Indian Creek goes back-to-back in C Conference basketball

By Nelson Coffin
nelson@iaamsports.com

Coach Casey Corkin’s halftime strategy was simple, straightforward and, fortunately for Indian Creek, successful at the C Conference championship game on Sunday at Stevenson University.

Basically, Corkin told his players that the best way to beat Glenelg Country School would be to attack the paint with freshmen forwards Stephanie Bunker and Ofundem Mbelem.

While both rookies had been effective in the first two quarters, they dominated in the final two periods as the Eagles snapped a 24-all deadlock and rolled to a 60-36 victory.

“The success we’d had was getting (the ball) into the key,” Corkin said. “And then we got away from that. We were trying to play individual ball. We told them at halftime that you have to play as a team. You have to get the ball inside — that’s what’s going to work.”

It did, big-time.

The duo ended up with a game-best 19 points each, grabbed a slew of rebounds — many on the offensive end — and were a major reason why ICS was able shake the memory of a 20-point setback to the Dragons (18-5) the last time the teams met during the regular season.

“They took the message,” Corkin continued, telling his players to “pound the ball inside. We have two bigs in there who can finish. If they miss it, they miss it, but you have to keep pounding the ball inside and that’s going to open it up for other people.”

Sunday’s win earned Indian Creek (20-6) its second consecutive and third overall C Conference crown.

Glenelg Country had rallied from an eight-point deficit to forge a tie at the intermission behind their own freshmen tandem of Alexis White and Kayden McDaniel.

However, the Eagles came roaring out of the gate in the third quarter on a pair of stick-backs by Bunker and a three-point play by Mbelem on a drive. Sophomore Norah Young’s free throws finished the 8-0 run that was briefly halted by White’s runner down the lane.

“They won the game in the first four minutes of the second half,” Glenelg Country coach Will Harper said. “They came out and made their run and we just never recovered. We knew what to expect. They just got the best of us today.”

When Mbelem scored on the next two ICS possessions, the lead was stretched to 37-26 and only fell under double digits only once more — on a pair of White foul shots — the rest of the game.

By the end of the period, Mbelem’s power move ballooned the advantage to 43-31 and was widened further on a subsequent 6-0 blitz ignited by junior guard Abbey Bunker and her younger sister, Stephanie.

At that point, with just over six minutes remaining in regulation, the Eagles had built a commanding 49-31 bulge that augured well for their chances to pull off a repeat.

The Dragons were having difficulty getting McDaniel free to wreak havoc on the offensive end after the intermission, owing mainly to tight box-and-one and triangle-and-two defenses.

Corkin had to find a way to keep the standout newcomer from adding to her game-high 14 points — including three three-pointers — in the first half.

“We were letting her get the ball and you can’t let her get the ball,” Corkin said. “She's a dangerous player. We saw her twice already (during the season) and we saw her in the first half.”

He credited senior Skyla Houde for being part of the defensive effort to slow McDaniel down in the second half.

“She came off the bench and played tough defense on her,” Corkin said. “That’s all we needed her to do.”

Stephanie Bunker and Mbelem said that the Eagles needed more cohesion if they were going to prevail.

“I knew we had to play as a team, coming from our loss (to Glenelg Country),” Bunker said.

“I knew if we came together we would get the ‘W,’” Mbelem said. “We just had to stay as a team and we could get this.”