Andrea White, right, shoots over the outstretched arm of a West Lafayette defender during the 1998 Class 3A state championship game.
Submitted photo
The tears Andrea White shed that March evening 26 years ago had to be wiped away sooner than anticipated.
Moments after Franklin was handed a 62-45 loss by West Lafayette in the inaugural Class 3A girls state championship basketball game, the public address announcer blared out that White was recipient of the prestigious Mental Attitude Award.
White, the Grizzly Cubs’ 5-foot-11 senior forward, composed herself before being presented the plaque, as her parents, Russ and Liz, joined her on the Market Square Arena hardwood.
“I didn’t even know … I had never considered it,” remembers White, 44, now known as Andrea Tearman. “You’re pretty devastated that you just lost the game, but it was such an honor.
“I remember the game and the impact. Very intimidating and overwhelming. I don’t think you really appreciate it until you get older. Just the fact that it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I love my life now, but those are some of the best years of your life.”
White graduated from Franklin in 1998 with a 3.8 grade-point average and 12 varsity letters, having also participated in soccer and track and field.
She was a three-year starter for longtime Grizzly Cubs girls hoops coach Walt Raines.
“As a teammate, you don’t think about numbers, and you don’t think about strategy. You think about how people support you,” said Kate (Ramsey) Hastings, herself a starting frontline player on the 1997-98 squad who now lives in Los Angeles with her husband Randy and their three daughters.
“Andrea carried herself with strength, and a lot of it wasn’t verbal. She used her character to make us work hard, and to make us laugh. And we needed what she brought to our team.”
Franklin proved dominant during the much-anticipated inaugural postseason of class sports in Indiana. The Cubs outscored their first six opponents by an average of 19.2 points, capped by a 62-57 defeat of Evansville Memorial at the Jasper semistate.
Just like that, the Grizzly Cubs, previously single-class semistate qualifiers in 1977 and 1987, were playing for a state title.
West Lafayette wound up holding the upper hand, largely because Franklin shot 20 of 61 from the floor (32.8%), committed 19 turnovers and attempted four free throws to its opponent’s 32.
The Red Devils held a four-point lead over Franklin at halftime but outscored the Cubs, 20-6, in the third quarter to pretty much put the game away. White posted a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds, while teammate Andrea Roush, a forward, added 11 points.
Franklin’s other starters were Ramsey, a 5-11 center, and guards Carrie Reese and sophomore Anna Waugh. The team finished the season with a 21-6 record.
After high school, Tearman attended Kankakee Community College in Illinois, where she played women’s basketball her freshman school year. She then transferred to Franklin College and played her final three years there.
Tearman graduated in 2002 with a degree in business marketing.
She currently resides in Tipton with her husband Jerod a 2000 Franklin graduate who three times advanced to the state meet as a diver, finishing 21st as a sophomore, seventh as a junior and 10th as a senior. The couple’s sons, Kolton and Logan, are 14 and 12, respectively, while daughter Rowan is 4.
Andrea Tearman, who is employed as a nurse practitioner at Bridges of Hope Treatment Center in Anderson, lost her father in July 2018 to lung cancer. Russ White was 68. Liz White is now 72 and living in Noblesville.
It took Franklin girls basketball until the 2021-22 season to return to a state championship game, this time the Grizzly Cubs falling short against Noblesville in the 4A finale.
Feeling like kids again, Tearman, Ramsey and Andrea (Roush) Martin were inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse that evening to cheer on their alma mater.
They couldn’t help but wax nostalgic.
“We had a great coach with Walt Raines,” said Tearman of her magical senior season. “And we were just super close. We played AAU together, and our lives kind of revolved around basketball.”
