Connor Jones 10, Sutton Turnage 13, Noah Howard 2, Mason Massey 2, Cole Pitman 7, Jake Roberts 3.
New Albany (39): Grayson Hogan 4, A.J. Major 4, Nathan Hubbard 2, Cameron Stone 2, Kaleb Wheeler 19, Jordan Whitehead 2.
3-point goals: Jones 2, Pitman 1, Stone 2, Wheeler 3.

By KENZIE WINSTEAD

NEW ALBANY — Grant Line fourth-grader Joy Martin hit five free throws in the last 30 seconds to lift Team New Albany over Team Floyd Central 11-9 Sunday afternoon in the Floyd County Elementary Basketball League girls’ All-Star game at Scribner Middle School.

Mount Tabor teammates Riley Belden (fourth grade) and Claire Vigar (third grade) each added two points for the New Albany stars.

Team Floyd Central had four players contribute points, and was led by Georgetown fourth-grader Laney Jenks’ three points.

FLOYD CENTRAL — 2 – 2 – 2 – 3 — 9
NEW ALBANY — 4 – 0 2 – 5 — 11
Floyd Central (9): Laney Jenks 3, Finley Taylor 2, Avery Trueblood 2, Aniston Lannan 2.
New Albany (11): Riley Belden 2, Joy Martin 5, Claire Vigar 2.
3-point goals: none.

By GREG MENGELT

Floyd Central entered Saturday’s contest against fourth-ranked Cathedral at 13-2 with big wins over New Albany, Bloomington South, Jeffersonville and Evansville Reitz.

But the 48-46 win over the Irish, who entered the season ranked No. 1 in Indiana, puts the Highlanders on a different level. The level of true state championship contenders. And this year feels like it’s wide open for a team like the ninth-ranked Highlanders.

“We don’t want to look too far ahead,” Floyd coach Todd Sturgeon said. “(The win) says that if we played the postseason in the Knobs, we’d be very competitive. Our goal is to be competitive on a state level and I think we’re doing that. Right now we want to be the best 4A team in Southern Indiana. That’s the No. 1 target.”

The Highlanders are up to No. 9 in the latest single-class Indiana Basketball Coaches Association poll after being ignored by the state-wide media and coaches most of the early part of the seasons. Sturgeon said rankings don’t matter, but he does keep an eye on the algorithm-based Sagarin Ratings, where Floyd is ranked eighth in the state. According to Sagarin, no team in Indiana is more than six points better than the Highlanders so far this season.

“The fact that we’re in the Sagarin top 10 tells me we are able to compete with those teams,” Sturgeon said. “I think there are a lot of good teams. I just don’t know if there’s an elite team.”

Coming into the season, the team considered most elite was Cathedral. The Irish starting lineup boasts four Division I athletes. During the summer, Cathedral (14-5) embarrassed the Highlanders in a summer event. When cancelations created openings on both teams’ schedules for Saturday, Floyd was excited that Cathedral accepted the invitation.

“We did not perform well,” Sturgeon recalled. “They killed us. So this was a game we were excited to get. We were looking for a home game and Cathedral said they’d come down. It was a good atmosphere in spite of the weather. It was a grown man game. Everything was congested. There were not many easy looks at the basket.”

The Highlanders were supposed to play at Silver Creek (7-9) tonight. However, because the Dragons’ girls advanced to Tuesday’s sectional championship, the game has been moved to Wednesday.

On Wednesday morning, Hoosier Hills Hoops will have a preview of Floyd’s game against the 2-time defending Class 3A state champions.

By GREG MENGELT

Jeffersonville senior Brandon Rayzer-Moore scored 29 points to help Jeffersonville knock off Rock Creek on the road last Wednesday.

According to the News and Tribune, Rayzer-Moore went 12 of his 22 field goal attempts and three of his seven 3-point attempts to earn the Hoosier Hills Hoops Boys’ Player of the Week honor.

“I felt more comfortable today,” Rayzer-Moore told the NT. “We’ve been having more practices and more games. I felt comfortable getting to my spots and I was ultra-aggressive today.”

Rayzer-Moore and Red Devils, who’ve now won two straight after a 2-8 start to the season, host Bedford North Lawrence (7-7) in a Hoosier Hills Conference contest Thursday.