Senior class of seven strong leads Forest Park girls basketball to state title

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (WFIE) - They will be savoring this one for quite a while in Ferdinand after the Forest Park girls basketball team was crowned state champions on Saturday afternoon.

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It’s not often to watch seven seniors on one basketball team work so well together. That’s what happened within the Lady Rangers’ program though, which enabled them to win their second consecutive Class 2A state title in Indianapolis.

Forest Park got a major scare from Lapel, but senior Amber Tretter was the hero, making the game-winning lay-up with nine seconds left for a 38-37 victory. It was a perfect send-off for their senior class of seven strong who were the heart and soul of this program, including Tretter, who won the IHSAA Mental Attitude Award.

The other seniors were Lydia Betz, Carley Begle, Gabey Gray, Danielle Eckert, Alivia Gehlhausen and Erica Werner, and they all played big roles over the course of the last two state championship seasons.

“It’s a great honor to receive, and I’m just glad that other people can look up to me too because I’ve already had so many people say that there’s so many little girls that look up to us,” Tretter said. “In the classroom, I have a 4.0 GPA. I’m always working hard on and off the court. I’m making sure I’m always doing my best in all my classes. These girls, we’ve been playing together since we were like this tall, and everyone has their roles and we all fill them very well.”

“It’s kind of a little sad, but we went out with a good win, and I think that we’re leaving a good mark on this program,” Gray said.

“We had a lot of pressure behind us all season,” Eckert said. “People wanted to play their best game against us because of what we did last season, and you know, we’re not a team that gives into pressure. We just put our whole hearts on the floor.”

Over the course of their two state title seasons, Forest Park compiled a dominating 52-6 record.

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