Greenwood’s Breanna Pierce, left, and Indian Creek’s Abby Fleetwood dive for a loose ball during county tournament semifinal action on Thursday.
Rob Baker | For the Daily Journal
No big letdown here.
Two days after their big win over Franklin, the Indian Creek girls basketball team kept its perfect season going with a 38-19 victory over Greenwood Thursday night in the semifinal round of the annual Johnson County tournament at Edinburgh.
The win allowed the Class 3A No. 6 Braves (4-0) to advance to the tournament final for the first time since 2019, when the Braves fell to Center Grove.
And it will be the Trojans that Indian Creek will face again in Saturday’s title game, as Center Grove beat Whiteland 40-30 in Thursday’s nightcap.
The two will face off in a Saturday morning showdown, also at Edinburgh.
If Braves coach Brian Ferris worried about a letdown game after Tuesday’s win, that worry ended in the first half.
After only leading 6-2 at the end of the first quarter, Indian Creek opened it up a bit, tripling their output while at the same time smothering the Woodmen on defense and pretty much making a statement to Greenwood that they were going to have to earn every point.
Still, it wasn’t the prettiest game for the Braves, as Greenwood also swarmed the Braves when they had the ball. As a result, Indian Creek committed 17 turnovers to Greenwood’s 18.
But it was the second time in this young season the Braves held an opponent to under 20 points, and they never gave up the lead.
“You always wonder how you’ll respond after a big win,” Ferris said. “We knew that (the Woodmen) would be prepared, and they gave us some trouble.”
Indian Creek was led by the tandem of juniors Lauren Foster and Faith Wiseman, who scored 17 points each. Wiseman also had seven rebounds.
Greenwood (3-3) was led by Lily Howe’s eight points.
“We saw some good things out there and some things we need to fix,” Ferris said. “We were able to get some runs. A win’s a win.”
In the second game, Whiteland took a 1-0 lead and kept it close early, but like Indian Creek, Center Grove’s shots started falling and it gradually pulled away to take the win.
It was cold outside, and for Center Grove early, it was cold inside as well. The Trojans missed their first six shots from the 3-point line before senior Lindsey Walker came off the bench to hit the first trey for the Trojans.
“I didn’t think our feet were ready early,” Center Grove coach Kevin Stuckmeyer said. “We had open looks early; we just missed them. It just seemed like it affected us a little bit. I also felt we were sloppy with the basketball.”
Things got better for Stuckmeyer and Center Grove from then on. The Trojans hit a total of seven 3s on the night.
Whiteland didn’t go away, though.
The Warriors (2-4) closed the gap to five at 34-29 with 6:48 left, but then it was their turn to go cold; they didn’t hit another field goal the rest of the game.
Turning the ball over four times in crucial situations didn’t help either, but it was missing several open shots that really killed them.
As a result, the Trojan lead swelled again and then Center Grove controlled the ball, keeping it out of Warrior hands.
“We had some girls that stepped in that haven’t had a lot of minutes,” Stuckmeyer said. “It was neat to see. We also controlled the basketball and made it harder on (Whiteland).”
Center Grove was led by senior Ali Wiesmann and junior Audrey Annee with eight points apiece. For Whiteland, Gwen Hidgon had a game-high 10 points and Addison Emberton had nine.
Once again, Center Grove (3-2) finds itself in the county championship game, this time against another ranked opponent.
So far, the Trojans have played three ranked 4A opponents in Fishers, Warren Central and Hamilton Southeastern, winning only one — against their former conference rival Warriors in double overtime.
A win against the Braves would definitely be a big achievement, not only in beating one of the state’s better 3A schools, but it would also add another piece of hardware to their already crowded trophy case.
“They are really good,” Stuckmeyer said of Indian Creek. “They are as good as anyone on our schedule, and they seem to be the team to beat.”
