Indianapolis Cathedral had four players score in double figures and the Irish went on to a 58-44 victory over Columbia City in the Class 3A state championship on Saturday at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

After coming up short a year ago against NorthWood in the Class 3A championship, Cathedral returned and won its first state championship in girls basketball. The victory marked the third state championship this school year for the Irish having won titles in volleyball (3A) and football (4A).

(Class 3A) Top-ranked Cathedral (27-1), coached by Linda Bamrick, were led in scoring by Ellen Rehme with 15 points. Asjah Zinnerman poured in 13, Jill Corbett 12 and Katie Miller 10 for Cathedral, which finished on an 18-game winning streak.

Cathedral forced Columbia City into 23 turnovers, which they turned into 18 points. Seventeen of those 23 turnovers were attributed to a Class 3A record 17 steals by the Irish. Amanda Matthews and Asjah Zinnerman accounted for four each.

Columbia City, coached by Wayne Kreiger, finished 20-6 in its first trip to the state finals. Senior center Brooksie King led the Lady Eagles with 22 points and seven rebounds.

Katie Stroup of Columbia City High School was selected by the IHSAA Executive Committee as the recipient of the Patricia L. Roy Mental Attitude Award in Class 3A Girls Basketball.

Academically, she ranks fourth in a class of 230 and is involved in a number of extracurricular activities both inside and outside of school. The 5-6 senior guard also has been a four-year participant in soccer and softball for the Eagles, and an all-conference selection in both sports.

She plans to major in aeronautical engineering at the United States Air Force Academy, Notre Dame or Purdue.

Farm Bureau Insurance, the corporate partner of the IHSAA, presented a $1,000 scholarship to Columbia City High School in the name of Stroup.

(On the defense) "One of the things we had to do was pressure their guards because they were so strong up front. We wanted to utilize our team speed and quickness up front."

(On Columbia City's Connie Myers) "I have a lot of respect for that lady today for rehabing, coming back and to play significant minutes. She only contributed four points but she's normally a 20-point scorer."

"What we weren't able to continually do is keep them off the boards and give them second and third shots. Connie Myers being our most productive rebounder obviously had very limited strength and hurt us in that category team-wise but not because of effort. Brooksie King going against the 6-3 kid (Cathedral's Ellen Rehme), that was the effort every kid gave me."

(On halftime discussion) "I told the kids at halftime that we needed to sustain a level the first three minutes of the third quarter. Unfortunately, we couldn't do that."

Team Rebounds: 1

Team Rebounds: 5

Officials: Marvin Davis, Michael Quinn.