Indian Creek breezes by Cloverdale

CLOVERDALE – No. 9 Indian Creek came to Cloverdale on Friday sporting an undefeated record and leading the Western Indiana Conference, showing Cloverdale why it was unbeaten with a convincing 62-15 victory.

The Braves shot 50 percent (24-of-48) from the floor and raced out to an early 14-1 lead that would slowly increase throughout the girls’ high school basketball game.

The loss dropped the Clovers to 0-10 and 0-4 in the WIC, while Indian Creek reversed that with the win to improve to 10-0 and 4-0. Indiana University recruit Faith Wiseman showed her talent with 20 points and 10 rebounds, dominating the smaller Clovers.

“I thought we weren’t physical enough in the first half. We got better in the second half. Our effort was there, but we let (Wiseman) get the ball where she wanted to and score too easily,” Cloverdale head coach James Wade said.

The Braves jumped out to quick lead with Wiseman scoring five of the first seven points of the game and led 14-1 before Emily Mann hit a jumper and Kiersten Wade nailed a trey to cut the lead to 14-6. Lauren Foster answered with a three-pointer of her own to spark a 10-0 run to finish the quarter and Indian Creek would never allow the margin under double digits again as they led 24-6 to end the first quarter.

The Clovers slowed the Braves' offense a little in the second period but could not take advantage as they were still outscored 13-4 in the quarter. Wade had three points and Sydney Bernard added a free throw for the Clovers, who trailed 37-10 at halftime.

“Foster got hot and couldn’t seem to miss in the first half. That hurt us a lot,” Wade said as Foster hit four three-pointers and shot 5-8 in the first half for the Braves.

The offensive struggles continued for the Clovers in the second half. Cloverdale scored only five second-half points, while Indian Creek continued to pour it on, especially in the third period. The Braves kept knocking down shots in the third quarter, hitting three more from downtown and pushing the lead to 55-13 as Cloverdale only managed three free throws in the quarter.

The offense continued to struggle in the final act for the Clovers. Indian Creek limited them to just two points on a pair of Bernard free throws. The Clovers did not get a field goal in the second half. The Braves’ length and athleticism limited the Clover chances as they turned the ball over 24 times in the game and only managed to get 20 field goal attempts.

“We kept competing, but we told the girls that this is where we wanted the program to be and we are not there,” Wade said.

He also thought they got a spark from foreign exchange student Isabel Schmidt, who played in her first varsity game.

“(Schmidt) played handball, she is a good athlete, but has never played basketball before. She can help us in spots this year,” Wade added.

Wiseman and Foster led the Braves with 20 points each, while Savannah Hall added 10. Wade led the Clovers with seven points and Mann added five.

Cloverdale will get a week off until next Friday when it makes the long trek down to Brown County to play another WIC matchup.

INDIAN CREEK (62) – Lollar 1-7 0-0 3, Foster 7-12 1-2 20, Hall 4-6 0-0 10, Wiseman 8-10 4-8 20, Lemmon 2-3 0-0 5, McClanahan 0-2 0-0 0, Pendleton 0-4 0-0 0, Emenhiser 1-2 0-0 2, Gault 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 24-48 FG, 5-10 FT, 62 TP.

CLOVERDALE (15) – Nichols 0-3 0-0 0, Bernard 0-2 3-4 3, Mann 1-9 3-4 5, Nees 0-0 0-0 0, Wade 2-5 2-4 7, Hemmerling 0-0 0-0 0, Schmidt 0-0 0-0 0, Ford 0-1 0-0 0, Harrison 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 3-20 FG, 8-12 FT, 15 TP.

3-point shooting – IC 9-19 (Lollar 1-5, Foster 5-7, Hall 2-3, Lemmon 1-1, Pendleton 0-3), CHS 1-5 (Bernard 0-1, Mann 0-2, Wade 1-2). Rebounds – IC 28 (Lollar 1, Foster 2, Hall 4, Wiseman 10, Lemmon 2, McClanahan 1, Pendleton 3, Emenhiser 1, Gault 1) CHS – 16 (Nichols 3, Bernard 2, Mann 3, Nees 1, Wade 4) FG Pct. – IC 50.0, CHS 15.0. FT Pct. – IC 50.0, CHS 66.7. Turnovers – IC 6, CHS 24.