CRAWFORDSVILLE — First, she had an answer for her team’s adversity, then she had an answer for University.
It seemed like Eastern Hancock junior guard Sammie Bolding had an answer for everything.
The 5-foot-4 guard scored a career-high 26 points, including a career-best six 3-pointers, to help lead Eastern Hancock’s girls basketball team to the program’s first regional title Saturday.
Bolding had 13 of her 26 points in the fourth quarter in the Royals 51-47 victory over University in the Class 2A Regional 21 championship at Southmont High School.
“Boy, did she step it up,” Eastern Hancock coach Shari Doud said. “She has ice-cold water in her veins. Unbelievable confidence and the want-to to keep her team in it and see us through to the win. Her play moved me to tears.
“It’s a choked-up moment. When that horn sounds and you’ve won a great big game like this and you have kids that left it on the floor, they tell you if you outwork your opponent, you will win. We outworked them. We wore them down and won.”
Eastern Hancock (23-3) led most of the game, but could never pull away from University (20-5) until the final minute of the game. The Trailblazers had won two straight regional titles. Both teams were hot coming in, too. The Royals had won 13 in a row. University had won 14 straight.
In the first half, Bolding’s backcourt partner Grace Stapleton played minimally because of foul trouble. Stapleton is the team’s leading scorer at 15.3 points per game and the team’s point guard, averaging 5.2 assists per contest. Additionally, 6-foot-1 center Ruby White, sat much of the first half also due to foul trouble.
But Sammie Bolding and her older sister, senior forward Emma Bolding helped keep the Royals on top. They combined for 11 of the Royals 13 second-quarter points.
Eastern Hancock led 22-15 at the half.
“It’s just the same as every other game. We all want it,” White said. “They both wanted it. It’s special. I had it when my sister (Anna) was on the team last year. You don’t want to see your older sister move on who you’ve looked up to for so long. I think their chemistry and their relationship really showed.”
University battled back and took a lead, 43-42, on a steal and bucket from Payton Seay with 3:32 to go in the fourth quarter. Seay scored again at the 1:57 mark to give the Blazers a 45-42 advantage, but as quickly as the home side of the scoreboard turned to 45, Sammie Bolding had the answer for the Royals.
She connected on the second of her three fourth-quarter 3-pointers to tie the game at the 1:50 mark. Following a University turnover and scramble for a loose ball, Eastern Hancock junior Makenzie O’Neal found her classmate in one of her favorite spots, and Sammie Bolding delivered again.
This time her 3-pointer gave the lead back to the Royals, 48-45 with 52 seconds to go. Fouled down the stretch, she hit 3 of 4 free throws to close the game.
Earlier, trying to gain momentum for a comeback attempt, University opened the fourth-quarter with a 3-pointer from Keira Bright. It cut the Royals lead to 34-32, but just 10 seconds later, Sammie Bolding had the answer to put the Royals back up by five.
It proved to be the start of a big fourth quarter from the Eastern junior sharpshooter.
She hit 6 of 10 field goal attempts and was 6 of 8 from 3-point range. She was 3 of 4 from long range in the final quarter.
“It wasn’t like maybe I could try to hit one (after University scored), it was like, I’m going to hit that 3 and match it. Their fans started yelling so I had to get our fans yelling,” Sammie Bolding said. “It was great. We came in as the underdogs, like always. It was great to prove everyone wrong and win the regional for the first time for our school.”
“She had a Michael Jordan performance tonight,” Doud said of Sammie Bolding’s play. “They knocked us back on our heels when they took the lead late in the game. Her focus and level of play did not waver. Her body language did not waver. She took a beating all night by University defensively. She took a beating and still went through that middle (of their defense).”
White returned in the second half and had five points and was second to Sammie Bolding in scoring with 11. Emma Bolding had 10, including six in the second quarter when White sat out. O’Neal did not score, but had, unofficially, nine rebounds.
In limited minutes due to fouls, Stapleton had two points, but as she has so often done for her team, her teammates picked her up.
“I knew I had to be more aggressive and pick up for (Grace being out of the game),” Sammie Bolding said. “I knew I could get by them, so I had to drive and draw fouls or kick it out to somebody else.
“When I was warming up, I was kind of nervous, and I wasn’t feeling it at all. When I started shooting (in the game) I felt my rhythm was there.”
“They’re getting up and now they’re one point behind us,” Emma Bolding said of one of many crucial moments of the game. “(Sammie) comes out of nowhere and shoots a 3 and makes it with three girls on her, I was like, ‘How the heck do you do that?’ I was just so glad to have her on the team. It’s so thrilling.”
The Royals, ranked No. 8 in the Class 2A Indiana Coaches of Girls Sports Association poll, will play top-ranked North Knox (27-1) in a noon semi-state game at Shelbyville’s Garrett Gymnasium Saturday.
The four-team South Semi-State has three of the top eight ranked teams in Class 2A. At 10 a.m., Saturday, Greencastle (23-4) takes on No. 2 Forest Park (23-3). The winners will play 8 p.m. Saturday for a spot in the Class 2A state championship game.
“It’s monster big,” Doud said of winning the school’s first girls basketball regional championship. “A community as small as we are, and to see the crowd support that we had (Saturday), was so exciting. To get to bring home the trophy and give them a chance to come back next weekend, you feel like you want to win for the team, ourselves, but you want to win for the supporters that have been there along the way. (Saturday) worked out perfectly.”
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Eastern Hancock 51, University 47
Eastern Hancock;9;13;12;17;—;51
University;5;10;14;18;—;47
Eastern Hancock (23-3): Emma Bolding 4 2-2 10, MaKenzie O’Neal 0 0-0 0, Ruby White 5 1-2 11, Grace Stapleton 1 0-3 2, Sammie Bolding 6 8-11 26, Brooklyn Willis 0 0-0 0, Ellie Meyer 0 2-2 2, Sydney Springman 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16 13-20 51.
University (20-5): Taylor Seay 1 2-2 4, Payton Seay 5 4-10 14, Kelsey Dubois 5 2-4 13, Kamryn Washington 0 0-0 0, Jordan Patterson 5 2-2 13, Keira Bright 1 0-0 3. Totals: 17 10-18 47.
3-point goals: Eastern Hancock 6 (S. Bolding 6); University 3 (Dubois, Patterson, Bright).
