Midway through the second half of its 68-60 victory over Eastview in the Class 4A championship game, Hopkins guard Nia Hollie sized up a three-pointer. At 6-foot-1, Hollie plays more like a power forward, but there she was, standing three feet beyond the arc with the ball in her hands. She let fly a shot with no rotation that slammed off the glass.
And went in.
That, in a single moment, defined the Royals' entire run to the Class 4A state championship.
"You mean the ugly one?" Hollie replied when asked about the shot. "Even if it didn't go in, I knew my teammates would pick me up."
Hopkins, with it frenetic pace and relentless style, was the unstoppable force. Some things are just meant to be.
What was different about championship game was that Eastview never wilted. As defending Class 4A champions, the Lightning were considered the one team that could give Hopkins a test. In fact, Eastview had been the only team to beat Hopkins this season, defeating the Royals 75-70 in overtime in early December.
"They're a great team and we've seen that they can beat us," Hollie said. "The difference, I think, is that we're a lot stronger mentally now."
Hopkins began the game looking like they were intent on deciding the outcome in the first five minutes, sprinting to an early 8-2 lead.
The Lightning bounced back as champions do, tying the game 8-8, but the gauntlet had been thrown. Hopkins was going full bore and challenging Eastview to keep up.
Through the rest of the first half, Hopkins kept building leads and Eastview kept coming back. In fact, the Lightning scored the final seven points of the half and took a 30-28 lead on a three-pointer at the buzzer.
Fans at Williams Arena buzzed. Could Hopkins, despite all of its firepower, actually lose?
"Let's just say I was a little fired up," Hopkins coach Brian Cosgriff said.
Cosgriff's halftime outburst paid off. The Royals started the second half on a 13-2 run. Hopkins never trailed thereafter, despite Eastview's gutty attempts to to rally.
"We've been with [Cosgriff] for a long time," Hollie said. "He's a good man and he just wants the best for us."
Eastview, as it did in its 2014 championship game victory over Bloomington Kennedy, made a stirring end-of-the-game rally, cutting Hopkins' lead to 61-58 on a three-point play by 2015 Metro Player of the Year Madi Guebert. But unlike last year, they couldn't close the deal.
Hopkins, their style never changing despite the diminishing lead, made 7 of 8 free throws in the closing seconds, holding off Eastview's desperate charge.
"To be honest, I thought about that Kennedy game," Hollie admitted.
Hollie led Hopkins (30-1) with 26 points, T.T. Starks scored 16 points and Ashley Bates 15 for Hopkins, which won its fourth Class 4A championship in the last five years.
The Lightning (30-2), who played just six players in the game, got 19 points from Madi Guebert, 16 of them after halftime.
