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Lawrence North girls basketball caps magical tournament run with 4A state championship
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- Lawrence North girls basketball caps magical tournament run with 4A state championship
INDIANAPOLIS — Stephen Thomas continued soaking it all in as he walked to the sideline for a postgame interview, watching on as seniors Jamaya Thomas and Kya Hurt cut down the nets at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, the final on-court celebration following Lawrence North's 65-59 win over Warsaw in the IHSAA girls basketball Class 4A state championship game Saturday night.
"I'm in disbelief," the third-year coach said. "Disbelief in a sense, but just because of how magnified this moment is, how special it is, how surreal it is and how much I just love our team, man. And for them to have this moment, to be able to walk around their township and their community and to be able to say they're state champions is incredible."
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The 2024-25 Lawrence North Wildcats were truly special and considering the journey, the scene Saturday was absolutely surreal. The regular-season turnaround has been well-documented, as has the conversations that took place behind the scenes that banded this team together and launched them on their February run.
Now that the season is officially over, we can appreciate the full impact of those tough conversations, spats of adversity and shift in mentality from: "Oh no, here we go again" to "Here we go again. Let's do this."
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Lawrence North's win over Warsaw Saturday night was the culmination of a month's long conquest through a who's-who in the 4A bracket. It began with an upset of the nationally ranked defending state champion Lawrence Central Bears in the sectional, continued with a come-from-behind win over Pendleton Heights and a semistate semifinal thrashing of defending 3A state champ Gibson Southern last weekend.
Also known as the "Cardiac Cats" the past couple seasons, LN lived up to that moniker in the semistate championship against Pike and at Gainbridge Fieldhouse against Warsaw.
The Wildcats' season finale, their final masterpiece, saw them build an 18-point lead late in the third quarter, then weather a roaring comeback by the Tigers, who got within a possession on a couple occasions. But every time they punched, Lawrence North punched back, with Thomas, Hurt, Keke Butler and Naja Winston leading the way down the stretch.
"LN girls basketball is just a special program," Jamaya Thomas said. "The back-to-back teams in 2019 and 2020, they really paved the way for us. That's what we wanted. It encouraged us. And it really pushed us; gave us hope that we could do this, too."
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Butler finished with 20 points on 7-of-15 shooting, plus eight rebounds, two steals, a block and two assists. A rising star from over the summer, she parlayed that momentum into a breakout junior campaign and did most of her damage vs. Warsaw in the first quarter, dropping seven points on 3-of-5 shooting through the first eight minutes to give her team early life.
"This was the cherry on top (to a great season), but the best thing about it is that she's got another year," Stephen Thomas smiled. "And she's only getting better."
Hurt, the other piece to (arguably) the state's best backcourt, dished out seven assists, while Jamaya Thomas — whose leadership alongside Hurt was invaluable this season — overcame early foul trouble to log 14 points, six of which in the second quarter.
Winston, meanwhile, enjoyed one of the best games of her career. Assigned to guard Warsaw senior Brooke Winchester, she held her own vs. the Ball State commit and tallied nine points, 14 rebounds (five offensive), five steals, a block and an assist.
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"There's brick and there's mortar, and that kid's mortar," Stephen said of the 5-10 junior. "She holds us together. She makes huge plays. She does all the things that might not be in the stat sheet for us, but she's done a phenomenal job of just getting better."
And then there was Kalea Bentley. A key contributor during a five-game win streak midway through the season, the 5-9 junior had some ups-and-downs as the year progressed, but found her shooting stroke against Gibson Southern and delivered again vs. Warsaw, dropping 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting from 3.
Bentley's first triple made it 24-23 midway through the second quarter; her last gave LN its largest lead at 47-29 with 3:02 left in the third (she assisted on the basket that returned the lead to 18 points about three minutes later).
"Her shooting was amazing," Jamaya Thomas said of Bentley. "She's worked on that all season and I'm glad it finally got to pay off for her."
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Lawrence North shot 41% from the field, went 8-for-19 from 3 and generated 17 turnovers (10 steals).
It got the lead to 18 and, on paper, was in a very good position.
But no lead is safe against the high-octane, high-scoring Warsaw Tigers.
And despite the Wildcats' best efforts — they never really let up or looked comfortable with their lead — the Tigers launched a fourth-quarter assault to make things interesting late.
Brooke Zartman, who finished with 12 points, drilled back-to-back 3s to make it a 10-point game in the fourth, then added a third triple inside the final minute. That last field goal was followed by a 3-point play by fellow junior Joslyn Bricker (12 points), which left the score at 60-57 with 30 seconds remaining.
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But four free throws from Butler, and a fifth from Winston helped LN reclaim and maintain its two-possession lead over the final seconds.
After pulling down a rebound and drawing a foul with a five-point lead and nine seconds remaining, Winston ran to the free throw line ahead of everyone else. There she was met by Jamaya Thomas, who put her arm around the junior and pulled her in tight.
Let's go. This is how we end it, right here.
Nine seconds later, Lawrence North was celebrating its first state championship since 2020.
"It hurts that (the seniors) have to go, but this is a great way to send them out," Winston said. "They've had a great four years and they ended it on a very good note."
Follow Brian Haenchen on Twitter at @Brian_Haenchen .
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IHSAA girls basketball: Lawrence North beats Warsaw in 4A title game
