Semistate Winners Set: Indiana Girls Basketball Finalists Headed to Gainbridge Fieldhouse

Center Grove’s Trojans and Lawrence Central’s Bears headline the semistate winners who will advance to next weekend’s state finals at Gainbridge Fieldhouse after full slates of semistate games Saturday. Center Grove rolled past Evansville Reitz 53-37 and Lawrence Central edged Floyd Central 53-47 to set a Jasper Class 4A championship meeting at 8 p.m.

Center Grove’s balance came from beyond the arc and a suffocating early defense. “Center Grove hit nine 3-pointers and rolled to a comfortable win over Reitz,” a game write-up noted, and the Trojans surrendered their first points at the 6:12 mark of the first quarter before holding Reitz scoreless until two minutes into the second, outscoring Reitz 18-0 in that stretch. Gracyn Gilliard led Center Grove with 21 points while Lillia Tapak added 10, MacKenzie Pierce and Haley Wagoner each scored nine. For Reitz, Kierstyn Kaiser had 17 and Rhyan Wagner finished with 10.

Lawrence Central leaned on a decisive third-quarter surge and steady foul-line shooting to subdue Floyd Central. “Lawrence Central used a 10-0 run to take control of a one-point game in the third quarter,” and the Bears converted 15-of-19 free throws in the game. Lola Lampley is listed with 18 points and 8-of-10 free-throw shooting, while Aniyah McKenzie is credited with 19 in the game write-up; Keke Butler scored nine for Lawrence Central. Floyd Central was paced by Elise Coleman with 18, Mia Gianfagna with 14 and Brinley Clark with 11.

Across other semistate sites, LaPorte produced a 4A pairing when McCutcheon overwhelmed Northridge 76-59 and Norwell beat Crown Point 63-48, setting a McCutcheon-Norwell championship slated for 7:30 p.m. CT. In Class 3A at Logansport, Bellmont defeated Culver Academies 57-46 and Connersville topped Fairfield 50-36, with the Logansport championship listed for 8 p.m. Several additional semistate results and schedules were published statewide; confirmed winners from these sites will join the Gainbridge Fieldhouse field next weekend.

Evansville Christian’s postseason run remains a local storyline after the Lady Eagles captured their first-ever regional title, routing White River Valley 73-32 to follow a program-first sectional championship two weeks earlier. “The Lady Eagles have made history, two weeks in a row,” local coverage reported, and that regional title leaves Evansville Christian two wins shy of a first semistate in program history.

Fans seeking to watch the semistate games were directed to IHSAAtv.org, where streaming was listed at $12 per game or $20 for all games, and Indianapolis Star coverage with live updates and photos was republished across partner pages with highlight reels available on national feeds. The semistate winners from Feb. 21 will converge at Gainbridge Fieldhouse next weekend to play for state titles across classes, with site champions and final pairings finalized following the night’s championship games.