INDIANAPOLIS
Whatever the single-game rebound record is inside 55-year-old Morris Pollard Gymnasium, Faith Wiseman was threatening it.
As for the single-game standard for blocked shots, see the above paragraph.
Wiseman, Indian Creek’s 6-foot-2 freshman forward, was the problem Cardinal Ritter simply had no answer for Tuesday night in the opening game of the Class 3A sectional at Speedway. Wiseman flirted with a triple-double, scoring 13 points, grabbing 19 rebounds and blocking nine shots in the Braves’ 48-34 victory.
Indian Creek (15-6), in pursuit of its first sectional crown since 2016, advances to Friday night’s 6 p.m. semifinal against the host Sparkplugs (15-3). Tuesday’s win avenged last season’s 67-55 loss to the Raiders in the sectional final at Indianapolis Washington.
“It’s awesome. We really wanted to get back at them this year, and hopefully we’re going far,” said Braves senior center Kurstin Thompson, who helped her team’s interior dominance with eight points, nine boards and three blocks.
“(Wiseman) had a rough last game, so we were really happy with how she played tonight. We’ve been working on our 3-2 (zone) all season, and had been struggling getting out on shooters. Her getting some big blocks really helped us. Both Faith and I are pretty tall, so we can cover a lot of ground.”
Junior guard Emily Todor led all scorers with 15 points for Indian Creek. Ten of Todor’s points were in the opening half, including two clutch 3-pointers late in the second quarter. Defensively, the Braves limited the Raiders to a frosty 19% (13 of 67) from the floor and dominated the glass with a sizable 44-29 rebounding advantage.
Ritter struggled from the foul stripe as well, making one of seven compared to Indian Creek’s 18 of 26.
Perhaps the game’s most critical sequence came with the Braves down, 8-4, at 2:12 of the opening stanza. A Todor layup kick-started what became a 13-0 scoring run over the remainder of the first half. The Braves held Ritter scoreless in the second and settled in with a 17-8 halftime lead. The Raiders scrapped back to close to within 30-24 early in the fourth period, but a free throw by freshman guard Lauren Foster (nine points) and consecutive buckets in close by Thompson provided much-needed breathing room.
From that point, Ritter never got closer than eight points.
With 3:59 remaining and the Braves ahead, 35-27, Indian Creek went into the bonus and had to put the Raiders away at the foul stripe. Coach Brian Ferris’s squad did just that, converting 12 of 16.
“Faith, I mean, that height is awesome, and she did a really good job tonight in keeping her hands up and timing the blocks. She’s getting better at that as she gets older, so that was a big help, especially in the first half,” Ferris said. “In the second half, Ritter made that run and got it down to six, and we started to break the press and calm down a little bit with more passes and finding the open girl.”
