By Anna Kayser, Special to IHSAA.org
INDIANAPOLIS – In their first trip to the girls’ basketball state finals in school history, the Borden Braves mounted the largest successful comeback in IHSAA history to defeat the Lafayette Central Catholic Knights, 49-40, on Saturday morning at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Borden’s run to the state championship also included its first regional and semi-state championships, with the program’s last sectional championship coming in 2015. It is the third state championship title in school history, following softball in 2016 and boys basketball in 2013.
“When I took over, the cupboard was pretty bare. We were pretty bad,” Borden head coach Matt Vick said. “Just to see us [win the championship] – yes, it’s my program, but it’s our program. Our assistant coaches have put in a lot of work, the girls have put in a lot of work, so it’s nice to see it pay off.”
After Borden jumped out to a 4-0 lead on a pair of Ava Wheeler layups – the second coming courtesy of a turnover and pair of offensive rebounds – Lafayette Central Catholic went on a 9-0 run between the first two periods to bury the Braves, 25-12.
The 13-point deficit marks the largest deficit overcome to win in the state championship game in the 50-year history of the state tournament, with the previous high set at 11 points in Class 4A by Columbus North in 2015 and in 2A by Shenandoah in 2005. The previous high in 1A was nine by Fort Wayne Canterbury in 2009 and Lafayette Central Catholic in 2006.
“I called some kids out [in the timeout],” Vick said. “I thought our body language was really bad, and I just told them we’ve got to fix it… I said, ‘You know, right now it looks like we’re going to lose the game. So, you can either sit on the bench and watch us lose, or you can get out there and do something different.’”
With 6:06 left in the half, Borden held Lafayette Central Catholic’s offense scoreless as it went on a 12-0 run to cut the deficit to one point entering halftime. That momentum continued through the first half of the third period, and the run extended to a game-long 23-0 until the Knights broke through at the 4:25 mark in the quarter.
“We switched it up,” Vick said. “We knew they were athletic, and usually in our 1-3-1 we trap up near half court. We decided [to] back it off a little bit… and just kind of made them shoot. The four losses, I think every one of those teams played some type of zone and [Lafayette Central Catholic] kind of struggled with it.”
Lafayette Central Catholic shot 3-18 from three-point range with just 15 points in the second half. Grace Bordenet finished the game with 11 points – the Knights lone player in double digits – and was 5-fo-8 from the free-throw line.
“It’s tough to win basketball games when you shoot 13-for-40 from the field… not going to win you a whole lot of games,” Lafayette Central Catholic head coach Craig DeVault said. “They make more shots, that’s just what it comes down to. I think they were 8-for-18 from three, and that was our defensive plan to let them shoot threes. They hit them today, and that’s what beat us.”
Borden took advantage of the defensive holes around the three-point line, led by Riley Rarick and AJ Mallard. The team’s 8-for-18 from beyond the arc was highlighted by Rarick and Mallard’s three apiece, with five three-pointers coming in the 23-0 run.
Rarick led the team with 16 points, followed by Wheeler’s 13. Mallard, who fouled out toward the end of the fourth quarter, followed with nine points.
“We’re definitely playing with a lot more confidence,” Rarick said. “This postseason has been good. [During the] regular season I wasn’t shooting that well, but since the postseason I’ve been shooting better. It’s a lot more confidence.”
Borden’s lone senior, Reagan Loy, subbed into the game in the final minute to close out her final year on the team. Borden returns five juniors to its 2025-26 squad, all of whom are big playmakers on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball.
The Braves’ goals are represented on a photo of back-to-back state championship banners tacked up on the team’s whiteboard. Now, they look toward next season to make that goal a reality.
“I told the girls, we have a really good chance that this could be us the next two years,” Vick said. “We were talking about that in the locker room. I was like, ‘Well, part one is complete. You know how sweet it would be to [get] part two.”
Class 1A State Championship Records
Most 3FG Made (Tied): 8 by Borden vs. Lafayette Central Catholic.
Biggest Deficit Overcome to Win: 13 by Borden vs. Lafayette Central Catholic (2Q).
Lafayette Central Catholic’s Sophie Royer earns Roy Mental Attitude Award
Following the game, members of the IHSAA Executive Committee named Sophie Royer of Lafayette Central Catholic High School as the winner of the Patricia L. Roy Mental Attitude Award in Class 1A Girls Basketball.
The award is presented annually to a senior participant in each classification who was nominated by her principal and coach and has demonstrated excellence in mental attitude, scholarship, leadership and athletic ability.
Sophie carries a 4.05 GPA, serves as Senior class Secretary and is the President of World Language Club and Champions Together Club. She is also a member of the National Honor Society and is a Student Ambassador.
A three-year letterwinner in basketball, Sophie also has been a four-year member of the Knights Golf team where she is a 4-year letterwinner and team captain.
She is the daughter of Steve and Cassie Royer of New Richmond, IN and plans to attend St. Mary’s at Notre Dame in South Bend to study Economics in a 4+1 degree program where she plans to receive her Master’s in Finance from University of Notre Dame.
The Indiana Fever and Indiana Pacers, the presenting sponsors of the IHSAA Girls Basketball State Tournament, presented a $1,000 scholarship to the general scholarship fund at Lafayette Central Catholic High School in the name of Sophie Royer.
The award is named in honor of the late former IHSAA assistant commissioner Patricia L. Roy, who oversaw the girls’ basketball state tournament from its inception in 1976 until her retirement in 1999.