INDIANAPOLIS — Joe Huppenthal knows the reaction it will elicit from his players. Sure enough, as he begins sharing Lake Central's mantra, Riley Milausnic leans over to fellow senior Aniyah Bishop and the two whisper in unison with their head coach: "Us is good enough."

"I think maybe they're starting to believe it," Huppenthal continues as his players giggle off to the side. "I don't know if they have, but I'm telling you: Us is good enough. And that's what we've tried telling them for the longest time."

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"Us is good enough" is the perfect motto for this Lake Central team. Located in St. John, a suburb of Chicago with a population of 21,000, the Indians take great pride in representing The Region and don't shy away from the underdog mindset that comes with it.

"I feel like people never really respected us down here in Indy," Milausnic said.

The daughter of longtime LC coach Dave Milausnic (he stepped down after 19 seasons last March so he could enjoy Riley's senior year), the upbeat senior explains how Huppenthal stacked their 2023-24 schedule with events like the Limestone Classic (Bedford North Lawrence and Lawrence Central) and Hall of Fame Classic (Jennings County and Indian Creek), plus games against West Lafayette, South Bend Washington, Chicago Fremd (Ill.) and Loyola Academy (Ill.).

Milausnic acknowledged the discrepancy in talent and style of play between teams in Northwest and Central Indiana, before pointing out: "When we blow out teams in our area, it's overlooked, but then they also overlook the Chicago and Indy-area teams we've been playing in preparation for this moment. People don't really give us that much respect, knowing that we're from up north, but we proved (some things) last weekend."

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That "us against the world," "no one respects us" messaging is nothing new. Coaches do what they have to in order to find an edge. But it rings differently with the Indians.

It's not phony or false bravado.

They earned that chip on their shoulder.

Lake Central opened the season at No. 7, but spent most of the season ranked outside the IBCA top-10 and (somehow) isn't even ranked in the 4A rankings.

Isolate it to the past couple weeks: Few — if any — believed the Indians would beat South Bend Washington at regionals (won 54-38), let alone Homestead (55-42) and Noblesville (52-36) at semistate.

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That's indicative, to some extent, of the caliber of competition. But at some point, the Indians deserve their due as a certified giant slayer; as a team capable of running with the big dogs. Heck, this year's outfit is one of the big dogs.

No, there's nothing particularly flashy about their style of play; not one superstar who commands your attention. They're just the epitome of a team — "T-E-A-M," as Huppenthal proudly reiterated last Saturday — and they've earned their title shot.

"It's very surreal to make it this far, but we've all known since a very young age that we were capable of making it this far. I'm just grateful," Milausnic said. They've been dreaming and preparing for this since they were playing Lake Central AAU as eight-year olds, continued Riley, who witnessed her dad's 2014 state finals run and remembers the emotions that went into it. "I know how crazy that feeling is and I knew growing up that we would go on one too."

They deserve this, Huppenthal added. "I'm so excited for them to experience this. It's a dream come true."

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But this isn't a simple feel-good story. While the Indians are staring down the prohibitive favorite in 4A (Lawrence Central) — some have already written them off — the widespread expectations for a maroon-and-white coronation have only fueled their fire.

Us is enough.

"We're excited to be here, but we want to win. And we know we can win," Bishop said. "We're capable of doing it, especially with the players we have, the roles that we have. We respect our opponent, (but) we're ready."

"This is Indiana basketball and there's literally two teams left," Huppenthal added. "(But) we're not just happy to be here. We want to win the darn thing."

Follow Brian Haenchen on Twitter at @Brian_Haenchen.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IHSAA girls basketball: Lake Central looks to play spoiler in 4A final