At Tuesday’s girls basketball 4A Sectional 14 championship hosted by Bloomington North, 11th ranked East Central was a slight statistical underdog against No. 8 Columbus East. The Olympians also had defeated the Trojans by nine back in November.
But as heard on WRBI, coach Kevin Moore’s St. Leon ladies rose to the occasion and upended Columbus East 72-67 to win the sectional for a third consecutive year. The victory was the 11th straight for the Trojans and the loss ended an eight-game winning streak for the Os.
While it took a complete team effort for East Central to avenge that earlier loss, there was no doubt the Trojans leaned on their heavy hitters. Josie Trabel poured in 36 points during Tuesday’s finale which tied a program record. And Hope Fox tallied 22 points which put her over 1000 for her varsity career.
Coach Moore said after the game, EC’s unsung hero was Caitlyn Dick who finished with nine points, six of which came in the fourth quarter to help secure the title.
There were 12 lead changes during the 32 minutes of play. Neither team led by more than three during the first half.
Trabel scored 14 points in the first quarter which ended all square at 17.
Columbus East took a 28-26 lead into intermission as Saige Stahl scored the halves’ final four points to give her eight at the break. Teammate Koryn Greiwe had nine. Trabel’s total had reached 20.
The Olympians committed just two turnovers in the first half, but the Trojans were 4-of-8 from 3-point range.
East Central regained the lead in the third during a 10-0 run. It’s 40-34 advantage was the largest of the game by either team. But the Trojans held just a two-point edge at the stop 45-43.
The Olympians briefly went up 54-53 in the fourth; however, EC got it back on foul shots associated with a Columbus East technical and the possession which followed.
The Os tied the game one final time at 57, then East Central relied on its free throw shooting to stay in front the rest of the way. Fox hit seven straight in the closing quarter and Dick made 3-of-4 to help retain the Sectional 14 championship.
Greiwe finished with 23 points to lead the Olympians, Stahl scored 14, Harley Gant had 11 and Albany Speer put in 10.
The key stat of the night was 3-point shooting where East Central made 8-of-15. Columbus East was just 2-of-10. The Olympians had a plus-3 advantage in rebounds (26-23) and a minus-5 advantage in turnovers (5-10). Both teams hit just above 50 percent from 2-point range and combined to make 29 of 34 free throws (EC 16/19, CE 13/15).
The Olympians end their season as undefeated Hoosier Hills Conference champions with an overall record of 19-4.
East Central is now 22-4 and advances to the Columbus North Regional this Saturday to meet second-ranked Franklin Community in game one. The 25-1 Grizzly Cubs are the defending regional champions.
The other half of the regional bracket has No. 3 Bedford North Lawrence (23-2) against unranked Castle (19-4).
We thank Bloomington North AD Andy Hodson for the accommodations and hospitialty and to coaches Kevin Moore and Danny Brown for their information. We also thank coach Moore for talking with us in our postgame show.