Phone: 317-846-6601 Fax: 317-575-4244 Website: www.ihsaa.org
Blake Ress, Commissioner
_________________________________________________________________________
March 1, 2008
FORT WAYNE CANTERBURY WINS
FIRST STATE CHAMPIONSHIP
A strong
second half performance by Fort Wayne Canterbury led the Cavaliers past University,
36-32, to claim the Class A state championship, the school’s first in a
girls sport.
Both teams
displayed an up-tempo style of play in the first quarter, as University jumped
to a 6-0 lead early in the game. The
Trailblazers led by as many as seven before Canterbury cut the lead to three to
end the first quarter at 9-6. A steal and fast break lay up by senior guard
Aubrey Holle gave Canterbury their first lead with
4:23 left in the second quarter.
University stole the momentum back though and took a 16-15 lead into the
locker room at halftime.
Trailing 30-25
at the end of the third quarter, University managed to hold Canterbury scoreless
until 2:18 remained in the game but still trailed 31-29. With :56 remaining, Canterbury’s
Cassie Kreiger hit a free throw, her second rimmed
out but was rebounded by fellow sophomore forward Tabitha Gerardot
who put it back up to make the lead 34-29.
A quick three pointer by University junior Ieysha
Walker pulled the Trailblazers within two at 34-32, but Gerardot
and Kreiger both hit a free throw to seal the game in
the final seconds.
Canterbury,
led by 10th year head coach Scott Kreiger,
finished the season 21-5, winning their final 14 games. Gerardot
led all scorers with 16 points, while she grabbed 17 rebounds to break the Class
A state finals rebounding record by two.
Aubrey Holle added six points and three
steals, freshman Becky Pedro also chipped in with six points, six rebounds, and
three steals. Kreiger tallied all three of her points
from the line and also had three steals.
Bill
Thornburgh, in his fifth year at the helm for University, led his team to a
final record of 20-7. Walker led the way
with 10 points and six rebounds, sophomore guard Bria
Sneed added nine points and four steals, and junior Katie Adlam
collected six points, nine boards, and three steals.
Fort Wayne
Canterbury set a new state record for fewest points allowed, beating the old
record of 36. Both teams combined to set
a new Class A record for most combined steals, with 28 between them, beating
the old record by one.
AUBREY
HOLLE NAMED MENTAL ATTITUDE AWARD WINNER
Following
the game, members of the IHSAA Executive Committee named Aubrey Holle of Canterbury High School as the winner of the
Patricia L. Roy Mental Attitude Award.
The award
is presented annually to a senior participant in each classification who was
nominated by her principal and coach and has demonstrated excellence in mental
attitude, scholarship, leadership and athletic ability.
Holle is
a four-year starter on the Cavaliers varsity team and has served as team
captain the last three seasons. She is
the school’s record holder in assists and steals.
She is a
student council representative and is serving as vice president at this time.
She also is member of the Key Club and is the sports editor for her school
newspaper.
Holle is
undecided on her college choice but plans to study chemistry and/or biology on
the pre-medicine route and hopes to continue playing basketball and possibly
soccer as well.
She is the
daughter of Doug and Camille Holle of Fort Wayne.
Indiana
Farm Bureau Insurance, the IHSAA’s corporate
partner, will present a $1,000 scholarship to Canterbury High School in the
name of Holle.
The award
is named in honor of the former IHSAA assistant commissioner Patricia L. Roy,
who oversaw the girls basketball state tournament from
its inception in 1976 until her retirement in 1999.
VSN MEANS ACTION PHOTOGRAPHY
Visit our
friends at Visual Sports Network, the IHSAA’s official photographer for all state
championship events and one of the leading action photographers in the
CHAMPIONSHIP MERCHANDISE STILL AVAILABLE
For t-shirts and other merchandise commemorating this year’s tournament or for any of our events, visit our friends at Morris, Inc.
STATE FINALS PROGRAMS AVAILABLE
Couldn’t
be there for the state finals? You can still purchase a copy of the official
souvenir program while supplies last! Programs are $3.00 if you purchase in person
at the IHSAA Office (
CLASS
A POST-GAME QUOTES
Scott Kreiger, Fort Wayne Canterbury Head Coach
“Well
it sure wasn’t a work of art, I’ll tell you that. I think playing here, in this arena, in front
of this crowd with everything that was at stake was kind of tough on kids. The thing we talked about before we took the
floor was we do it with defense.”
“We
had a horrible shooting practice yesterday and I was concerned it would be that
way today and it was. But defense
carried us through. It was clearly the
difference today.”
(on the slow start)
“It’s
a long game with lots of runs and flows.
We knew once the ball started going in everything was going to be
fine. Defensively, we were doing good
things out there.”
(on leadership of sophomore Tabitha Gerardot
and her State record 17 rebounds)
“She’s
been a double-double kid since she got healthy at Christmas. She works her tail off. She did not have a good offensive day but
good players make things happen.”
“There
was a point in late January where we were not a good defensive team. Then we put a lot of emphasis on it and
things began to change.”
(on Mental Attitude Award winner, senior Aubrey Holle)
“She’s
a great student, a great leader and great in the community. She’s a 1000 point scorer at our school
and one of the finest kids you’ll ever meet. It was a privilege to coach her.”
Bill
Thornburgh, University Head Coach
“We just couldn’t make a
shot. We played pretty good defense but
(Tabitha) Gerardot was the only one that did anything
against us. We wanted to key on her, but
she had a couple of stretches where she scored some big points.”
“We
played with basically the same five girls the second half. When you don’t make baskets, it’s
tough to win games. We got off to a nice
start at 9-2, but they settled in and made a nice run. They had only four fouls called on them the
whole game.”
“We’ve
played well since our Christmas tourney and we had a great run in the
tournament. I’m not upset, we were
here at Conseco and 90+ schools were not.
For our school it’s a great opportunity. A lot of people didn’t even know we had
athletics.”
“At
halftime, we talked about if we just could hit some shots we could win the
game. We got back into the game in the
third quarter, but at the end we just had some defensive breakdowns and they
had some big offensive rebounds.”
“I’m
upset about the loss, but I’m not too upset overall. It was a great accomplishment just to make it
here. We only lose one senior off of
this year’s roster. It’s
disappointing to lose when you don’t play your best.”