Indian Creek girls eliminated in regional

GREENCASTLE

A bad start and an equally rough ending doomed Indian Creek’s girls basketball team Saturday at the Class 3A Greencastle Regional, but what took place in between made their 72-51 semifinal loss to Tri-West look a little deceiving.

The Braves trailed the Bruins 30-11 with 1:38 remaining in the first half, and the deficit was 32-17 at halftime. They whittled that to 58-49 with 4:33 to play, but then Tri-West ratcheted up its physical, in-your-face defense and reeled off 12 straight points to effectively conclude matters.

Indian Creek (17-7) was playing in its first regional since 2016 with two freshmen, Lauren Foster and Faith Wiseman, in its starting lineup, and that inexperience showed in the early going. Tri-West (16-6) was the aggressor, running a sharp, crisp offense and stifling the Braves at the defensive end, darting into the passing lanes repeatedly and collapsing on anyone who caught the ball in the paint.

“We came out there probably a little bit too confident, and our passes were just a little bit slow,” senior guard Luci Woodrum said. “We weren’t totally sharp in the head coming into the game. We just needed a little bit more toughness.”

The Braves committed 10 first-half turnovers and 18 overall, while Tri-West lost the ball just 10 times, and only once in the first quarter (a traveling violation). Combine that with the Bruins’ 38-30 rebounding edge, and Tri-West wound up with a whopping 25 more field-goal attempts than the Braves (70-45). Indian Creek shot a respectable 44.4% from the floor (20 of 45), but that wasn’t enough to make up for the Bruins’ decisive edge in field-goal tries. Tri-West hit 29 of 70 (41.4%).

“In the first half, the first quarter especially, we were just kind of awestruck and didn’t get a rhythm or a pattern going,” Creek coach Brian Ferris said. “Our inexperience maybe showed up a little bit, but we did settle down and we started getting things clicking and made that run.”

The Braves came out much more aggressive in the second half, but it didn’t immediately reap dividends. They still trailed 54-36 with 6:54 to play, but then outscored the Bruins 13-4 over the next 2:21 to cut the deficit to single digits for the first time since early in the second quarter.

Foster, who was held to just two first-quarter points, came alive during that stretch. She scored eight of her game-high 23 points during that 2:21 span, including a putback basket, a transition layup and four free throws.

“She’s been a motor all season, and (played) a big role in what we’ve been doing,” Ferris said of Foster. “The others feed off her. If she gets rolling early, everybody settles down. Everything’s new for those freshmen, and she’s a major competitor, and once she settles down, that calms everybody else down.”

Junior Emily Todor added 13 points for the Braves, all but three in the second half, and another freshman, 6-foot-2 forward Faith Wiseman, chipped in nine points and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds.

Tri-West, which went on to defeat Bishop Chatard in the title game, produced four double-figure scorers. Grace Sandlin led the Bruins with 19 points, while Kenna Kirby added 18. Isabelle Saylor and Becca VanSlyke finished with 12 and 11.

As for the Braves, they will return Foster, Todor and Wiseman from Saturday’s starting lineup but lose Woodrum and fellow senior Kurstin Thompson, who scored four points and grabbed eight rebounds in the loss. Thompson hopes the returnees can build upon the foundation this season’s team built.

“They should win at least until the freshmen graduate,” she said. “They have every right to win and improve from here.”