West Noble’s Nichelle Phares covers up NorthWood’s Kate Rulli during action in the second half of the semi-finals at the Lakeland Girls Basketball Sectional Friday evening. (Photos by Mike Deak)

LAGRANGE – Something is going to have to give. Wins by both Lakeland and NorthWood Friday night in the semi-finals set up a Class 3-A No. 20 showdown between two teams that are looking to break some sectional stagnancy.

NORTHWOOD 40, WEST NOBLE 36

NorthWood’s Kendal Miller speeds around West Noble’s Tori Franklin.

NorthWood avoided a classic trap game meltdown that befuddled the program in last year’s tournament. A motivated defending champion Charger side did everything it could, but eventually ran out of bullets.

Foul trouble would spell doom for West Noble, which saw both Jazmyn Smith and Nichelle Phares foul out in a tight game. The two were in charge of neutralizing NorthWood’s twin towers of Maddy Payne and Kate Rulli. And for the most part through three quarters, they did. But as fouls mounted up, it was NorthWood that gained the advantage.

Phares’ fifth foul with 6:11 to go in the game had her leave with West Noble down just two at 27-25, and two minutes later Smith caught her fifth, allowing Rulli to hit a pair of free throws to give NorthWood a 29-25 lead. The NorthWood duo would go on to score seven of NorthWood’s final 11 points to put away the pesky Chargers.

“They took us out of the tournament last year and they are the defending sectional champions,” said NorthWood head coach Adam Yoder. “That’s not something we talked about with our team. But the reality is it’s theirs until somebody beats them. Now we’ve beat them, and they won’t be the sectional champions this year and now we have a shot to be the champs against Lakeland tomorrow night.”

Rulli led the Panthers with 17 points and Payne wound up with eight points.

West Noble carried an 18-16 lead at the half, in large part to 14 NorthWood turnovers in the opening 16 minutes. The Panthers would commit 20 turnovers in the game, but West Noble wasn’t much better giving the ball away 17 times.

But as this storybook season for NorthWood continues on, the team has continually found someone other than a six-footer make a little magic in a huge moment.

Friday night it was Kendal Miller, who clipped a little West Noble momentum in the first half with a jumper after the Chargers had claimed a 15-13 lead. A huge three, however, by Miller late in the third quarter gave NorthWood its largest lead at 27-20, which became vital as the Chargers began its late push.

“She has developed into such a great point guard and she’s worked so hard at her craft,” said Yoder of Miller, who had 11 points. “Knocking down big shots. She hit a big three there in the second half. I thought her shooting was huge tonight. A better coach would have got her more shots. But we decided we wanted to pound it inside and we executed that really well.”

West Noble, playing for its coach, Dale Marano, who announced he would leave the program at the conclusion of its season, showed some fight. The Chargers (10-13) opened the fourth with five points from Smith and Lillian Mast, then stuck around when Mast converted an and-one. Mast finished with 17 points for West Noble and Erin Shoemaker scored eight of her 11 points in the fourth quarter.

Yoder and his club move to Saturday night’s final, where the Panthers (23-3) will seek its first sectional title since 2014. Yoder hasn’t won a sectional, taking over the program in 2015 for Steve Neff.

LAKELAND 56, CENTRAL NOBLE 38

After a sluggish start to the game, Lakeland looked like the seasoned tournament team, not the Cougars. Lakeland’s Beth Stroop caught fire, hitting five threes, three of which came in succession in the second quarter, as Lakeland jumped out to a double-digit halftime lead.

Stroop finished with 15 points to offset the attention Central Noble paid to Bailey Hartsough, who still managed 18 points to lead all scorers.

“We weren’t playing very well when we played them the first time,” said a drenched Lakeland coach Dan Huizenga after taking on some celebratory water in the lockerroom from his team. Central Noble beat Lakeland 56-38 in November. “It sounds nice especially being at home. We’ve only won about three sectional games in that time frame. I told the kids, we’re going to enjoy this one and until you get back out there and start watching.

“Who knows what’s going to happen tomorrow. Strange things happen in a sectional final. You can’t win it if you’re not there. We’re going to go out swinging.”

The Cougars, playing up a class after three straight trips to the Class 2-A semi-state and a state title in 2018, had no answers in the second half. Lydia Andrews led Central with 12 points and Ashleigh Gray had nine as the team bows out 14-9.

Lakeland (15-8) clinches a spot in the championship game, its first championship game appearance since 1998. The program hasn’t posed with the sectional trophy since 1996.