NAPPANEE -ÊBy now, everyone knows the NorthWood girls basketball team won the Class 3A state championship last week.

But the girls are not finished yet. They will travel to Hinkle Fieldhouse at Butler University to compete in Indiana's Tournament of Champions Friday.

"We had our celebration Sunday afternooon," said NorthWood head coach Steve Neff. "Monday we did some things with channel 16 and 22. We're trying to keep Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday as normal as possible.

"I sat the girls down Tuesday and gave them options about how to approach the game. It's very difficult to win the state championship and then come back to play the next week. Physically we will be OK, but mentally it's a different story."

The Panthers will not have an easy path to follow in the Tournament of Champions. As in the state championship, NorthWood will be the underdog. Each of the three teams the Black Swish could potentially face has a better record than NorthWood, and Fort Wayne Luers, the team NorthWood will face in the first game of the Tournament of Champions, has lost only one game this season. That one loss came to Fort Wayne Snider, the Class 4A state runner-up.

"Luers is a very good team," said Neff. "They play a lot of people. They have two 6-footers. They also like to switch people in and increase the tempo of the game.

"Luers likes to press, press, press and trap, trap, trap and play very good basketball. They are good outside as well as inside. We will need to work very hard and play well to advance to Saturday's game.

"Obviously our number one priority will be taking care of the ball. We'll try to break their press and take good shots that we can rebound."

The Panthers will have their hands full with the Knights, who have three players averaging double figures in scoring an average of 59.9 points per game. Although Luers averages an impressive 30.9 rebounds per game, the statistic that stands out most is the fact that the Knights have caused 752 turnovers this season while committing just 435.

However, while Luers is a quality team, NorthWood is not too shabby either. The Panthers handed No. 1 Indianapolis Cathedral its first loss to win NorthWood's first state championship in school history. NorthWood averaged 66.7 points per game and has two players averaging double-figure scoring (Natalie Will with 18.5, and Amy Zercher with 17.8 points). The Black Swish also pulls down 31.2 rebounds per game while hitting 50.2 percent of its field goals and 72.8 percent of shots from the charity stripe.

"Hopefully when the ball is tipped up, the competitiveness of the girls will take over and they will not lose," said Neff. "This is the last year for this event. It's a tough competition and we will try to get ready for it the best we can."

NorthWood faces Fort Wayne Luers tonight at 6:05 p.m. at Butler University's Hinkle Fieldhouse.

NORTHWOOD Statistical Leaders

Name FG 3-PT FG FT R RPG A S PTS PPG

Callander 102-220 14-38 31-36 52 1.9 82 29 249 9.2

Kas. Chamberlin 104-215 0-3 49-70 83 3.0 71 62 257 9.5

Duncan 85-160 0-1 40-55 184 7.0 35 45 210 8.0

Will 209-337 0-3 82-110 172 6.3 190 88 500 18.5

Zercher 125-235 15-49 82-105 271 12.9 142 62 347 17.8

Morris 31-87 19-57 17-23 29 1.1 28 19 98 3.7

LUERS Statistical Leaders

Name FG 3-PT FG FT R RPG A S PTS PPG

King 117-301 32-112 63-82 131 4.6 127 103 329 11.7

Loomis 79-147 0-0 35-64 87 5.1 14 23 193 11.3

Schaefer 113-194 0-0 56-77 188 6.7 30 43 282 10.0

Moppert 79-195 27-93 41-64 89 3.1 85 70 226 8.0

Snyder 66-177 42-118 22-33 32 1.1 76 33 196 7.0

Dossen 35-62 0-0 35-64 53 2.9 6 13 105 5.8

C. Wyss 40-106 0-1 32-47 109 3.8 24 27 112 4.0

Zoch 40-106 0-1 32-47 109 3.8 24 27 112 4.0

NorthWood 24-3

Penn 42, NorthWood 35

NorthWood 77, Bremen 35

NorthWood 60, Plymouth 47

NorthWood 62, Lakeland 33

NorthWood 79, Wawasee 42

NorthWood 51, Northridge 32

Terre Haute South 74, NorthWood 60

NorthWood 78, Elkhart Memorial 55

NorthWood 70, South Bend Clay 36

NorthWood 60, Mishawaka 19

NorthWood 73, Goshen 28

NorthWood 65, Elkhart Central 47

NorthWood 70, SB St. Joseph's 36

NorthWood 88, Triton 25

NorthWood 72, Whitko 30

NorthWood 55, Concord 46

Warsaw 48, NorthWood 38

NorthWood 97, SB Adams 41

NorthWood 72, Portage 48

NorthWood 57, Crown Point 34

NorthWood 64, Jimtown 36

WAWASEE SECTIONAL

NorthWood 76, Wawasee 38

NorthWood 78, Angola 41

NORTHWOOD REGIONAL

NorthWood 79, SB Washington 41

PERU SEMISTATE

NorthWood 59, Andrean 41

NorthWood 56, Westfield 47

CLASS 3A STATE FINALS

NorthWood 72, Indianapolis Cathedral 71

FW Luers 27-1

Luers 49, Carroll (Allen) 35

Luers 54, Woodlan 41

Luers 60, Homestead 53

Luers 66, South Adams 42

Luers 82, Heritage 45

Luers 78, FW North Side 52

Luers 72, FW Wayne 20

Luers 43, FW Dwenger 35

Luers 67, Harding 26

Luers 56, FW Elmhurst 45

FW Snider 36, Luers 32

Luers 59, FW Snider 38

Luers 72, FW South Side 38

Luers 52, FW Northrop 38

Luers 53, Norwell 31

Luers 61, FW Elmhurst 40

Luers 66, Harding 36

Luers 50, Huntington North 39

Luers 47, Leo 32

Luers 57, FW Concordia 25

Luers 70, New Haven 33

LEO SECTIONAL

Luers 74, Eastside 40

Luers 60, Woodlan 36

Luers 50, Leo 32

EAST NOBLE REGIONAL

Luers 82, Jimtown 36

MACONAQUAH SEMISTATE

Luers 61, Frankton 36

Luers 46, Eastern (Greentown) 44

CLASS 2A STATE FINALS

Luers 59, Austin 48 [[In-content Ad]]