Smith leads Rosary past Indian Creek

The Indian Creek girls basketball team won the first state trophy in school history last year at the Class 1A state finals.

But the Wolverines picked the wrong night to run into Rosary Friday at the Hoops Happening Thanksgiving Tournament at IMSA in Aurora.

Rosary limited Indian Creek to 4 points or fewer in each of the opening three quarters in posting a 39-22 victory to earn its third consecutive win to start the season.

Lauren Smith almost single-handedly outscored Indian Creek with her game-high 18 points in leading the Royals.

Indian Creek (1-2) made but 5 field goals for the entire game.

"We made sure to know where everyone was," Smith said of the Royals' smothering defense. "We needed to fix our communication a lot after (the IMSA game Thursday) night. It worked out really well for us."

Three of the Indian Creek starters failed to score.

Madison Twitty had 6 points to lead the team.

Indian Creek did not reach double digits until less than two minutes to play in the third quarter.

Rosary (3-0) surrendered the first 4 points of the game, but it would be all Indian Creek would score in the opening quarter.

Indian Creek made nothing but free throws in the second quarter as Rosary took a 15-8 lead into halftime behind the 10 points Smith registered in the opening half.

"I just made sure to keep looking at the basket," said Smith, who had 2 more field goals than the entire Indian Creek team. "Luckily, my free throws were going in tonight."

"Lauren Smith, she is really undersized for the post position," Rosary coach Phil VanBogaert said of his senior leader, who scored in the paint as well as in transition against Indian Creek. "She does a great job and is really strong."

After Rosary ended the opening quarter with a 10-point unanswered run, Indian Creek never came within 4 points of the Royals.

"Defensively, we didn't play well (against IMSA Thursday) night," VanBogaert said. "Basically we came together as a team tonight in terms of defense. The biggest thing is communication."

The Royals made it tough on Indian Creek with extended offensive possessions patterned on highly disciplined ball movement.

Freshmen playing varsity basketball was almost unheard of in the 1970s, but Kristen Timko made her presence felt in the fourth quarter with back-to-back buckets for Rosary.

"I never thought it would happen," Timko said of making contributions as an incoming ninth-grader. "We made sure we talked and had everyone's back on the court."

Zoe Ketterman (5 points), Katherine Danos and Timko combined for 13 points for Rosary.

"We lost 94 percent of our scoring from last year," Indian Creek coach Paul Muchmore said. "We had two girls transfer, too. We are inexperienced."