The 2007-08 boys and girls basketball season provided the area with numerous action packed exciting games from last second buzzer beating shots to record-breaking accomplishments. Now that the March Madness has officially ended for area schools I would like to relive some of the exciting moments each team exhibited.

I joined the Greene County Daily World staff during the Christmas break and the first game I covered was at the Graber Post Buildings Holiday Classic featuring Eastern Greene and Cloverdale, in boys hardwood action.

The game was certainly worth the price of admission for those fans that made the journey to Elnora, as the Thunderbirds notched their second win of the season, 54-53 in overtime. The game featured eight ties and twelve lead changes in the fourth quarter and overtime periods alone.

The eleventh lead change came with seventeen ticks left on the clock in the extra session on a banked home 3-pointer to give the Clovers the lead.

On the ensuing possession, a mad scramble for a loose rebound on a missed shot by the T-Birds ended up out of bounds. After the officials talked it over, the T-Birds were awarded the ball with :0.6 remaining on the clock and in-bounding under their own basket. Cody Sparks got the ball to 6-foot-7 senior Ben Arthur who proceeded for the tip in to beat the buzzer and sent the Eastern Greene faithful into a frenzy.

Andy Igel's squad endured a tough season filled with illness, injuries and plenty of other adversity to make him want to invest stock in an aspirin company. The T-Birds finished the season with a 3-18 record, with all three wins needing an extra frame to decide the outcome. Several area coached described the Thunderbirds as the best three-win team in the state as a handful of their loses came by less than five points including one-point losses to Clay City and Class A Sectional champion Shakamak.

The Eastern Greene girls team also provided some memorable moments for fans as they captured their first sectional championship in 23 years and won their first regional game, advancing to the regional championship game for the first time in school history.

On the paper the girls post-season run may have been an overwhelming surprise to the casual fan, as they entered the sectional with a sub .500 record. The Lady T-Birds ousted the Lady Miners in the sectional opener in an OT thriller before avenging an earlier season loss to a pesky North Knox team then upsetting host Bloomfield in a defensive struggle.

Coach Dan Fidago's squad carried the momentum from the sectional championship into the regional as they led wire-to-wire en route to defeating a 17-win Covenant Christian team before pushing the No. 3 Austin Eagles to the brink of elimination in the championship game as they ended their magical season with a 67-62 loss to the Eagles. They finished the season with a 12-16 record.

Also providing some post-season success was the Lady Wolverines of White River Valley. Joe Pigg's squad compiled a 19-5 season record while the captured their first sectional title since 2004 and also advanced to the championship game of the regional before bowing out against University, who eventually saw their season end in the Class A state championship game at Conseco Fieldhouse with a loss to Fort Wayne Canterbury.

The team was most pleased about winning the sectional championship for their two seniors on the team, Carly Johnson and Tasha Borter. The two seniors would have been the only graduating class that had not experienced at least one sectional championship under the helm of Pigg if the Wolverines had not of won the title this season.

The Lady Wolverines reeled off eleven consecutive wins to start the season and earned a top 10 ranking in the Class A poll.

Sophomore Stephanie Fougerousse set four school records throughout the season as she eclipsed the record for points in a single game in their first game of the seasons with 33 points, later broken twice with a 35-point effort on two occasions and a 36-point explosion in the opening round of the sectionals. Other records broken by the sophomore was total points in a season (492) shattering the old record of 369, her own records of total rebounds in a single season (282) and highest field goal shooting percent for a single season (62.5 percent).

Other key highlights on the season for the Wolverines included a gut-wrenching overtime victory over Mitchell in which they needed two length of the court drives and baskets to force the extra session and eventually the game winner. Fougerousse scored both baskets as Borter assisted on the one at the end of regulation and Kelsey Anderson assisted on the game-winner.

Anderson also provided a flare for the dramatics as she stepped to the free-throw line in the final seconds of their first round regional game against host Southwestern (Shelby) with the contest tied. The junior calmly knocked down both free tosses from the charity stripe to essentially send the Wolverines into the title game.

The WRV boys program did not collect any post-season hardware, but compared to previous seasons the boys program had an outstanding season. Coach Gene Hall who completed his second season as the head man at WRV guided the Wolverines to a 13-8 season doubling last season's win total and was greater than the total of the two previous seasons combined.

One season highlight for the boys squad was capturing the coveted County Keg over county rival Bloomfield in mid-January. The game provided a sectional like atmosphere and from an effort standpoint fans were not disappointed from either side. The Wolverines would lose the Keg a week later to Shakamak in a heart-breaking four-point loss on the Lakers home court. The Wolverines let a 12-point fourth quarter lead slip away in the loss.

Another exciting win for the Wolverines came in their regular season finale as they hit the road to face Class A No. 6 Barr-Reeve Vikings. A week after calling out his team from a defensive standpoint, Hall's squad responded with a 45-42 win over the Vikings in overtime.

The Wolverines exemplified the meaning of a true team as any one his Hall's players could step up and lead the team on any given night, and was not as well known as some of the other area players on other teams. Jared Shelton was the only player on the Wolverines roster who was recognized in post-season awards as he was named on the Southwestern Indiana Athletic Conference second team.

The Shakamak Lakers boys basketball team picked up multiple hardware throughout the season as they captured their first Greene County Daily World Invitational title since 1982, shared the Tri-River Conference title with Linton-Stockton and collected their second sectional title in three seasons.

The Lakers ended the season with ten straight victories and a final Class A ranking of No. 12 before ending their season to eventual regional champion No. 9 Indianapolis Lutheran.

