South Bend Clay girls basketball fights on with sectional win over Mishawaka Marian
NEW CARLISLE — The last time the South Bend Clay girls basketball program won a postseason game, current assistant coaches Mykala Baylor and Gabbie Russell were players.
That changed Tuesday night.
In its final season of competition, the Colonials will go out with at least one playoff victory, as they defeated Mishawaka Marian, 55-28, in the Class 3A, Sectional opener at New Prairie High School. It’s the Colonials first postseason win since 2016, when they won two games before losing in the sectional final.
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“It means a lot to me because we wanted to get one for our wonderful coaches,” Clay senior Delilah Castaneda said. “Our coach, (Warren) Bynum, was hyping us up at the school before we came to the game. We were ready to get the win.”
Clay never trailed Tuesday — although Marian kept it close for three quarters. The Knights (3-20) cut the deficit to one on two occasions, the latest being 12-11 midway through the second frame. The Colonials (6-17) countered with a 12-0 run leading to a 24-14 advantage at the break.
Marian hung around in the third, making it a nine-point contest on a shot from senior Lillith Eaton with 1:30 remaining in the period. A timeout called by Bynum seemed to calm his team down, as five quick points — one off a ‘3’ from Castaneda, and another from a short-range jumper from junior Mayliya Freeman as the third-quarter horn sounded — put the Colonials ahead, 35-21.
They rode that momentum into a huge fourth quarter, outscoring the Knights, 20-7.
“The way we’ve played this year, that nine-point lead wasn’t safe,” Bynum said. “So, to see us step up and hit those shots was great to see because, normally, we’d stop shooting. We’d get really tentative and try to not lose the game, but this time, they really went out and tried to win the game.”
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Clay’s win was a near-180 from the 37-33 loss it suffered to Marian two weeks ago.
“I think we were more active on defense, and we hit shots,” said Bynum of the biggest differences between the two games with the Knights. “I thought our ball movement was much better as well. We didn’t really handle their trap really well the first time, and this time, we moved the ball around and found the open shots.”
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Five players ended up doing all the scoring for Clay. Castaneda led the way with 14 points, senior Kira Miller and junior Rachel Hunt had 11 each, junior Tyrece Cunningham 10 and Freeman nine.
“When one of us is being double teamed or triple teamed, we just make sure we’re passing the ball well,” Castaneda said. “We have to believe in our teammates that they’re going to do what they can do.”
While the Colonials’ overall record isn’t pretty, they’ve won five of its last seven games. Several of those losses have been by single digits, including one point to Mishawaka, four to South Bend Adams and five to LaVille.
“We’ve just tried to stay positive with them,” said Bynum of his team. “I know we’ve had some rough games. The NIC is really tough, and I think us playing close games earlier on … they gave us a little hope that, hey, if we hang in there and keep working hard, we can start breaking that barrier.”
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Up next in semifinals
Clay faces South Bend Saint Joseph (7-15) in the second semifinal game Friday at New Prairie. The host Cougars (18-5) take on Jimtown (9-13) in the first contest at 6:30 p.m. ET, with the Colonials-Saint Joe game starting approx. 25 minutes after the first game ends.
Saint Joseph beat Clay, 53-37, on Nov. 14, 2023, but the Colonials were shorthanded that night.
“We didn’t have (Freeman) when we played them earlier this year,” Bynum noted. “It should be a good matchup. They apply different pressure than what (Marian) does, and they’re a little more disciplined on defense, so that’s another hurdle we need to cross these next few days.”
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Clay girls basketball lives to see another day with sectional win over Marian
