"This is the team of destiny. We have such unity as a team. No one can break us." -ÊTriton junior guard Shelly Miller, one week before the state finals, after Triton's 64-38 semistate championship win over Lapel

Hogwash. Rubbish. Bunk. Gobbledy-gook.

A crock, if you will.

These are words you may use if you are one who does not buy into the often-used "team of destiny" line.

Maybe there are too many teams that fall back on the phrase.

But in Triton's case, you should buy into it.

Miller said it, and Triton coach Mark Heeter agreed. So did Rising Sun coach Mark Fette. So did Rising Sun's two most talented players, twins Jessica and Jennifer Brock. So did Triton senior forward Missy Nifong. And so did WRSW's Rita Price-Simpson, the voice of Indiana high school girls basketball for all 25 years.

Unranked Triton, 20-7, was destined to beat No. 4 Rising Sun (25-3) 57-54 in overtime in Saturday's Class A state finals at Hinkle Fieldhouse.

Way too much weird, wild, wacky stuff happened for that not to be the case.

Triton, a girls basketball team that had never won a regional title before this year, did it right and won the regional, the semistate and the state title all in the same year. Rising Sun's top two scorers in school history, the Brock twins, were seniors this year. Rising Sun has won regional titles for three straight years.

Yet Triton, a young team with one senior, ran the table and won out the first year it got out of the regional. Rising Sun, which fell out of the semistate with a one-point loss two years ago and a two-point loss last year, worked hard and went 70-7 over the last three years but could not earn a state title with the Brocks on the team.

"Oh, I knew this year was our year," Nifong said matter-of-factly.

Yes, Triton hosted the sectional, regional and semistate, and that unquestionably helped. Strength of schedules, something Heeter harped on during the week, helped as well. Triton's was by far tougher. Triton played 7 1A schools during the regular season; Rising Sun played 16 1A schools.

OK, but what about Nifong? She hit not one but two circus shots.

The one everyone talks about is the three-pointer with 59 seconds left in overtime. Rising Sun had its biggest lead of the game, 54-48, and Nifong, from the left wing, tossed up a three-pointer that hit the top half of the backboard and somehow found its way into the basket. Rising Sun junior forward Dawn DeDreu was draped all over Nifong, and Nifong said she couldn't even see the basket.

"Her shot hit the top of the backboard," Heeter said. "Those usually don't go in. Something tipped it in."

Said Fette: "It's nothing we did or didn't do. We had our hands in her face, we did what we could do. I felt Triton played a great game."

As he said this, both Brocks, seated next to him in the press conference, slowly nodded their heads in agreement. The Brocks must have felt they came up against a higher power, because for each being seniors and finally being so close to their goal, they took the loss in stride and showed no tears while talking about an overtime loss at the buzzer.

"The last three years we've lost by a basket," Jessica said. "We did everything we could, besides making our free throws. This was a great season. That's what I'm focusing on."

Earlier in the fourth quarter, Nifong hit her first circus shot. With 6:01 left, Nifong shot a three-pointer that hit the back of the rim, bounced straight up in the air and came down through the net.

Then there is the way Triton's season ended last year. Triton lost to Kouts 53-51 at the Knox Regional on Jennifer Bielinski's last-second basket. This year, Triton won on a last-second basket.

How about shy sophomore Amber Feldman? Feldman's basket as time ran out gave Triton the 57-54 overtime win against Rising Sun. Heeter bristles at the way some in the media portrayed her, as a girl who never played and got lucky just to get in the game.

Fact is, Feldman played in 26 of Triton's 27 games. She and junior Janell Salisbury were the two reserves Heeter used most. Feldman entered the game with 60 steals, four behind team leader Nifong, and was third on the team with 78 assists. She scored 101 points this season, the most of any Triton reserve. Remember, the girl putting these numbers up is a 15-year-old sophomore playing for the varsity team.

At the same time, she had hit only 2 of 12 three-pointers this season, and she is a girl Heeter begs to take more shots. She hit the game-winning basket against Rising Sun as time ran out, her first shot attempt in the game and her third three-pointer of the season.

"Something happened to me that's happened only two times in 25 years of broadcasting: I was at a loss of words," Price-Simpson said at Sunday's rally at Triton High School. "The thing that really got me was the most quiet, unassuming kid on the team who would never, ever congratulate herself, who I have to pull words out of, hit the three to win the game.

"It was like it was supposed to happen."

Said Heeter: "We get on her a lot about not shooting enough. I'm telling you, Amber can shoot. You leave her alone, and she's a dead-eye. There have been times during the year we had to take her out because she wouldn't shoot. With Missy leaving, she's gonna have to be a scorer for us."

That Triton hit three three-pointers in 59 seconds - with the game winding down -Êis miraculous itself.

The clincher is this true story: After the game, a reliable source and the best photographer around said that when Rising Sun had taken the 54-48 lead, the sun had temporarily quit shining in through the glass windows and onto the court at Hinkle Fieldhouse. It was as if some clouds were passing by right at that moment. But when Nifong hit her first three-pointer, the sun was shining as brightly as ever, as it was at the end of the game, when Feldman won it.

Makes you think.

Fette doesn't have to think. He knows.

"It's one of those things," he said, "where Triton was meant to win the state title." [[In-content Ad]]