RANDY HISNER
WZBD.com
Too much Vanessa Rosswurm.
That’s the short version of what the Bellmont Braves encountered in their quest to dethrone the two-time defending champion Norwell Knights in the final game of the Norwell 3A Girls’ Basketball Sectional Saturday. Rosswurm, the only returning starter from Norwell’s 2024 state runner-up team, went wild with 41 points to outscore the entire Bellmont team and lead the Knights to a 57-39 win.
The point explosion also put the junior over the 1,000-point mark for her career. “Kudos to her,” said Bellmont coach Andy Heim. “She had an awesome night. She’s a great player. Last year, when I saw her improvement in the summer, I’m like, ‘We’re going to be in some trouble with her,’ and she showed it tonight.”
The game was a matchup of state powers; the Braves were ranked sixth in 3A coming into the game, the Knights ninth.
The title is the 13th in 28 years and 12th in the last 15 years for veteran Norwell coach Eric Thornton. “This is the first win we’ve had this year over a team like Bellmont, that top-level team,” he said. “We’ve been talking about when that breakthrough win was going to come. We’ve beaten some good teams, but the best teams on our schedule we have not. We’ve been close, and we’re trying to break through. This was the first.”
There was an element of redemption in the win too. “We’ve been preparing for this ever since they got us at their place,” Thornton added, referring to the Braves’ 47-44 win on January 18.
Rosswurm gave previews of coming attractions when she scored the first four points of the game, on a 12-foot turnaround jumper and a pair of free throws, helping the Knights (19-6) jump out to an 8-2 lead. Ashley Bleke, who led the Braves with 18 points, countered with two three-pointers in less than thirty seconds to tie it. The teams tied again at 12-12 before Rosswurm made a free throw to give Norwell a 13-12 lead at the first stop.
Two drives and a three from Rosswurm sparked a 9-2 Norwell run to begin the second quarter and put the Knights up, 22-14. Then the Braves (21-3) turned the tables, going on a 9-2 run of their own, capped by Lanie French’s second three-pointer, which pulled them back within one, at 24-23, with seven seconds to go.
Then came a bizarre sequence of events. The Knights rushed down the court, and Rosswurm fired an off-balance desperation three-point attempt with a mere two-tenths of a second left, the shot missing the mark. But defender Emily Bleke was whistled for a foul on the shot, sending Rosswurm to the line for three free throws.
She hit the first, missed the second, and hit the third, putting the Knights up by three. More to come, though—the Braves’ Oni Krueckeberg contacted Rosswurm while blocking her out, knocking her to the floor, and was assessed a foul. Since the Knights were in the bonus, Rosswurm went to the line for two more free throws, which she promptly swished, giving the Knights a five-point lead at 28-23.
Emily Bleke opened the scoring in the third quarter with a three-point play at the 7:31 mark to pull the Braves within two. The Knights responded with consecutive threes by Addison Norris and Macie Saalfrank, putting them up eight at 34-26. Rosswurm got hot again, scoring seven points in two and a half minutes, offsetting six points by Ashley Bleke, and the Knights won the quarter, 15-11, to take a 43-34 lead.
Foul trouble for the Braves made containing Rosswurm even more difficult. Emily Bleke picked up her third foul on a charge with 4:58 to go in the third quarter and then her fourth, on an attempted steal, with 1:22 left. She had to sit out the rest of the quarter and a big chunk of the fourth.
Ashley Bleke got her fourth foul with 6:51 left in the final quarter, limiting her defensive aggressiveness too. Rosswurm made the most of the Braves’ diminished defense, repeatedly driving hard to the bucket for layups and drawing fouls, scoring all 14 of the Knights’ points in the fourth quarter while the Braves could muster only five.
The Knights’ trademark 1-3-1 zone trap gave the Braves fits all night. They turned the ball over 17 times, but more than that, they spent much of their energy dealing with the trap and had trouble finding an offensive rhythm. Meanwhile, Rosswurm got in a rhythm early and never got out of it. She was 11-for-21 from the floor (including one three-pointer) and 18-for-23 from the free throw line.
Heim was appreciative of his team’s effort this season. With four freshmen and two sophomores playing major roles in the team, the young Braves were not expected to win 21 games and go undefeated in the NE8.
“It’s just a whole group effort of teamwork and, you know, believing in one another and trusting one another,” he said. “It’s unfortunate that it ends here, but look, there’s a bunch of high notes this year, even though we end on a low note.”
Heim also praised his senior leaders, Emily Bleke and Gwen Laurent, who closed out their decorated careers with the loss. He especially extolled the way they have continued his program’s tradition of hard work. “I couldn’t have asked for better seniors to carry that on,” he said.
The Braves were 5-for-19 on twos (26%), 6-for-19 on threes (32%), and 11-for-15 on free throws (73%). The Knights hit 14-of-29 twos (48%), 3-of-13 threes (23%), and 20-of-25 free throws (80%).
Bellmont scoring: Ashley Bleke 18, Emily Bleke 9, French 7, Krueckeberg 3, Mary Bleke 2
Norwell scoring: Rosswurm 41, Norris 5, Saalfrank 5, Alivia Green 2, Haley Williamson 2, Jade Dale 2
Norwell will play East Noble in the regional, which will be played at Bellmont Tip-off for the game will be 7 p.m.
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