Lady Indians crowned Henlopen South champs

Two conference powerhouses collided on the hardwood Monday evening as Indian River hosted the Lady Bulldogs of Laurel to settle the score in the Henlopen South. Lady Indians’ Keeonya Shelton turned on a dominant offensive attack, leading the squad with a personal-best, career-high 22 points as the rest of her team supplied a brick-wall defense for a 64-40 victory.

Coastal Point • Jesse Pryor
The Lady Indians' Brandi Buchanan snatches a rebound over Laurel's Stephanie Wheatley (43) and Tomorrow Briddell (12) and teammate Chanel Handy (55).

But the evening was a highlight for the Lady Indians‘ lone senior, Brandi Buchanan, who earned her senior-night win only hours after a nod – unbeknownst to her – into this year’s Blue and Gold game.

“This is something that couldn’t have happened to a nicer person,” noted second-year head coach John Frye of Buchanan’s successes. “She really overcame a lot this season.”

Buchanan this year played through a knee injury that stemmed from a incident prior to last season’s start and graciously took responsibility as the team’s co-captain, along with sophomore Destiny Blake.

“Everything came together for her tonight,” Frye added of Buchanan. “She’s an outstanding young lady, and to hang in there and play as hard as she does really says a lot about her as an individual. She’s a hard worker with a positive attitude.”

Buchanan’s defensive contribution went far from unnoticed against Laurel, as she fronted the low post, collecting steals, blocks and forceful rebounds to quickly get momentum back for the Lady Indians.

After an offense-driven first quarter, which scaled a five-point margin, Indian River turned on the intensity, outscoring Laurel 18-7 in the second quarter with much help from Keeonya Shelton. Blake knocked back 13 points, and Keiosha Shelton donated 11 by the end of the game. Buchanan and sophomore center Chanel Handy each put up eight points in the victory.

Careless mistakes that plagued the Indians in games earlier this season, including four games in which they trailed by four points or less at the final buzzer, were nowhere in sight Monday night, as Indian River made a clean sweep over Laurel, locking up the Henlopen South.

Emotions ran high as a physical game unfolded.

“We’ve talked about the intensity of the game a lot in practice,” said Frye, “and I told the girls, we just have to keep playing. When a ref makes a call, just clap and move on. We can’t be mentally weak. We knew Laurel was going to bring a tough, physical game. There were a lot of bodies to the floor, but we preach composure, and we knew we would have to stop them from making a string of baskets. You can’t have a team like Laurel score two or three baskets in a row. When they would make a run, our girls had to come back with it.”

While buckets piled together for the Lady Indians’ offense, a sound D helped keep the Bulldogs at bay.

“Our defense really came together,” Frye added. “It all comes off of the defensive end. We’re going to run a strong defense and run the court for four quarters. I told the girls they had to put a hand up and make [Laurel] earn each shot they take.”

The Lady Indians first faced Laurel this season in the Pat Borowski Classic tournament in late December, where they upended the Lady Bulldogs 64-49. Both regular-season rematches came later this winter, and the Indians held strong, edging their rival 55-50 in January before this past Monday’s 64-40 win. Last year, Indian River’s team finished second in the conference behind who else? The Lady Bulldogs of Laurel.

“We knew we had to play confident,” said Buchanan. “We knew [Laurel] would come in strong, so we had to stay positive, keeping in mind that if we won the game, we were Southern Division champions.”

“Our defense really came together for us,” said Keeonya Shelton. “That helped us a lot. The whole team got back and played aggressive.”

The Lady Indians advanced to 12-7 overall, but obtained a 10-2 record in the Henlopen South, with the final game of the season to be played Wednesday night, Feb. 24, at Woodbridge (after Coastal Point press deadline).

Monday’s game put Laurel, which finished in first place in the conference last year, at 9-4 against Henlopen South opponents, with a final game to be played against Seaford. Despite IR’s loss to Delmar only days earlier, the two season wins over second-place Laurel guaranteed the Indians conference domination.

“It was always going to come down to this game,” said Frye of the matchup against Laurel. “A win at Delmar could have guaranteed us at least a tie in the conference, but with a win here, we had the edge over Laurel.”

Despite a limited number of athletes on the roster this year, Frye said he was confident in the team’s ability and composure.

“Our girls started to move the ball around, and Laurel was boxing up on Brandi,” he noted. “She still got to the boards, and everyone else pulled their weight underneath, and Keeonya really stepped up when we needed her.

“A lot of teams have a lot of players, but you don’t always see those girls on the court,” he added. “Our girls all contribute to the game. It’s all about match-ups. Kitty [Cole], Abby [Miller], Chanel [Handy] and Shanekqua [Holden]; we needed them tonight, and they all played big. If you can stay out of foul trouble, these girls are conditioned to go seven or eight deep.”

The Lady Indians will square off against Laurel at least one more time this season, as the two clash on neutral ground this Friday, Feb. 26, at Sussex Tech for the Henlopen South championship game.

Fueled by a strong finish at the end of the season and a determination in Buchanan that few athletes possess, Frye was anticipating strong possibilities for the state tournament, which begins this coming Tuesday.

“I think the younger ones hit a wall about a month ago,” he said, “but they pushed through that. I was a little concerned with the two-week layoff we had due to the weather. You never know how kids will react, but they truly earned it. The girls played a tough schedule, but they hanged tight and practiced hard. I couldn’t be happier for this group of girls.”

As for Buchanan, “She’s a tough girl,” he added. “I’ve coached a lot of athletes for a lot of years, and she’s still at the top of my list.”