The St. Peter’s Lutheran eighth-grade girls basketball team won the Indiana Lutheran Schools Athletic Association state tournament Sunday in Fort Wayne. Team members include, front row from left, Andi Carothers, Vada Reigle, Madelyn Tapp, Sydney Baker, Miranda Ortega, Brooke Moss; and back row, assistant coach David Luken, head coach Rick Patberg, Ella Thompson, Anna Myers, Rian Strietlemeier, Syndi Schiefer, Avery Johnson, Chailynn Davis, Savannah Burton, Hazel Sasse, Bailey Rohde and assistant coach Chris Baker.
Submitted photo
After winning last year’s Indiana Lutheran Schools Athletic Association state tournament, St. Peter’s Lutheran’s eighth-grade girls basketball team had a target on its back this year.
The Lions were ready to take the shots from the rest of the field. They won three games in two days over the weekend to bring home their second consecutive state crown and their fifth overall in the past 12 years.
“It’s nice to repeat,” St. Peter’s coach Rick Patberg said. “It’s certainly a different challenge being the one being chased. We certainly took everybody’s biggest punch because everybody’s gunning for us. We handled it pretty well. There were moments where we didn’t play as well as we had played during the season, but we ended up well.”
The Lions beat Wynekan Lutheran from Decatur 36-18 on Saturday morning, then fought off Lutheran Central from Brownstown 29-21 on Saturday afternoon. That set up a battle for the championship with the host school, Concordia Lutheran from Fort Wayne.
St. Peter’s jumped out to a 19-10 halftime lead, but Concordia cut the lead to five with 3:44 left in the game. The Lions started holding the ball, and point guard Avery Johnson was able to get to the free-throw line and convert multiple times in the final three minutes in a 29-25 victory.
“We played a super first half, probably our best half of the year,” Patberg said. “They’re a long, athletic team, and we had trouble scoring in the third quarter.”
Johnson scored 25 of her team’s 29 points. Sydni Schiefer had the other four points.
Johnson, who put up 18 points in each of Saturday’s games, was named tournament MVP for the second consecutive year. Schiefer, who added nine in each of Saturday’s games, also made the All-Tournament team.
The St. Peter’s eighth-grade boys team finished third in the ILSAA state tournament. Gage King and Leo Baker made the All Tournament team.
The girls team, now 23-1, will play in the National Lutheran Basketball Tournament March 23-26 in Fort Wayne. The Lions have finished as high as second in the national tourney in previous years.
“This team has a chance to do some damage up there,” Patberg said. “We’re not a very big team. We’re just a smart team that plays hard. Our Achilles heel is, if we’re not shooting well, we sometimes struggle.”
