HINCKLEY -- Indian Creek's girls basketball team knew that if it could finally get a shot to fall in Wednesday's Class 1A Hinckley-Big Rock Regional semifinal against Westminster Christian, things would be just fine.
After shooting just 6-of-22 from the field in the first quarter, and leading by only two points, things finally started to fall in the second, leading to a 54-34 win over the Warriors and a third matchup with Little Ten Conference rival Hinckley-Big Rock tonight for the regional title.
Top-seeded Hinckley-Big Rock, which beat second-seeded Indian Creek handily twice this season, advanced to the finals with a 73-15 win over Elgin Academy.
"Early on, we were getting turnovers, but we weren't scoring off of them," Indian Creek coach Paul Muchmore said. "We had a nice little run in the second. We were playing hard. I just think we weren't shooting well."
The Timberwolves (21-8) scored the first nine points of the second quarter to spark a 12-2 run that pushed the lead to 26-14 in the second. They later added an 8-2 run to open up a 34-22 lead by the half. And after struggling shooting from the outside in the first quarter, Indian Creek scored all but one bucket in the second on layups.
"We were shooting in the beginning, and they weren't falling for us," Indian Creek guard Lindsay Richardson said. "We had to work on that. We decided to drive it. It worked better for us. We were cold. We were way off early, but then we got into it."
With the lead now safe at over 20, and knowing that they had to play the next night against a dominant, deep team in the Royals tonight, the Timberwolves took some air out of the ball in the third to conserve energy. And that was something that third-seeded Westminster Christian (5-22) had trouble matching up with.
"That little stretch of the second quarter, they played tough and that kind of took us out of our game," Westminster Christian coach Ken Flickinger said. "When they spread us out, I thought we'd be in a little bit of trouble. We just don't match up well with them."
Now the Timberwolves get a shot at redemption against Hinckley-Big Rock. The second time the two teams met, Indian Creek fell behind 17-4 before cutting the lead to five by the end of the second quarter. That was also a theme the first time the teams played, with the Royals getting off to fast starts and Indian Creek chasing just to get back in the game.
"The one thing you take away is that it's not easy to do," Muchmore said of beating Hinckley-Big Rock. "We have to avoid the big run. Both games we played them, it's awfully hard. We spend a lot of energy to come back. If we play well, anything can happen. We just have to keep it close."
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