Photos by Reuben Crisler
The Anderson women’s and men’s basketball teams both came short of a conference championship last weekend in Lexington, KY. The women’s team was eliminated from the tournament Friday afternoon falling to Franklin 81-65. The men’s basketball team won their game on Friday to advance to the championship; it happened on a last second buzzer-beater from senior DeMonte Ferguson to beat Rose-Hulman 74-73. However on Saturday, the Ravens were outlasted by the Transylvania Pioneers losing 91-79.
Both tournaments were played at Transylvania University in Lexington. With the home court advantage and higher seeds, Transylvania took home the women’s and men’s conference championships. Repeating the 2019-2020 season when both teams did the same. Both teams clinched a spot in the Division III men’s and women’s tournament to compete for a national championship.
WOMENS
The women’s season ended with a record of 17-10, they improved by four wins compared to last year. The final stats for the season by the women’s team include the leading scorer for the year Izzy Davis, averaging 14.0 PPG (points per game). She leaves Anderson with over 1000 points and is sixth on the Anderson women’s basketball all-time scoring list. Also playing her last game as a Raven was Bella Larrison, she averaged a career best 12.6 PPG and also had 8.4 RPG (rebounds per game). Sydney Sierota ended her career with a great senior season, averaging 11.2 PPG and leading the team with 4.4 APG (assists per game). Lauren Smith averaged 8.8 PPG this year, she ended her career fourth on the all-time 3-pointers made list, with 131 made. Coach Gin spoke very highly on these seniors and mentioned them being the leaders of the team earlier this season.
Some players stepped up this year, junior Victoria Detraz averaged 9.7 PPG and 10.8 RPG, third in the HCAC, and Paige Williamson also had a great year averaging 10.1 PPG, and averaging two and a half threes a game.
The women’s team took a step up this season finishing third in the Conference. They lose their three leading scorers for next year so it will be a challenge for coach Gin to develop and build players to step into the needed positions for the upcoming season.
MENS
The men’s basketball team’s first year without Tate Ivanyo under coach Collins was a success. They started out slow, being 4-7 at the start of January, but they hit their strides finishing at 18-10 at the end of the year.
The Ravens set a record for three-pointers made in a season (317). The previous record was 281, set last season. Kenney Troutman had his best year of his career, averaging a career high 15.8 PPG. Troutman was a three year starter for Anderson, and played a big part in multiple conference championship seasons. Troutman also is now fourth on the all-time three-pointers made list for Anderson. Elijah Mattingly’s return to the Ravens was much needed, he averaged a near double-double on the season with 11.8 PPG and 9.8 RPG. The last senior was the hero of the semifinal game in the HCAC Tournament DeMonte Ferguson who averaged a career-best 8.3 PPG.
Guards Nolan Swan and Bryce Williams both had very successful seasons. Swan had 12.9 PPG and Williams had 13.0 PPG. Williams was second in the HCAC in assists, averaging 4.8 per game. Rob Davidson also had a successful junior year, he only played 18 games due to an injury but in the games he played, he averaged 9.2 PPG and 5.1 RPG.
Anderson will look to keep the HCAC Regular Season Championship trend going into next year, for a possible fourth straight championship.