INDIANAPOLIS — Eastern Hancock got the challenge it was looking for, just not the result.
The Royals, ranked No. 2 in Class 2A by the Indiana Coaches of Girls Sports Association, lost for the first time this season Saturday.
Against Lawrence North, ranked No. 10 in Class 4A and No. 8 in the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association (all classifications) poll, the Royals lost 71-39 in the title game of the Lawrence North Wildcat Invitational.
Carrying over from last season, Eastern Hancock had won 24 straight regular-season games, last losing a non-postseason contest Dec. 6, 2022 at North Decatur, 49-48.
The Royals dropped to 14-1. They were 4-0 punching above their weight coming into Saturday’s game against the Wildcats. Eastern was 2-0 against Class 3A teams (Rushville, Northwestern) and 2-0 against Class 4A squads (Cathedral, Elkhart). The Royals beat Elkhart earlier Saturday, 60-49, to reach the championship game.
Eastern Hancock coach Shari Doud said her team got into this tournament to play against the bigger schools in hopes of being better prepared when it came to the Class 2A postseason.
Disappointed in the result of Saturday’s championship game, Doud was far from that when it came to the experience her team received by playing two games in one day and against a pair of Class 4A teams, including one of the best in the state.
“[Lawrence North] is very talented, everywhere. And their depth, they play 11 kids and they don’t lose anything when they bring players off the bench. Their length, athleticism, everything bothered us,” Doud said. “We got hammered, but I was really pleased, I felt like we handled the backcourt pressure better this evening than we did against Elkhart. But, we turned it over in our halfcourt offense.
“A team like [Lawrence North] gets you to rush your stuff. We were able to run some of our sets in the man-to-man, but they get you to take hurried shots. Hats off to them, but we walk away from this 1-1 and a whole lot of lessons learned on areas of the game that we’ll need to continue improving on if we want to get deep in the tournament.”
Lawrence North scored the game’s first six points before a drive to the basket for two points by Eastern Hancock senior Sammie Bolding. She scored the Royals first seven points. Her second drive to the hoop cut it to 10-4 and she followed it with a 3-pointer to get EH within 10-7 at the 4:20 mark of the first quarter.
The Wildcats took control from there, scoring the next 12 points before Kenzie Koch got a bucket on an assist from Ruby White to cut it to 22-9 with just 15 seconds left in the period. Lawrence North’s Kalea Bentley hit a 3-pointer to end the quarter to give her team a 25-9 first-quarter lead.
“This (tournament) wasn’t originally on our schedule,” Doud said. “We had a couple teams drop us and we had an open two games. We told Lawrence North we were interested and a couple days later they got back to us and invited us to be in it. There were other teams that wanted in it. That shows respect towards this group of girls. We’re honored by that. They just didn’t want another 4A team to come in, they wanted a good 2A team to come in here.
“Regardless of the result, at the end of the day we’re still very proud.”
Koch scored on a drive to start the second quarter to cut the Wildcats lead to 25-11. White scored the next two Eastern Hancock baskets, getting an assist from Bolding on the first one and a helper from Koch on the second. Koch hit a jumper later in the quarter for the Royals final first-half points, cutting the Lawrence North lead to 39-17 at halftime.
Eastern Hancock had seven first-quarter turnovers and had two more in the second before a steal by Koch gave the Wildcats their first turnover of the game with 4:02 left in the first half.
“We were able to run things and get some shots, but still too many turnovers,” Doud said. “Again, you have to credit Lawrence North’s defense. They make you hurry. As much as we preach ‘poise, poise, don’t rush’ we’re not the ones out there. Their girls made us rush.
“We weren’t able to put too many points on the board when you’re not getting wide open looks. We’ve played a lot of teams this year where we get any look we want. This was a real eye-opener that we are not world-beaters. We’re pretty darn good anyway.”
Koch led the Royals with 14 points. Bolding had 10. Off the bench, sophomore Kiersten Judd scored five points.
Following Hurt with 14, LN’s Naja Winston scored 13 and Jamaya Thomas had 10. Ten different Wildcat players scored.
The Wildcats improved to 13-3.
Eastern Hancock (14-1) returns to action Wednesday with a home Mid-Eastern Conference game against Blue River Valley.
4A No. 10 Lawrence North 71, 2A No. 2 Eastern Hancock 39
Eastern Hancock;9;8;12;10;—;39
Lawrence North;25;14;20;12;—;71
Eastern Hancock (14-1): Makenzie O’Neal 0 1-2 1, Brooklyn Willis 1 0-0 2, Ruby White 2 0-0 4, Sammie Bolding 4 0-0 10, Kenzie Koch 5 4-4 14, Sydney Springman 0 0-0 0, Camryn Andrus 1 0-0 2, Kiersten Judd 2 1-2 5, Bella Sotelo 0 0-0 0, Lainee Parker 0 1-2 1, Clara Wallace 0 0-0 0. Totals: 15 7-10 39.
Lawrence North (13-3): Jamaya Thomas 4 2-2 10, Kamara Mills 2 0-0 4, Kya Hurt 6 2-2 14, Naja Winston 3 6-6 13, Ke’Adriah Butler 2 2-2 7, Ashiyah Teague 1 2-2 4, Ka’Nyriah Ridley 3 2-2 8, Emani Washington 2 0-0 4, Ellysa Morris 1 0-0 2, Kalea Bentley 2 0-0 5. Totals: 26 16-16 71.
3-point goals: Eastern Hancock 2 (Bolding 2). Lawrence North 3 (Winston, Butler, Bentley).
