Sooner or later, Bloomington South was going to start hitting shots.
As good as the Panthers are from outside, the law of averages dictated that they weren’t going to go 0 for the sectional final. So when they began hitting 3-pointers in the second half, that was bad news for Columbus North.
Bloomington South, which went 2 for 18 from long range in Friday’s Columbus East Sectional semifinal win against East Central, went 0 for 11 in the first half of Saturday night’s title game. The Panthers went 4 for 9 in the second half, and all four makes were daggers.
First, Lauren Conner, who had missed her first five 3-pointers, gave Bloomington South the lead for good with a 3 at the 2-minute mark of the third quarter. A 25-footer at the buzzer by University of Southern Indiana recruit Addy Blackwell gave the Panthers a 30-26 lead going to the final period.
Conner drained two more 3s during an 8-0 fourth-quarter run that gave Bloomington South its largest lead at 44-34 with 2:38 remaining. After that, the Bull Dogs couldn’t recover.
North finishes its season 18-8
“We’re pleased with the group as a whole,” North coach Pat McKee said. “We feel like there’s a lot of potential to continue to grow. Now, it’s going to be up to the players to work really hard at getting stronger physically, refining their skills, being stronger mentally and knowing what we’re doing all the time.”
The good news for the Bull Dogs is that they lose only one player to graduation, senior Nadia Lomax. Lomax was North’s second-leading scorer this season and was again Saturday with a 13-point effort.
The rest of the group will be back, led by sophomore point guard Alexa McKinley, who had 17 Saturday and led the Bull Dogs in scoring and assists this season.
“About a year ago at this time, shortly after last season ended, we had meetings with each player,” McKee said. “We talked to Alexa about how good we thought she could be, and I think she’s grown into that. She’s really become an outstanding player, and yet, she’s not done. She can continue to get better, and we hope she does. She’s done a lot of wonderful things, and we’re hopeful to see more of it.”
Junior guards Annie Anderson and Sierra Norman and junior center Tessa Lomax are returning starters, while freshman forward Kylah Lawson and sophomore forward Madison White were the top subs off the bench. All showed flashes of brilliance at times this season.
The bad news for North is, that Bloomington South brings back all of its key players, except Blackwell. That includes Conner, who led the Panthers with 16 on Saturday and had 18 when they beat the Bull Dogs in Bloomington 11 days earlier.
Another sectional opponent, Columbus East, also likely isn’t going away with freshman point guard Koryn Greiwe back for three more years. The Olympians lost two starters in Claire Cunningham and Sarah Park, but return three others, including Greiwe, from a team that lost to North in Friday’s semifinals.
So while this is the first time since 2010 that neither Columbus school won a sectional title, their absence from the regional could be short-lived.
“We’d like to think we have a good program,” McKee said. “If we can play at the level we played at (Friday) night and tonight consistently, hopefully we will continue to grow and get even better yet.”
Ted Schultz is sports editor for The Republic. He can be reached at tschultz@therepublic.com or 812-379-5628.
