Lady Indians rout Padua in post-season opener
The DIAA Girl’s Basketball Tournament hit the hardwood earlier this week, and the Lady Indians were prepared to put on a show. After clinching the Henlopen Southern Division championship last week, Indian River followed up Tuesday night with an exhilarating one-point win over Padua Academy, advancing into the second round of the state tournament, where they faced St. Mark’s, the top-ranked team in Delaware.
Coastal Point
Brandi Buchanan dribbles past a Padua defender on Tuesday, March 2.
Indian River and Padua exchanged blows in Tuesday evening’s game that packed the house. Padua got off to a strong start, edging the Lady Indians by two points at the end of the first quarter. The teams remained fairly evenly matched through the remainder of the first half, but Indian River’s offense battled back through the second half, thanks to clutch shooting from Keeonya Shelton and the game-winning free-throws from senior Brandi Buchanan.
“The game was back and forth the whole time,” noted Indian River head coach John Frye.
With a one-point lead with 14 seconds left in the game, Padua responded and took the lead with a late jumper. A foul that came with eight tenths of a second to spare, though, sent Buchanan to the free-throw line. The two baskets put the Lady Indians ahead by one, again, as time ticked down.
“It’s truly a storybook ending to Brandi’s high school career at home,” said Frye. “She knew what to do, and she’s practiced it. I didn’t want to call a timeout. She was in the flow of the game, so I just let her go.”
Due to the Lady Indians’ rank in the tournament as the No. 16 seed, the team will be on the road as they advance through the bracket, making Tuesday’s game the last one Buchanan will play at her high school.
“The game really came down to her,” Frye added. “She kept her composure. All year, she has played incredibly and performed well as a captain and a leader. The entire ream worked so hard for this. The gym was electric, and when [the crowd] stormed the court, it was a nice reward for all of their hard work this season.”
Coming into the tournament against 17th-ranked Padua was not going to be an easy first-round match-up by any means.
“They’re a strong private school,” Frye said, “and they typically play man-to-man. We played St. Elizabeth’s earlier, and they’re in the same league as Padua, and we knew we had to play a good defense and dig the ball out of the net. We didn’t know the players, so it was a little hard matching up, but we’ve really matured as a team, especially this past month. Our girls have been reading the court and getting to the open spots, and that’s what helped us get ahead in this game.”
Keeonya Shelton led the team with 12 points, and Buchanan backed them up with 11. Fellow co-captain Destiny Blake added eight points in the win to advance the Lady Indians.
“Keeonya really stepped up for us in the second half,” said Frye, “which is something she’s done before. Everyone played well. Destiny did a great job handling the pressure that Padua brought and bringing the ball up for us. All of our girls did a great job picking up the 1-2-2 they were running.”
He also made mention of the outstanding condition of the gym itself.
“This was a DIAA event,” he said, “and Todd Fuhrmann and the school maintenance staff really did a great of getting everything ready. The gym really shined, and it made this win even more special.”
The Lady Indians were set to travel to St. Mark’s this past Thursday, March 4, (after Coastal Point press deadline), to try to rout the undefeated Lady Spartans.
“We’ve talked a bit about this game,” said Frye, “but we just have to prepare the same way we always do. I told the girls we can only control what we do well, and that’s our defense and running the court. We need to do that no matter who we play.”
The victors of Thursday’s game will travel to the Bob Carpenter Center at the University of Delaware this Saturday, March 6, at 2 p.m., in the state quarterfinals.
