Lady Lions return to Semi-state

Feb. 14—FRENCH LICK — As Yogi Berra used to say, it was "Deja vu all over again."

The Loogootee Lady Lions repeated the 2020 regional with wins over the same Trinity Lutheran and Tecumseh teams, to be crowned the 2021 regional champions. The win moves them into a match-up with Greenwood Christian, the same team they defeated during semi-state during last year's championship run.

Loogootee again used balanced scoring in the 55-38 win over Tecumseh, with a different players leading the way in each of the two games.

In the championship win, the Lions had junior Kylie VanHoy step up for 16, while Isabelle Waggner and Kalea Fleming were also in double figures with 12 points each. Makenzie VanHoy, who led Game 1 with six treys, added nine points in the nightcap, while Brooklynn Jones rounded out the scoring with six.

"Kalea was solid for for 64 minutes, and Isabelle Waggner was really good. She just kind of lacks a little confidence from time to time, but tonight she had that confidence, she took care of the ball, she was able to step up knock down some big free throws for us and I couldn't be happier for a group of girls. I mean the way we've fought all year and to go through a really good team like Tecumseh says a lot," said LHS coach Brian Smith.

"It's just a credit to their hard work and they're a smart group of girls and we spent about 15 minutes on Tecumseh through this evening and everything that we talked about in those 15 minutes, they went out and executed.

"These girls are winners. The VanHoys went from state championship in basketball to runners-up in volleyball, you know, and now we're getting ready to head to the final four, getting ready to maybe go back to the Bankers Life here in a couple weeks.

"A lot of these girls have been together since elementary school. I mean softball, volleyball, you name it, and they are smart, I mean the 4.0 students. They've got great parents, great families, just a great team, a great group to be around," added Smith.

Waggner and Makenzie VanHoy combined for the first five Lion points, but Kaybree Oxley helped Tecumseh move to a 6-5 lead.

Kylie VanHoy and Fleming pushed it to 10-6. Jones also added a put back and Makenzie VanHoy made a free throw to give Loogootee a 13-10 margin after one quarter.

Loogootee would extend it to 17-10 early in the second, and all from Kylie VanHoy. The run continued after a Jones bucket, but again it was Kylie VanHoy with the next five points and a 24-12 lead, halfway through the second. The Lady Lions showed a lot of patience in the final two minutes, leading to a Fleming trey and a 27-16 halftime lead.

Waggner opened the third with a trey, but was immediately answered by Lillie Sullivan of Tecumseh. Makenzie VanHoy and Jones added two buckets as Loogootee maintained its 11-point lead with 4:08 in the third.

The physical nature of the game was turned up in the final minutes of the quarter and there was very little scoring, as Loogootee led 34-25 going into the final quarter and putting them just eight minutes away from their second straight trip to semi-state.

Fleming opened the fourth with a pair of free throws, but Tecumseh was able to cut the margin to nine. Kylie VanHoy added two buckets off assists from Jones to make it 41-31 with 6:45 left. Fleming added four free throws as the Lady Lions went up 46-33. Kylie VanHoy continued to make her presence known with a bucket that extended it to 15-points with just over 2:00 to play. Waggner also went 6-6 from the stripe pushing it to 53-35, before Loogootee finally took the 55-38 win to move on to semi-state.

The Lions move on to Jasper to play Greenwood Christian at 1 p.m.

Loogootee heads to Regional Finals

FRENCH LICK — For the second year in a row, Loogootee proved to be too much for No. 1 Trinity Lutheran.

The Lady Lions used six 3-pointers from Makenzie VanHoy and 13 second-half points from Kalea Fleming to advance to the championship, after a 57-46 win in the Springs Valley Regional on Saturday.

Loogootee also got 10 from Kylie VanHoy and eight from Brooklynn Jones, all while holding 6-3 Butler-recruit Sydney James to just 17 points, mostly on the perimeter.

Makenzie VanHoy opened with a trey and Jones beat James for a rebound for the second Lion bucket, however, LHS would find themselves down 7-5, before Makenzie VanHoy added her second trey to take the lead back.

Although TL took the lead, Makenzie VanHoy continued to stay hot from the 3-point line to end the quarter with a trey and down just 12-11.

She and Jones pushed Loogootee to a 18-14 lead with 5:00 left in the half. After an Isabelle Wagner trey and a Kylie VanHoy bucket, LHS led 23-19. A James turnaround tied the game at 23-all and a long jumper to give Trinity a 25-25 lead at the half.

James picked up the first bucket of the second half, but after two baskets from Kylie VanHoy the game was tied at 27 with 4:30 left in third.

Fleming added a trey and the Lions were back up by three. McKenzie VanHoy also posted a triple and the Lions completed a 10-2 run.

McKenzie VanHoy then nailed her sixth trey to keep Trinity at bay, followed by buckets from Fleming and sister Kylie, but Trinity was able to stay within three at the end of the third, 40-37.

Kylie VanHoy opened the fourth with a pair of baskets as as LHS went up by seven.

Trinity was forced to foul down the final 2:00, as LHS took a 50-40 lead. Fleming added a pair of charity tosses and LHS went up 52-46 with :34 left. She end up going 9-10 down the stretch and finishing off with the 57-46 win.

In the first game, Tecumseh downed Lanesville, 63-60 to head to the championship at 8 p.m. Karsyn Flowers led Tecumseh with 19 while Kaybree Oxley had 14