Back to Bankers Life: Winchester beats Mater Dei for berth in 2A state championship

MUNCIE, Ind. — After the clock hit zeroes and Winchester made its way through the handshake line, the Golden Falcons held a sign up at midcourt for a photo op. It read, "They said they could... They said they would... So they did!

"Again."

Winchester used a strong second-half push to defeat Evansville Mater Dei 59-50 for the Class 2A south semistate title on Saturday afternoon at Jeffersonville. The No. 4 Golden Falcons (26-3) will return to the state championship next Saturday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, where they will play Oak Hill — which knocked off previously unbeaten Central Noble, 53-36 — at 12:45 p.m.

Turnovers and poor shooting plagued Winchester in the first half as Mater Dei went into the locker room up 20-19. Winchester opened the third quarter on a 7-0 run, however, and entered the fourth up by 14 following Maddie Lawrence's off-balance shot at the buzzer.

"We went into the locker room at halftime and I really got into them," Winchester coach Holly Gutierrez said on the IHSAA Champions Network after the game. "We came out with a bang in the second half, and that's our team. I was so proud of them. ... We talked about last weekend against Triton Central. We got down to start the first quarter, and I said, 'Remember how we played last weekend. You guys dug out of that, and can do that again.' By gosh, I was so proud of them in that third quarter. They did it."

The Wildcats trimmed the lead to five with 1:12 to play, but could get no closer as Winchester won its 11th straight game going into next weekend's finale.

Lawrence paced the Golden Falcons with 19 points, hitting 15-of-16 from the free-throw line. Shelby Miller added 14 points and Hannah Graft had 13.

Winchester's biggest concern going forward will be the health of starting center Kira Robinson, who left with an ankle injury and did not return. In noticeable pain, the 6-foot-3 senior had to helped from the bench onto the court by her teammates after the game for celebratory pictures.

Following last season's loss to Central Noble in the state championship, Miller told her team in the locker room: "Let this fuel your fire to work hard in the offseason so we can come to state two years in a row. I think it’s doable.”

Turns out she was right.

"How awesome is this?" Gutierrez said, looking at the Winchester crowd. "The community stepped up big-time and sent us down here on a charter bus. They've been awesome, and I'm sure this week is going to be super exciting for these girls. We're very blessed."

Jake Fox is a high school sports writer at The Star Press. Contact him at (765) 213-5848, jfox@muncie.gannett.com or @FoxJake_.