HILLARY SMITH: E.C., L.C. rematch comes 17 years after historic showdown

MUNSTER | On Feb. 11, 1995, Lake Central and E.C. Central played their way into a regional final that pitted two of the top teams in the country against each other for a chance at a semistate.

Though Lake Central was held to no points in the fourth quarter, the Indians won 37-35 en route to a second-straight state title appearance.

It took 17 years, but on Saturday, Feb. 11, Lake Central and E.C. Central met again for a championship.

Missing were the 8,000 fans that packed the stands in 1995 and the region-wide anticipation and ramp up that preceded the game.

Missing were the six Division I seniors that peppered the rosters of the two teams 17 years ago.

Not missing was the excitement.

With the game tied at 46 heading into the fourth quarter, E.C. Central looked to its next hope for a D-I player in Andriana Moore, who didn't disappoint, finishing with 25 points, 19 rebounds and helping the Cardinals to the 68-59 win.

The sectional championship trophy was E.C. Central's first since 2006, when McDonald's All-American Dee Dee Jernigan and Kelly Watts won the last one.

"We hear about all of those stories and all of those teams and we try to be better than them," Moore said. "They were great. We want to be great, too."

An estimated 1,000 fans watched the rematch 17 years in the making. The dropoff came despite the estimation that Lake Centrals and E.C. Centrals from the late '90s were the next great hope for region girls basketball.

As the great individual players are harder to find and harder to find on a team together, the winning mantra moves to Lake Central's brand of "team basketball."

The Indians had three scorers in double figures, with Nikki Adams' 15 leading the way for Lake Central. E.C. Central had four players with 10 or more points.

"Both teams had some great players, no question, but I think their team, they go 10 deep, they've got a great feeder system and their team is a little different than ours," E.C. Central coach Eric Kundich said. "In East Chicago, there's always athletes, we don't have the same feeder system, but we try to find some girls who want to be committed, work hard on their fundamentals. This year, we happened to have some really good players."

In this same space 17 years ago, Roman Modrowski wrote about how the Class of 1995 would help girls basketball live on for the next generation.

Here we are, this is the next generation, growing up on the stories of those who set the standard, hoping only to reach the same level.

Leslie Iwema was one of those players named as the next hope. She played in front of 8,000 region basketball fans, twice, and now coaches at her alma mater.

Replicating the excitement of 8,000 isn't easy.

"Back in the day, the draw was Monica Maxwell, Tennille Adams, Kristina Divjak and Kelly Komara. All four D-I, WNBA, Europe players," Iwema said. "That was the draw to come see those kids play. They didn't come to watch a girls basketball game, they came to watch a basketball game.

"It has polarized so much that when someone wants to watch a basketball game, they go to a boys game. It's unfortunate that's happened, but that's how it was when I first was in high school that the draw was the boys, but it got flipped because of us with East Chicago. I think that was a special time. I don't know if you can recreate that unless you have a Ben Davis, they're going to have thousands of people see Ben Davis, thousands of people see Hamilton Southeastern, Merrillville had great crowds, Michigan City had great crowds, as they come to see those girls and those teams. I think that was a special time and I don't know if it can be replicated."

The 7,000 people who stayed home and missed Saturday night's sectional championship didn't miss six D-I players on the court.

They missed a close game, close calls, close teams and region girls basketball.

This column solely represents the writer's opinion. Reach her at hillary.smith@nwi.com.