JASPER
After trailing Bishop Chatard 29-28 at the half in Saturday’s Class 3A semistate semifinal, the Indian Creek girls basketball team overwhelmed the Lady Trojans in the second half to win going away, 76-47.
The Braves sought to continue that momentum in the championship game that night against Corydon Central. Unfortunately for Indian Creek, the Panthers denied it a trip to the state finals with a 48-42 victory.
The Braves’ storybook season ends with a 27-2 record.
“It’s a situation where they’re a good team, we’re a good team, and what was on the line, everybody’s playing hard and aggressive,” Indian Creek coach Brian Ferris said. “They did a good job slowing the game down, and we couldn’t get it sped up enough. …
The first quarter, which ended with Corydon Central leading 17-14, was primarily a showcase of each team’s marquee player; Indian Creek junior center Faith Wiseman scored six points and Corydon Central senior forward Ava Weber pouring in 14 of her game-high 22.
Each team’s defense tightened up quite a bit in the second quarter, as the teams combined for a mere nine points in those eight minutes. With the Braves trailing by five with just over a minute to go in the half, Wiseman converted a traditional three-point play to cut the Corydon Central lead to two, 21-19, which wound up being the score as the teams headed to the locker room at the half.
With a berth in the state title game on the line, the teams went toe to toe in the third quarter. Each team scored 15 points in those eight minutes, and though they led by as many as four, the Braves still trailed by two, 36-34, heading into the fourth quarter.
“We got up four and probably took some shots we shouldn’t have as quick as we did, and they came down and hit a bucket,” Ferris said. “We came down, quickly shot it, they came down and got (another) bucket. After that, we were just kind of playing from behind. … We had some costly turnovers at the wrong time.”
The Braves fought valiantly in the fourth to get back into the game but were never able to retake the lead. Corydon Central sophomore guard Josie Vaughn knocked down six free throws in the closing two minutes to hold off the Indian Creek rally attempt.
Wiseman finished with 16 points for the Braves, and senior Savannah Hall added 10.
Against Chatard earlier in the day, it took Indian Creek some time to get going — but once it did, things started rolling quickly.
“That’s the first time we’d been (to semistate), so we had some nerves,” Ferris said, noting that the Trojans were also playing in support of teammate Caroline Bell, who was sidelined by a thyroid cancer diagnosis last month. “They had that kind of drive going, and the whole first half we just never got in our own rhythm, our own flow. … We talked about that at halftime and said, ‘Hey, we forgot who we were — let’s go out there and be us and play to our strengths.’ The next thing you know, we’re up by double digits and cruising right along.”
Though the pain from the season-ending defeat was still fresh, Ferris couldn’t help but let his pride in this team — the best in Indian Creek history — show through.
“We talked at the end, after it was over, and it’s like, ‘When the pain stops or subsides and you get past this game, we want you guys all to reflect on the success and the enjoyment and fun that we had and the history that’s been made for the school,’” the coach said. “Going 27-2, winning the county, winning the Lebanon tournament, winning the conference, making it all the way to the semistate final — the final four of the entire state in 3A — that’s an amazing season, and the memories from that and the history made and the fun that we had, that’s what we wanted to leave them with.
“It stings; today’s been stinging … but when you reflect back on what we’ve accomplished, it was an amazing season.”
