North-South rivalry adds healing power to its mystique

Jan. 12—The many possibilities and total unpredictability of high school basketball games between Terre Haute North and Terre Haute South has been discussed and debated for more than 50 years now.

This year might be the first that the rivalries' powers of healing have been considered, however.

When the Braves and the Patriots get ready to tip off in the boys game Friday night, the second half of the doubleheader at Hulman Center, North assistant coach Nate Blank is expected to be on the sidelines with Todd Woelfle.

"Can't miss the North-South game," said Blank, who has missed most of the season with a potentially life-threatening physical problem, at a North practice earlier this week.

So maybe the game really has mystical powers — and it's also on Friday the 13th this year, for those of you who celebrate.

The girls game will tip off at 6 p.m. in Hulman Center, followed by the boys at approximately 7:30 ("Probably be more like 8," said South boys coach Maynard Lewis this week, although people with deadlines are hoping he's wrong).

The Indiana State University facility gives the student sections from both schools a chance to spread out and display their creativity, and their contributions to the atmosphere are often — some of them might insist "always" is a better word — nearly as much fun as the games themselves.

And the games should be fun.

The girls game, to start, matches the 9-12 Patriots against the 6-12 Braves. The teams had opposite results in their most recent games on Tuesday, North losing at Marshall (the one in Illinois) and South winning at Martinsville (the one in Indiana). It was South's first win over the Artesians since 2012.

North's slightly better record also carries over into Conference Indiana play, where the Patriots have a chance to finish in the first division — they are 1-2 right now — and the 0-3 Braves are trying to escape the cellar.

"It'll be a competitive game," predicted South senior Josiah Killinger. "It will come down to who wants it more ... every game there's a 50-50 chance of winning."

"Both teams have been working really hard," said South senior Gracie Adamson, the only South player who was a Brave — albeit a junior varsity Brave — the last time South beat North. "Whoever doesn't win, it won't be for lack of effort."

"We lost [to South] our freshman year," said North senior Preslee Michael. "[The Braves] were more ready than we were ... this is for bragging rights, like everyone says."

"It will be a lot of fun, especially playing in Hulman Center," added North senior Jetta Harmon.

Then comes the boys game, which should be a fitting climax to the evening. Both teams have identical records at 9-4, both have chances to win Conference Indiana (North is 2-0, South 0-1) and, as may have been mentioned earlier, it's a North-South game.

Oh, and the two teams played each other less than three weeks ago, South beating North in the First Financial Wabash Valley Classic on North's court.

If you guessed that social media has been all over this one, you'd probably be right ... but two of the principal athletes involved were doing their best this week to keep themselves noninflammatory in print media.

"We'll let our game talk," said North's Ethan Scott, who admitted, "We have a chip on our shoulder this week."

South's Nas McNeal, who was a key to South's win in December (and whose name could be paired with that of Randy Davies in a Vigo County trivia question), insisted this week, "This is nothing more than another game. We have to come out and play smart."

The person to whom McNeal was speaking was trying unsuccessfully to keep a straight face but McNeal — a future in poker, perhaps? — remained impassive.

"It's a conference win and crosstown bragging rights," McNeal said. "[Treating it as something bigger than that] makes it harder on us. We have to come out and not let [the hoopla] get in our heads. There'll be lots of people in the stands, but we've got to play the same [as we usually do]."

The Patriots haven't forgotten the first meeting, Scott indicated.

"We definitely wanted to win another Classic [North was the defending tournament champion]," Scott said. "We're 2-0 in conference and definitely playing for that because [winning Conference Indiana is] something we haven't done here.

"We can't let [the Braves] get going," he added. "They were hot in the first quarter [at the Classic] and they went from there."