From 2012-17, the Columbus North girls basketball team established a formidable reputation, winning six consecutive sectional titles, along with four regionals, three semistates and a state championship.
Now, after three straight years without a sectional title, the Bull Dogs are trying to reclaim that reputation.
“We have to prove ourselves,” North coach Pat McKee said. “This isn’t the team we had in 2014 or ‘15 or even ‘16 when we could beat a lot of teams with our reputation. We have to re-earn a reputation like we had there for awhile. We have to work at it every day. Our kids clearly have the willingness to win. The question is, do we have the willingness to prepare to win?”
Through the first couple weeks of practice, the results have been mixed.
“They’ve had occasional good moments,” McKee said. “Obviously, we’d like to see more moments like that.”
The Bull Dogs saw some good moments last season when they went 16-9, including 3-2 in Conference Indiana. But an overtime loss in the sectional semifinals to Columbus East, a team they had beaten in the regular season, left a bad taste in their mouths in the offseason.
Three starters return from last year’s team, led by 5-foot-8 senior point guard Alexa McKinley. McKinley led North with 11.8 points and 3.4 assists and added 4.0 rebounds and 1.6 steals last season.
“Alexa has been a leader for two years already,” McKee said. “She’s been our leading scorer the last two years. Her role really isn’t changing. We may tweak it. She may move off the ball to score more.”
Madison White, a 6-0 senior, moved into the starting lineup midway through the season and ended up third on the team in scoring with 7.3 points a game.
“We know she can hit 3s,” McKee said. “Can she make improvement on stepping inside a little bit more or slashing a little bit?”
Kylah Lawson, a 5-10 junior, led the Bull Dogs with 9.0 rebounds and 2.5 steals a game. She averaged 5.2 points.
“Kylah is a fabulous rebounder,” McKee said. “She wants to work on her perimeter game. Her mid-range game has tremendously improved.”
Lauren Barker, a 5-5 sophomore, emerged as the team’s sixth player as a freshman last year. She averaged 7.2 points and shot 47 percent from 3-point range.
“She got some good varsity experience,” McKee said. “She has a real nose for the basket. She’s fearless, and she’s going to compete hard all the time.”
Three other players saw significant varsity action last season — 5-8 sophomore Emma Long, 5-5 senior Kanon Matsuno and 6-0 senior Emily Herndon. Moving up to the varsity are 6-0 junior Andrea Justis and 5-9 junior Lucy Norman.
“We have options,” McKee said. “Our starters may be decided game to game based on matchups. If the other team has strong post play with size, we may need to match up with that. If the other team has size, but are slow, we can go with a small, quick lineup. In 2011-12 when we went to state, we did not have a set starting lineup. This could be a team like that. It could be a team that takes advantage of the multiple qualities that players bring.”
North’s schedule, which begins Saturday at Franklin, includes some new teams. Perry Meridian, Greenwood and Heritage Christian have been replaced with Rushville, Ben Davis and Silver Creek.
The Bull Dogs are currently scheduled to face Gibson Southern in the opening round of the Subway/North Invitational, but that may have to be revamped after Elkhart had to drop out of tournament. The Bull Dogs are looking for a replacement.
North looks to be a solid contender for the Conference Indiana title after defending champion Bloomington South lost all five starters.
“They had some non-seniors who were contributors, and they’re always good,” McKee said. “Terre Haute North has a girl (Zoe Stewart) who has about a dozen scholarship offers, and Terre Haute South has a coach (Will Staal) who is now in their second year. Southport had a really good team last year. They lost a lot of people, but they’re well-coached. Bloomington North has struggled a little bit, but they’re getting better, too.”
The Bull Dogs hope to contend with defending champion East Central and Columbus East for the sectional title.
“They’re both strong teams, and I’m sure they’ll be good again this year,” McKee said. “I hope we are in there, as well.”