The season provided plenty of dramatics as the Lakers captured the County Keg from WRV on their home floor as they overcame a 12-point fourth quarter deficit, then also staved off a furious fourth quarter comeback from Eastern Greene to retain the Keg a month later.

The Lakers starting line-up consisted of four sophomores and one senior, and their top two scores, sophomores Billy Newton and Ethan Stanifer were also the top two scorers in the county.

Lakers coach Ernie Maesch had high expectations coming into the season but an injury to senior Justin Cox left the coach uncertain of what expect with his younger squad.

In an eerie sequence of events, Cox made his season debut in the regular season finale, then ended up making his first start of the season in the semifinals of the sectional after fellow senior Jaret May suffered a broken arm after securing the Lakers opening round victory in the sectionals over Clay City on a thunderous dunk in the final seconds.

The Lady Lakers also captured some hardware of the own as they shared TRC honors with Clay City on the season. Jon Miller's team finished the season with a 7-13 record as they were eliminated from post-season play by eventual champion WRV.

Led by All-TRC and All- SWIAC first team member Jess Gilbert the Lady Lakers had two exciting overtime wins. One against Riverton Parke, which needed two extra sessions to determine a victor and another over-time thriller over TRC foe Eminence at home.

Kyle Von Almen took over the reins as head coach for the Bloomfield Lady Cardinals this season, and the first year coach led his team to a 17-4 record and was No. 11 in the final Class 2A poll.

The Lady Cardinals finished the season with an eight-game winning streak before ending their season to Eastern Greene in the championship game of the sectional.

In their regular season finale the Lady Cards defeated Class 3A powerhouse Owen Valley as their marquee win of the season. The Lady Patriots had came into the contest as the No. 2 team in Class 3A and had rattled off 16 consecutive wins before falling to the Lady Cards.

On the boys hardwood at Bloomfield, Ron McBride's squad finished the season with a 12-10 record and dropped a 39-33 sectional game to eventual champion South Knox.

The Cardinals faced a demanding schedule playing six teams that were ranked at one point or another in the season, and finished with a seventh-place showing at the prestigious Wabash Valley Pizza Hut Classic, with 2-2 record.

McBride's squad defeated Shakamak in the second game of the season as they started off winning their first four games.

Of the ranked teams the Cardinals faced, was Orleans, who was ranked No. 1 in Class A at the time, and the Cardinals pushed the Bulldogs to the brink of defeat on the road before falling by two points.

The Union (Dugger) Lady Bulldogs finished the season with a 10-10 which was a two-game improvement from a season ago.

The girls team, led by veteran basketball coach Benji Boyd, was declared Sullivan County Champions by defeating county rivals Sullivan and North Central.

The season was come to an end in the first round of the sectional by the same Thunderbirds that the Bulldogs had defeated four days prior in their regular season finale.

The Bulldogs were led by juniors Megan Gambill and MaKaylee Pirtle, both All-TRC and SWIAC members. Gambill had a record breaking season as she set the career mark for assists and also broke the single-season mark for assists as well. Her 8.0 assists per game ranked third best in the state.

Pirtle eclipsed the 400-point plateau on the season and her 21.3 points per game average was tops among area girls, and ninth best in the state.

Overshadowed by Gambill and Pirtle, the Bulldogs role players (Ashli Scott, Cassie Parr, Gabrielle Smith, Brenna Siscoe and Shayna Nicol) earned the nickname of "Little Five" by Boyd.

The boys team was under the guidance of first year coach Clarence Johnson. The Bulldogs ended the season with a 7-14 record, which was one game better than the season before.

The roller-coaster of a season for Johnson's squad hit a high point with a three-game winning streak in their final three games of January. Completing a 5-3 record for the month.

The Bulldogs were led by senior three-point shooting specialist Eric Medley and juniors B.J. Howard and Logan Chesterfield.

The trio each averaged double-figures in scoring for the season with Howard leading the way with 15.3 points per contest, while Medley and Chesterfield averaged 11.6 and 10.6 respectively. Howard and Chesterfield each had high-games of 25 while Medley's best was 23.

The Linton-Stockton girls team may have saved their performances for the end of the season, as the team finished with a mis-leading 5-16 record.

The Lady Miners battled WRV down to the wire on the road before falling to the host Wolverines by five points, then destroyed North Central by 28 points on the road, then took eventual sectional champion Eastern Greene to OT in their season ending three-point loss.

One of the key wins for the Lady Miners was a two-point victory over Class A No. 6 Vincennes RIvet. Mike Riggleman's club also suffered some close set-backs throughout the season as they had a handful of loses coming by less than five points.

The Lady Miners were led by All-TRC player Megan Barnes. The junior averaged a double-double for the season with 12.5 points per game and 10.4 rebounds per contest.

The Miners boys team finished with a 5-15 record on the season including a tough three-point loss to North Knox in the semifinals of the Class 2A sectional.

Of the five victories, four came in the TRC as they shared honors with Shakamak on the season.

One exciting victory for the Miners came in their regular season finale against TRC foe Clay City. With a share of the TRC crown on the line, the Miners senior Jordan Tharp beat the buzzer and the Eels with a lay-up as time expired to give the Miners a share of the title.

Another key victory for the Miners came against Shakamak in their fifth game of the season. The win gave Darren Clayton his first win of the season and was one of only seven loses for the Class A No. 12 team.

With a minimal graduating class from each team, looking ahead, the 2008-09 season should be even more exciting if this past season is any indication.

Be sure to check out our website at gcdailyworld.com to vote for your most memorable highlight of the 2007-08 basketball season.

Travis David is a sports writer at the Greene County Daily World. He can be reached at (812) 847-4487, ext 20 or at tdavid@gcdailyworld.com.