'We almost lost our head.' Bishop Chatard gets gritty, beats Indian Creek for regional

GREENCASTLE — Anna Caskey, like all of the Bishop Chatard girls basketball players, has the word “grit” written in black marker on the inside of her left wrist. She added a personal twist with a smiley face written on the inside of her right wrist, “to remind myself to have fun.”

Both messages were appropriate at Saturday’s Class 3A regional.

The 6-foot Caskey set the tone with a gritty, determined 15-point, 18-rebound performance. That led to plenty of fun during, and after, Bishop Chatard’s 64-60 victory over No. 6 Indian Creek in the Greencastle Regional.

IHSAA girls basketball: Central Indiana regionals scoreboard

“We came in knowing we are a family,” Caskey said. “If we could out-together them, we’d be the better team.”

Chatard (19-8) will find out its opponent in the 3A south semistate during Sunday’s semistate pairings show at 2 p.m.

It will be the third consecutive appearance in the semistate for the Trojans, who ran into a buzzsaw last season in the semistate against Indian Creek. Caskey, who tore a tendon in her right wrist last season and was unable to play, watched that game from the bench as Indian Creek dominated in the second half on the way to a 76-47 win.

“It was hard because I wanted to be there for my team,” Caskey said of last year’s semistate. “But I also knew I could have just as important of a role on the bench, supporting my team and doing everything I can to push them.”

An admirable thought, but Bishop Chatard coach Dan Wagner certainly preferred to have Caskey at full health Saturday, particularly with 6-4 senior and Indiana recruit Faith Wiseman in uniform for Indian Creek. Caskey helped set the tone with nine points and six rebounds in the first quarter as Chatard jumped out to a 24-15 lead.

If there was any question about Chatard being up to the challenge after last year’s loss, it was answered in the first eight minutes.

“We talk all the time about out-toughing teams,” Wagner said. “We have a lot of multi-sport kids and that’s how they play. We play really, really hard and with a lot of determination. That was a theme when we talked to them before the game.”

Chatard took a 32-23 lead into halftime. Indian Creek (21-5) chipped away in the third quarter, taking its first lead at 45-44 on a jumper by Wiseman with 1:35 left in the quarter. But Chatard closed the quarter with a 4-0 run on baskets by sophomore Alyx Kendall and Caskey to take a 50-47 lead into the fourth quarter.

“This is our third year playing these guys,” said Wagner, whose team defeated Indian Creek in the championship game of the two-game regional two years ago. “We knew they were going to come at us in the second half. Sure enough, they made that run. We didn’t lose our head but … almost. We almost lost our head.”

The Trojans looked like they might be in cruise control in the fourth quarter, pushing back out to a 10-point lead with a little more than 4 minutes remaining. But Indian Creek had one more run left.

Wiseman found senior teammate Lauren Foster for a 3-pointer with 2:02 remaining to bring the Braves within 59-56. After the teams traded free throws, a Chatard turnover led to a 3-pointer by Indian Creek’s Ayla Lollar. The lead: Chatard 61-60. The time: 58.1 seconds.

After another Trojans turnover, Indian Creek had a chance to take the lead but missed. Addison Duncan made one of two free throws to put Chatard ahead 62-60 with 14.2 seconds remaining. Indian Creek nearly lost the ball on its final possession, but it went out of bounds with 7.1 seconds left.

Indian Creek coach Brian Ferris said there were a couple of different options on the out-of-bounds play. “We kind of had a miscue in the paint about who was going where,” he said. “ … We ended up with probably our third look and couldn’t hang on to the ball. Just one of those bounces.”

Olivia Berzai hit two free throws with 2.5 seconds left to seal the win for Chatard.

“We definitely wanted a little bit of revenge from last year,” Berzai said.

It took a team effort. Berzai finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds, overcoming a slow start shooting. “We always have that next play mentality,” Berzai said. Kendall started hot with six points in the first quarter and finished with 14 for the Trojans.

“At a certain point we saw her turn around and shoot and it was like, ‘That’s going in,’” Berzai said of Kendall. “She had a night. She’s a great player and shooter and it showed tonight. She clutched up.”

Wiseman finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds in her final high school game. Foster added 16 and freshman Ellie Oliver had 10 points. After the game, Ferris made his plea for Wiseman to win IndyStar Miss Basketball.

“She is Miss Basketball in the state of Indiana,” Ferris said. “There’s nobody ahead of her that has had to deal with — day in and day out — the doubles and triples and physical play. Everybody else gets single covered. She’s had everything. I think she deserves it.”

Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IHSAA girls basketball: Bishop Chatard beats Indian Creek for regional