Indian Creek senior guard Lauren Foster could end up with 2,000 career points by the time this season ends.
Daily Journal file photo
The writing was on the wall one game into Lauren Foster’s varsity career.
As a freshman guard, Foster scored 16 points in the Braves’ loss to Martinsville to open the 2020-21 season, then followed up by averaging 18 per game during the next five games, all victories.
With that debut came expectations. Foster has delivered.
She’ll start her senior season in a Braves uniform having already accounted for 1,355 career points, three consecutive sectional titles and a 66-14 record.
Along with classmate Faith Wiseman (career totals of 983 points, 762 rebounds and 221 blocked shots), the team’s 6-foot-4 center and another four-year starter, Indian Creek girls basketball is enjoying its most successful era.
However, even with all Foster has accomplished, motivational factors aren’t scarce.
Indian Creek was one win away from a trip to the Class 3A state championship game last winter, so there is most definitely an unfinished-business aspect to the weeks ahead. The Braves also travel to 4A power Brownsburg on Nov. 25, and are part of the field for two prestigious in-season events — the Hall of Fame Classic at New Castle’s Chrysler Fieldhouse on Dec. 29 as well as the Coach Kipp Hoopsfest in Willowbrook, Illinois on Jan. 15.
The team opens its season tonight at home against New Albany.
A hard-nosed 5-7 combo performer in the backcourt, Foster is adept at driving to the hoop and drawing contact. She’s attempted 389 free throws in her career, making 337 for a clip of just under 87%.
“I just want to help the team out, really. Try to get my points, yes, but do everything I can to help the team win,” Foster said. “We’re very determined to get to state, and to win it.
“I think we can. We just have to work hard, and play together the best we can.”
Over the summer, Foster verbally committed to play at Taylor University beginning with the 2024-25 season. She plans to major in biology/pre-med with the ultimate goal of becoming an emergency room doctor.
Her unselfishness on the court, while a positive in many ways, is also something with which Indian Creek coach Brian Ferris feels Foster might actually be too proficient.
“You look at Lauren’s shots and you look at her field goal percentage, I’d like to see her take more shots when she has the opportunity,” Ferris said. “She wants to play well, and she’s a winner, so she’s been the motor for us since her freshman year.
“We started looking for her when we needed a basket.”
The two leading scorers in Indian Creek history both flirted with the 2,000-point career milestone: 2010 graduate Kylee Hamilton (1,944) and 2013 product Ally Lehman (1,928).
Foster could be the first, though it’s not one of the senior’s priorities.
Now, should it happen over the course of Indian Creek cutting the nets after its first state championship, that would be the ultimate win-win situation.
SCOUTING THE BRAVES
Coach: Brian Ferris
Last season: 27-2, lost to Corydon Central in Class 3A semistate final
Key returnees: Lauren Foster, Olivia Pendleton and Faith Wiseman, seniors; Ayla Lollar, junior
Top newcomers: Jasmine Day, Bre Gault, juniors; Lexi Sichting, sophomore; Ellie Oliver, freshman
Outlook: Foster, Wiseman and junior point guard Lollar (7.2 ppg, 2.4 steals) are proven commodities, but no team ever sped past the 20-wins plateau or ventured deep into the postseason with three players. Thus, it’s imperative that others step up to fill the voids left by graduation. Another senior, the 5-7 Pendleton, is poised to log major minutes as a wing, with the 5-11 Sichting, a sophomore who missed last season with a knee injury, expected to help Wiseman in the paint.
Gault, Day and newcomer Oliver look to the first three off the bench, though others could step into those roles as well.
“Olivia Pendleton has been working hard, and we’re looking at Lexi Sichting to help us, too,” Ferris said. “The players get along, it’s a fun group to be around, and they’re driven. When they came out of that locker room (after the semistate loss), they were already talking about next season. Kind of that calm, very mature kind of conversation.”
