#7 Top Moment of 2012-13: Early Domination Leads to Three-Peat

By Leopard Nation · Published June 19, 2013 · Updated December 27, 2018

Louisville Lady Leopards 2012-13 NBC Girls Basketball Champions

#7 Early Domination Leads to Three-Peat

The Lady Leopards had just come off a 16-5 season that produced their second straight NBC Title spearheaded by six graduating Seniors. With the Class of 2012 graduated, few people gave Louisville a chance during the preseason with basically a new lineup. But there was one thing that the critics forgot about and that was the word that was painted on the gym wall before the school year began “Tradition.”

The Lady Leopards started off shaky with an overtime win over GlenOak 59-57 and a home loss to Lake 52-41. The critics questioned if this Senior Class could live up to the last one and the Class of 2013 began to answer their question. Louisville traveled to Minerva and earned an impressive 51-37 win over the Lady Lions to show that the Lady Leopards were not dead yet.

Since last season when the Warriors beat the Leopards 56-41 at West Branch, there was talk about the changing of the guard in the NBC. After all, West Branch had been nipping the heels of Louisville the past two seasons and they were preparing for state title runs in the near future . On December 8, 2012 West Branch was supposed to fill that prophecy.

Instead, the Lady Leopards dominated the day. Louisville took a 28-20 lead into the half and survived a 14-4 West Branch run in the third. Following the Warriors run, the Lady Leopards went on a 16-0 run over the next eight minutes in taking a 51-34 advantage with just minutes to play. West Branch would never recover and Louisville got a huge 50-38 win that would define their season.

Louisville would go on to win their first eight NBC games that included a huge 65-54 home victory over Carrollton on December 22. Although they would fall to both versions of Warriors on the road and end up sharing the NBC with West Branch, it was a three-peat none the less. In fact, Lady Leopards Basketball now lays claim to 9 NBC Titles, all of which were part of three-peats (1990-92, 2006-08, 2011-13).

Louisville went on to finish the season 17-6 overall and 12-2 in the NBC. Six more Seniors graduated and critics are sure to surface again soon. However, the underclassman will look to fill in their shoes and carry on the tradition of Lady Leopards basketball once more.

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