'We’re like a whole family.' Roncalli comes up just short in Class 3A state finals
· Yahoo Sports
INDIANAPOLIS – Brennah Cerny leaned in toward the microphone during Roncalli’s postgame press conference Saturday night inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse, and before the senior could complete her first sentence, the tears began to stream down her face.
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Cerny paused and apologized while wiping her watery eyes before resuming.
“It’s amazing,” Cerny sobbed, as Roncalli seniors Catie Rosko, Lydia Stahley and Reagan Turk offered support from their neighboring chairs along the presser table. “We’re like a whole family, and it’s just like they’re having to leave, and it’s not what we wanted, but we broke some records, and I couldn’t be happier with my family.”
One family on and off the court, the top-ranked Class 3A Roncalli Royals left everything they had on the floor during the 51st annual IHSAA state finals against fifth-ranked Bellmont (25-3).
The Royals (27-4) envisioned a perfect finale and an 18th consecutive victory. A memorable night spent in downtown Indianapolis capped off by the program’s first-ever state title during their first state finals appearance since 1986.
Their hopes nearly materialized, but an injury to junior standout Elliot Leffler late in the fourth quarter, and a stubborn Bellmont Braves’ defense led to the opposite, as Roncalli fell short, 55-46.
“I thought we showed a lot of toughness and grit. I think we’ve done that all year,” Roncalli coach Jason Sims said. “We were able to climb back from deficits and actually took the lead, but you’ve got to give (Bellmont) credit. We knew this was going to be a big, big challenge for us.”
They passed the initial test.
Up 5-0 to start, Roncalli fell behind 18-8 by the end of the first quarter after Bellmont strung together a 12-2 run to flip the score.
In the second quarter, the Braves’ margin reached 11 points, but with Bellmont sophomore twins Ashley and Mary Bleke in foul trouble, the Royals closed the gap, 25-21 by halftime.
“We went to the zone, and we’ve had a lot of success in the zone all year. I thought we did a really good job there in the second quarter of kind of stymying them a little bit, slowing them down, getting them guessing a little bit,” Sims said. “When we saw they were out, I thought we made a nice little run to get us right back into the game going into halftime.”
When on the court, the Braves’ duo proved difficult to contain. Two of four Bellmont players in double figures, Ashley had a team-high 13 points, seven assists and six rebounds, and Mary finished with a double-double (12 points, 12 rebounds).
The Royals countered with composure, defense and Leffler, who finished with a game-high 22 points and six rebounds on 6 of 14 shooting.
“She just provides physical toughness,” Sims remarked on Leffler’s performance. “She just did a good job with handling a lot of different situations and what was an outstanding Bellmont defense.”
A steal and a layup by Leffler late in the second quarter cut Bellmont’s advantage to four points and later a bucket by Turk (4 points) before the buzzer kept the game within reach.
In the third, one of Leffler’s three 3-pointers gave Roncalli its first lead since the opening quarter, 34-33, before the score deadlocked, 34-34, entering the final eight minutes.
“I always have belief in these girls. I’ve seen what we’ve done. I know what we can do, so it was just instilling that belief in every single girl on the court, on the bench, saying, ‘Hey, this game’s not over until it hits zero,’” Turk said.
With 12 points in the first half, Leffler poured in 10 more in the second half, converting 7 of 10 free throws overall, but she fell to the court hard twice, and it eventually wore down her 5-foot-9 frame.
Leffler was pulled with 1:41 remaining in the game and Roncalli down 48-43. Team trainers attended to her and put a compression wrap on her right thigh, but she limped noticeably when checking back in.
A little over a minute later, Leffler crumbled to the floor, again, while attempting to challenge for a rebound off her missed shot.
This time, she had to be helped up and to the bench where her emotions and injury overwhelmed her.
“Not sure what it is yet. Just tweaked something there on the inner thigh,” Sims said. “You really can’t speculate at this point. Just kind of popped up. She was cramping early, we know that, so you hope maybe it’s just a muscle pull, but once again, it’s hard to speculate.”
It was hard for everyone on the Roncalli sideline, but Leffler’s teammates remained close by, even as Bellmont surged toward its first-ever state title.
Bellmont won the rebound battle 32-26 and buried 7 of 20 shots from 3-point range, but Roncalli’s unity was immeasurable, and it required a 21-point fourth for the Braves to push through.
“I think we went out strong, and we gave our best effort,” Turk said. “Bellmont’s an amazing team, and they just were better at the end of the day, but we can’t have our heads hanging on this because we’ve had an amazing season. This game right here does not define us.”
Instead, the moments characterized the Royals.
Turning a 27 percent shooting first quarter into a 50 and 41 percent second and third that shifted what looked to be an easy loss into a near comeback victory.
A gritty effort by Leffler that cost her the game’s final 30.6 seconds.
The watershed embraces that followed the final horn, while Turk and sophomore Lucy Swartz propped up Leffler and helped her walk over to center court to receive her state medal.
“They’ve become family to me. They’ve made this place special, this program special,” Sims said. “This group alone has raised over $50,000 for cancer awareness, countless amounts of service hours. Their accomplishments on and off the court are just next level.”
They also made the Braves earn their title, down to the final minutes.
“We were looking at Leffler and really focused on her,” Bellmont coach Andy Heim said. “She’s really dangerous … Amazing job by them, 32 minutes of just intense defense. You saw it in the fourth quarter, I thought, where Roncalli got a little bit tired, and we sort of bumped it back up. It’s all credit to these girls.”
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IHSAA basketball: Roncalli battles from behind, falls to Bellmont in 3A finals