Lady Indians top Dover, close out season against Seaford with conference title at stake
Earlier this season, the Lady Senators of Dover got the best of Indian River in the final game of December’s Pat Borowski Classic. But as the Lady Indians have been piecing together win upon win through the second half of the schedule, they made sure that this past Tuesday, Feb. 14, they would exact their revenge. With consistent shooting, well-executed passes and assertive rebounding, the Lady Indians came together as a team this week, defeating Dover the second time around, 55-50.
Coastal Point • R. Chris Clark
IR senior Chanel Handy posts up with a short jump shot as Dover attempts a defensive stance in Tuesday night’s game. The Lady Indians’ picked up their ninth straight win in a 55-50 victory against the Lady Senators.
“Dover got us pretty bad just after Christmas,” noted Indian River head coach John Frye. “They beat us 67-38 then, but we’re not the same team that we were then.”
And they’ve got the statistics to prove it. In the first seven games of their schedule, the Lady Indians struggled against opponents as they accumulated a 3-4 start. Careless turnovers, passive defense and minimal rebounding played out to the Indians’ demise. Since the turn of the year, however, they have gone 11-1 and have put together nine straight wins – including their latest one this past Tuesday, hosting Dover for their Senior Night.
“We’re not the same team we were earlier this season,” Frye noted. “Our girls are playing with a lot more confidence. They realized [on Tuesday] that they weren’t playing the jersey. They were playing the athletes in the jersey.
“I understand going up against a team like Dover can sound intimidating, but we’re not playing scared, and that’s what helped us win this game. We had everyone come together. Four girls were able to score in the double figures, and that’s what we needed to do. And to do this on Senior Night, for the girls who have been playing this game year after year, that’s huge.”
He credited the team’s aggressive play, rebounds and use of outside shooters as factors that resulted in the win.
“At this point in the season,” he added, “no team is going to show us anything we haven’t seen already. They may be really good at something, but we’ve faced it all. Dover pressed us with a zone the entire second half, but our girls broke that down. We held our composure and hit shots when we needed to. Anytime you can get a win over a Division I school like Dover, you know you’re doing something right.”
The victory helped push the Lady Indians up the state rankings, to the second seed in the Henlopen Conference. Indian River now sits at 14-5 overall and 10-2 against Henlopen opponents, but there’s still one final regular-season test ahead of them.
This Thursday, Feb. 16, the Indians were set to face Seaford (after Coastal Point press deadline), the only Henlopen team that held a better record than the Lady Indians. The Lady Jays of Seaford dished Indian River one of their five losses in the season’s first half, and the Lady Indians would have to earn a win on Feb. 16 in order to be crowned Southern Henlopen Champions for a third straight year.
“We don’t have a lot of turnaround time [before the Seaford game],” said Frye mid-week, “but it’s a good sign when you still have meaningful games to play at the end of the season. There are some teams out there who really don’t have anything riding on their last few games, but our girls will come ready to play.
“They’re thankful to be in the position they’re in. Earlier in the year, people had written us off as playoff contenders when we were 3-4 and had the whole division to play through again. These girls have worked tremendously hard, and now we have an opportunity to defend our title. They aren’t champions for nothing. I know they’ll show up bright and early on Thursday, ready to go.”
