Northridge girls basketball back in Regionals for first time since 2016-17 season

MIDDLEBURY, Ind. (WNDU) - The Northridge Raiders are one of several girls basketball teams here in Michiana that will be playing in this weekend’s Regional championships.

The Raiders cut down the nets as Sectional champions on Saturday for the first time since the 2016-17 season. They beat Penn, Goshen, and Elkhart in a stacked Sectional pairing.

16 Sports caught up with the team as they prepare for Regionals on Saturday against Lake Central.

“I mean, we’re hype,” said Eva Fisher, senior guard. “We’re ready for Saturday. We’re ready to see what Lake Central brings and match their intensity.”

“It’s great, I mean you work all four years to get there, put your number up on the banner and kind of leave a legacy for yourself and add yourself to that group of girls,” said Savannah Boerema, senior guard. “I think we finally did that, and it feels great.”

Back in 2016-17, Northridge made it all the way to Semi-State.

“It’s a great feeling; my sister was a part of that run six years ago, so it kind of feels great to know I’m making the run too, so it’s kind of awesome to do it with my team,” said Sabrina Miller, junior guard.

Head coach Doug Springer thinks he found a secret weapon to help with other major parts of sports —the mental aspect.

“We’ve done it all year; in terms of really working on their mental toughness,” Springer said. “Coach Ken Wertz runs a ‘Mental Magic.’ He came in and met with our girls. These girls really bought into it, and we know that it’s always the next-play, next-game mentality. For these kids to really buy into that and be able to shift the gears is something that not a lot of teams have, and that really benefited us down the stretch.”

“It definitely helps cause it’s more mental than physical,” Boerema said. “A game is all mental because if you’re mentally checked out, you can’t help your team. We just have to stay together and stay united. That’s what he’s been telling us since the first game. Just stay together, stay united, and we’ll be in good shape.”

Northridge is 22-5 this season. The Regional championship takes place on Saturday at LaPorte High School at 4 p.m.

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