Lady Cardinals keep proving me wrong

Gracie Lowry and Brianna Bucher celebrate a play in the win over North Central. Photo by Stacy Lowry.

Make it two seasons in a row where I did not think Bloomfield could win its sectional and where the Lady Cardinals proved me and everyone wrong yet again.

Bloomfield’s sectional title this season completed an improbable comeback.

The Cardinals were struggling to score 40 points early in the season. You could tell many of the players were tired from a long volleyball season and did not have much time to transition to hoops. On Dec. 2, Bloomfield scored just 14 points against good Vincennes Rivet team. The Cards went 1-3 in the Toby Yoho Classic prior to the new year.

The Cardinals did not have enough numbers to play many junior varsity games. As a result, Coach Ron Knepp had few opportunities to get his younger players into varsity contests.

Even with all that, by January, you could tell Bloomfield was better than what it was to start the season. Then, COVID hit the team and snow delayed its sectional start. I figured that would be too much adversity for a high school team to overcome.

What I found out Tuesday night is that a Ron Knepp team handles adversity better than most. The hard schedule prepared them for the sectional environment. Despite playing just four games in January, Bloomfield stayed in game shape. Not an easy task.

A year ago, I wrote in a sectional preview how the team struggled to score points outside of its star, senior Kylee Shelton. Knepp told me they used it as motivation for their sectional title and I had pleasure of listening to Knepp on the radio poke fun at a local writer in the postgame interview. I was driving through Goosepond at the time and I still associate the Goosepond Fish and Wildlife Area with Knepp having a laugh at my expense.

In this job you can eventually spot good coaches from the ones that are not so good. Knepp is clearly one of the better coaches in the area. Too many times in girls basketball do I see coaches yell at their girls. I rarely see Knepp channel frustration that way to his players. It made a big difference for Bloomfield Tuesday night when the pressure came. North Central cracked, Bloomfield did not.

Bloomfield will take on the No. 1 team in Class A Saturday at the Southwestern Regional at noon in Waldron. Waldron is 22-1 and will be a big favorite.

However, I will never count out Bloomfield. I know better now.

Nathan is the Sports Editor for the Greene County Daily World and can be reached at npacegcdw@gmail.com. His “Low Budget Sports Show” airs Weekly on Facebook Live.