Indian River girls' basketball looks to rebound after loss to Seaford
Indian River High School’s Lady Indians kicked off their basketball season with a bang, defeating Lake Forest and Woodbridge for an early 2-0 start, but with a third straight loss on the year, after slipping to Seaford in their first home game on the schedule this past Tuesday, Dec. 20, the team will have to assess their focus if they are to take control of the Henlopen South for a third consecutive year.
Coastal Point • R. Chris Clark
Lady Indians Shanekqua Holden lays up a shot last week during the Indians'; game at St. Elizabeth. The Lady Vikings upended the Indians for a third straight year.
“I thought we had turned the corner after last week’s loss to St. Elizabeth,” said Indian River head coach John Frye, “but Seaford brought a quickness and aggressiveness that we couldn’t keep up with.”
A young Seaford team proved that experience is not always the key, as their team, equipped with only one senior, routed the Lady Indians, 73-47, earlier this week. Seaford gained an early lead, nudging past the Lady Indians, 14-10, by the end of the first quarter, but piled it on the next two, jumping out to a 32-16 lead by halftime and extending it to a 53-27 margin by the end of the third quarter.
Junior guard Tynetta Washington posted 20 points for the Lady Jays, as Lashyra Williams accompanied her with 18 points of her own. Indian River’s Keeonya Shelton put up 15 points, as her sister, Keiosha, scored 11. Captain Destiny Blake recorded 12 points, but the Indians could not keep in stride.
“The conditioning for some of our players has got to improve,” said Frye. “We need everybody in shape for every game. We’re not as quick up and down court as we had been in the past. Our girls are playing very hard, and I’m proud of them for that, but our confidence is shook right now. We need to handle the pressure and compete in these games so that we’re not constantly fighting our way back. We need to find our identity as a team, and, unfortunately, we don’t have that right now.”
Frye’s presence has been a visible one, since he stepped in as the Lady Indians’ head coach in the 2008-2009 season, when he delivered their first winning season and playoff trip in half a decade. But the 2-3 record for this season’s start marks the team’s worst start in his tenure at Indian River.
“It’s frustrating, as a coach,” said Frye, “to have your team play their hearts out and still lose, but there are things we can do. We have to run an offense and execute plays. I need our girls competing for all four quarters. They’ll work hard.”
The Lady Indians’ two losses earlier this season came at the hands of St. Elizabeth and Cape Henlopen, two teams that, like the Indians, have earned a spot in the state playoffs the past three years. Cape Henlopen even advanced to the championship game, last year, before succumbing to Sanford, 47-41.
The Lady Indians will look to improve in the Pat Borowski Tournament, hosted by Lake Forest at the end of the month. The tournament runs on Wednesday, Dec. 28, and Thursday, Dec. 29. After that, the Lady Indians will host Laurel on Tuesday, Jan. 3, in hopes of capitalizing on the first of six consecutive conference games.
“It’s real important that we come into this stretch of conference games, ready to play,” Frye noted. “We want to use this Christmas tournament as a springboard. We have some tough competition ahead of us and no wiggle room. Any team can be beat on any given day, and we have to come out and be ready if we’re going to make another run for the conference.”
