Rossville Wins Sectional Championship

The Rossville Hornets defeated the Bethesda Christian Patriots 67-51 to win the Sectional 54 Championship.

“It feels special,” Rossville coach Cory Dunn said. “I’ve been doing this a while; this is my 12th year at Rossville. These seniors were first graders when I got here. So I’ve seen these kids completely through my program.”

It’s the first Sectional title for Rossville since 2021, and 21st all-time.

The Hornets came out hot, jumping out to an early lead. Brayden Thiele-Hahn knocked down three three-pointers in the first quarter, scoring 18 of his game-high 30 in the first.

“Last night, I didn’t play very well,” Thiele-Hahn said. “So I had to come out hot today because I knew it would be a tough game.”

At the end of the first, the Hornets held a 24-14 advantage.

Rossville dominated the offensive glass despite being undersized. The Hornets won the battle for second-chance points and pushed their lead to 41-27 by the break.

“Toughness,” Dunn said. “We preach it every day. We have to play with a certain level of toughness, and we won the rebound battle tonight against a team that goes 6-foot-6-inches, 6-foot-7-inches and 6-foot-5-inches, and we won the margin by 11 tonight.”

Senior Brody Skinner was a big part of the rebounding for the Hornets, finishing with a double-double.

“Every game I’ve been told to work hard and do all the little things,” Skinner said. “I’m kind of the glue guy; that’s always been my role. I’ve never been a shooter or anything, so I know what I’m good at, and I try to do that. Especially with it being my senior year in Sectionals, I’m leaving it all on the floor.”

The Patriots changed their defense in the second half and focused on getting the ball out of Thiele-Hahn’s hands. That allowed juniors Cooper Dunn and Aiden Schaumburg to take over and keep Bethesda at bay in the third quarter. At the end of the third, Rossville’s lead was 11, 50-39.

Dunn finished with eight points, but his ball movement and passing made the biggest impact.

“Number 11 (Cooper Dunn) settles us down,” Cory Dunn said emotionally about his son. “He does a great job of that.

Bethesda Christian didn’t go down easy, connecting on ten threes, including four from Senior Liam Swan. The score was cut to single digits twice in the secondhalf, but Rossville had an answer every time.

A Brody Skinner layup with one minute left extended the lead back to 16 and put the game away for good.

Rossville dribbled it out, winning 67-51.

With the win, the Hornets pick up win number 20 on the year, marking the best season for Cory Dunn and the best for Rossville since 2001-2002.

Rossville will advance to the Regional round next week against the winner of the Fountain Central Sectional, North Vermillion, who defeated Lafayette Central Catholic 69-53.