Lapel Overcomes Early Deficit, Claims Class 2A Regional Title 67-55

For one dazzling quarter, it looked like Blackford had come to Lapel and stolen the gym. Then the Bulldogs took it back.

Blackford led 16-8 after the first quarter Saturday night, capped by a stunning moment: sophomore Mari Leggett, already the Class 2A scoring leader, heaved a shot from beyond halfcourt in the final seconds and watched it bank through the net. The Bruins' bench erupted, the crowd leaned toward Blackford, and Lapel's typically potent offense had been shut out of any early rhythm.

The remaining three quarters belonged entirely to the regional host Bulldogs.

Lapel steadily erased the deficit by forcing Blackford turnovers and connecting on shots that grew increasingly difficult to answer. The home crowd, quiet through the first eight minutes, found its voice as Lapel's scoring runs opened up a gap across the second and third quarters that Blackford never closed. Turnovers and Lapel's second-half shooting proved to be the difference, and at the final buzzer the Bulldogs had claimed the Class 2A regional championship, 67-55.

The loss ended a legitimately successful Blackford season. The Bruins finished 20-7, a record that included their first sectional title since 2021. Departing seniors, among them Kitterman, leave a program that will need to rebuild around a player who makes that task considerably less daunting.

Leggett, just a sophomore, led Class 2A in scoring this season at 26.4 points per game and has already accumulated 1,049 career points through two seasons. That halfcourt bank shot that briefly made Lapel's gym feel like enemy territory was a fitting symbol of a player whose ceiling is still nowhere in sight. The comparisons to Blackford legend Luke Brown are already being drawn; Leggett has two more seasons to make them stick.

For Lapel, the regional title sends the Bulldogs forward in the IHSAA tournament as Class 2A champions from their bracket, a result built not on a fast start but on the ability to absorb a punch, adjust, and take over a game when it mattered most.