It seemed like a panic situation.
One-loss Indian Creek, down one point late in the third quarter, had its best player Josie Diehl on the bench with a bloody nose. Teammate MaKayli Vann was out with four fouls.
Timberwolves senior Alexis VanWyhe, though, called for another emotion.
“I just told everybody to stay calm,” VanWyhe said. “I think we all stayed calm pretty well. We didn’t act like we were down.”
Indeed they didn’t.
Scoring the game’s final 19 points, Indian Creek pulled away to beat Newark 49-31 in Thursday’s championship game of the Class 1A Gardner-South Wilmington Regional.
It is the second regional title in three years for Indian Creek (28-1) and the third since the Shabbona school opened in 1993.
The senior core of Diehl, VanWyhe, Madison Russell and Jacklyn Bouma has been together on varsity for four years.
And they’re not done.
Indian Creek, ranked sixth in the final Associated Press 1A poll, advances to Monday’s sectional semifinal at Serena.
“We’ve all been together since the fourth grade,” VanWyhe said. “This is just the first step.”
VanWyhe scored eight of her 12 points in the second half, while Russell had eight of her 11. Vann also finished with 12.
Newark (18-10), which lost by 16 to Indian Creek during the regular season, surged ahead 31-30 when Jasmine Mitchell followed her own miss with two minutes left in the third quarter.
With Diehl and Vann out, though, VanWyhe hit a jumper and freshman MaKenzie Vann scored in transition to close the quarter.
Diehl returned, Russell’s 3-pointer started the fourth quarter, and the Timberwolves were off to the races.
Diehl, who had 12 rebounds, was held to seven points. She attempted just eight shots against a Newark zone clearly geared to stop her.
Her senior classmates picked her up.
“We knew they were going to try to take away Josie,” VanWyhe said. “Everyone stepped up.”
Kelsea Zitt scored 13 points and Mitchell six for Newark. The Norsemen gave a gritty effort for three quarters.
But they were overwhelmed by Indian Creek’s pressure late. Newark went scoreless the entire fourth quarter.
“We kind of fell apart against their pressure. We weren’t expecting it,” Zitt said. “I guess we weren’t prepared. Very proud of the girls though.”
The two teams exchanged the lead nine times, and played to five ties over the first three quarters, with the biggest margin four.
Newark led 22-21 at half.
Indian Creek, unleashing its pressure out of halftime, didn’t play like a team feeling the pressure of being the favored team.
“I said to them at halftime, ‘If we are going to get beat, let’s get beat playing like we have all season,'” said Indian Creek coach Paul Muchmore, whose team started the season 23-0. “I said, ‘Let’s go for it and get beat being us.’ It was a struggle but we hung in there.”
Joshua Welge is a freelance writer for The Beacon-News.
