Center Grove Beats Lawrence Central 29-26 to Reach 4A State Final

Center Grove survived a tense defensive battle at Jasper High School, beating Lawrence Central 29-26 on Saturday to advance to the IHSAA Class 4A state championship and preserve its undefeated season. Gracyn Gilliard led the Trojans with 18 points and delivered the late plays that kept Center Grove alive.

Gilliard accounted for six of Center Grove’s first eight points, including a layup at the first-quarter buzzer, and sank two free throws to force a 21-all tie with 0.3 seconds left in the third quarter. “It’s never a bad idea to put the ball in your best player’s hands at the most critical time of the game, especially if that happens to be Center Grove’s Gracyn Gilliard,” one recap noted, and multiple reports called her the best player on the floor Saturday night.

Center Grove’s defense proved decisive in the low-scoring affair. Lawrence Central shot 10-of-25 overall, made just 3-of-11 from three-point range and went 3-of-6 from the free-throw line, while leading scorer Ke’Adriah Butler finished with 11 points as the only Bear in double figures. Head coach Stuckmeyer emphasized the program’s defensive identity after the win: “We’ve got one more,” Stuckmeyer said. “It’s where you want to be. This is probably the hardest day of basketball to get through and we got through it. But we still have business to take care of. We’ve got one more. We’ll be facing one of the top-tier teams in the state and have to go win it again.”

The semistate victory capped a weekend in which Center Grove’s rotation again showed depth. Haley Wagoner added eight points in the championship game, and the Trojans leaned on their switching man-to-man defense that coaches said is practiced from the lower levels through spring and summer. That defensive scheme was credited with limiting Lawrence Central’s driving lanes and 3-point looks while forcing contested shots throughout the second half.

Center Grove reached Jasper after a dominant semistate semifinal performance, beating Evansville Reitz 53-37. Gilliard scored 21 in that game, Lillia Tapak contributed 10, Mackenzie Pierce had nine and Wagoner nine as the Trojans hit nine three-pointers and produced an 18-0 run spanning the first and second quarters. Reitz coach Brock Stone reflected on his program’s season, saying, “They made it fun to play basketball again on the Hill.”

The Trojans will face Norwell in the Class 4A state championship at Gainbridge Fieldhouse; Norwell advanced after a decisive semistate win over McCutcheon. Center Grove’s trip to the title game is the program’s first since its 1996 state championship season, when the Trojans finished 25-2, and a state victory this spring would make Center Grove one of the relatively few undefeated state champions since the current playoff format began in 1975.

Box score verification and full play-by-play remain pending, including final scoring sequence details and official confirmation of season records and player name spellings. Center Grove will prepare to meet Norwell with an undefeated record and a title game berth on the line.