By GREG MENGELT
Last year at this time, Silver Creek was experiencing something new.
The fourth-ranked Dragons won their first regional and semistate championship in program history en route to the state championship.
This year, Silver Creek (26-2) is returning to the state finals after it defeated Indianapolis Bishop Chatard (18-11) 64-54 at Saturday’s Class 3A Jeffersonville Semistate at William S. Johnson Arena.
“I can’t even describe the feeling. It’s crazy,” said Silver Creek senior guard Sydney Sierota. “I’m so proud of this team. I’m so proud of these coaching staff and our community for showing out. Can’t wait to be back playing at state.”
The state championship game will be a rematch. The Dragons will face No. 1 South Bend Washington (26-3) at 6 p.m. at Gainbridge Fieldhouse (formerly Bankers Life Fieldhouse) for the 3A crown. Creek defeated the Panthers 54-48 in last year’s championship.
“Honestly, I can not believe it,” Dragons senior guard Kynidi Mason-Striverson said. “If you would’ve asked me at the beginning of the year, I would’ve never known, but being with these girls every single day and seeing hard we all work and how much we care about each other, it doesn’t surprise me that we’re able to go back again.”
The 2021-22 version of the Silver Creek Dragons is a lot different than last year’s. Last year’s championship team came into the season with high expectations for a state title run. After graduating six seniors, the same wasn’t expected of them this season.
“I told the girls, everything that you’ve gotten, you’ve earned,” Silver Creek 12th-year head coach Scott Schoen said. “Every game, you went out and were resilient and you were passionate and you loved each other and they kept winning. This is great. I’m so happy for these kids, so I know how bad they wanted to win it. This is their moment. They got a chance and took advantage of it.”
Early Saturday, it looked like the Dragons might not get back to Indy. However, they outscored 41-26 after halftime.
“We hang our hats on the third quarter,” Mason-Striverson said. “Statistically, we’ve always done well in the third quarter because we regroup at halftime. We just had to figure out what wasn’t working and just adjust it.”
Trailing 28-23 at the half, Silver Creek erased the deficit in a minute and 17 seconds. Senior Emme Rooney, who helped keep the Dragons in the game with 10 first-half points, scored on the first possession to cut the deficit to 28-25, senior Lacey Tingle got a steal and a basket get the Dragons within a point and Mason-Striverson knocked down her first 3-pointer and Creek led 30-28 at the 6:43 mark of the third quarter.
Silver Creek outscored Chatard 18-7 in the third period with Sierota setting the pace in the second half with her defense and passing. Sierota finished with 11 points, six rebounds and six assists in the win.
“She wanted it,” Rooney said of her classmate. “You could tell she wanted it. She got in passing lanes, she got steals and gave us more opportunities to score the basketball.”
Meredeth Wilkinson, also a senior, had a couple of huge baskets in the third and the Dragons led 41-35 through three quarters. Mason-Striverson scored Creek’s first five points of the third quarter and the Dragons had their largest lead at 44-37 with 6:24 to go.
The Trojans got within five with 3:36 left, but Rooney scored on back-to-back drives and Creek had an insurmountable 51-44 lead with 2:52 left.
Rooney, who had 11 points in the Dragons’ regional championship win over Gibson Southern, contributed 16 points and three rebounds to the semistate triumph.
“As a senior, I knew I was going to have to be a leader on and off the floor this year,” Rooney said. “I think, in these situations, it’s important that we all step up and all play our roles. I’m just trying to play my role to the best of my ability.”
Rooney was 7 for 11 from the field and 2 for 5 from behind the 3-point arc
“Let’s talk about Emme a little bit,” Schoen said. “I thought Emme Rooney was phenomenal. I thought that kid put us on her back. Big rebounds, big shots, big finishes around the basket. Really proud of her.”
Mason-Striverson had a game-high 20 points but was just 1 for her first 7 from the field. She also led the Dragons with eight points and had two assists and two steals.
“You always have to be able to rely on your teammates,” Mason-Striverson said. “Especially this late in the season, it’s not going to be a 1-man show. It’s just not. My teammates will always have my back, whether I have zero points or 20 points. I can look to my left and right and know my sisters have me no mater what.”
Chatard, which entered the contest on an 8-game winning streak, jumped out to a 12-2 run after a Caroline Bell 3-pointer less than 4 minutes into the contest.
Bell led the Trojans with 14 points. She scored nine in the first period as her team jumped out to a 19-15 edge after 8 minutes.
“We had a slow start, so we knew we needed to come out and turn up our defense, get some steals and get some easy buckets to get us back in rhythm and back on top,” Sierota said.
Chatard led by as many as seven points in the second period. It was 25-18 when Rooney scored five straight points to get her team within 25-23 before senior Lilli Mohler drained a 3 to put the Trojans up 28-23 at halftime.
“We always know teams are going to play the best they can against us,” Sierota said. “They were hitting all their shots early. We were just trying to weather the storm.”
Wilkerson finished with six points and four rebounds for Silver Creek, which has now won 13 straight postseason games. Lacey Tingle added seven points, two rebounds and a steal and junior Hallie Foley scored four points on 2 of 3 shooting.
Earlier in the day, Class A No. 7 Tecumseh (19-8), which defeated Lanesville in last week’s regional championship, defeated No. 1 Waldron (24-2) to advance to the state title game against No. 3 Lafayette Central Catholic (24-4). Tecumseh senior Kaybree Oxley finished with 23 points, nine rebounds and three assists in the 54-42 victory.
CLASS 3A JEFFERSONVILLE SEMISTATE
SILVER CREEK 64, CHATARD 54
Chatard 19 9 7 19—54
Silver Creek 15 8 18 23—64
Chatard (18-11): Caroline Bell 6-9 0-1 14, Carly Decastro 4-12 1-4 9, Kate Caskey 1-7 5-6 7, Grace Adams 3-6 5-7 14, Izzy Davis 0-5 2-2 2, Anna Thompson 2-2 0-0 5, Lilli Mohler 1-5 0-0 3. Totals 17-46 13-20 54.
Silver Creek (26-2): Kynidi Mason-Striverson 5-14 9-12 20, Hallie Foley 2-3 0-1 4, Sydney Sierota 2-8 7-8 11, Reese Decker 0-1 0-0 0, Lacey Tingle 3-4 0-0 7, Emme Rooney 7-11 0-1 16, Merideth Wilkinson 3-3 0-0 6. Totals 22-44 16-22 64.
3-point field goals: Chatard 7-19 (Adams 3-4, Bell 2-2, Thompson 1-1, Mohler 1-3); Silver Creek 4-14 (Rooney 2-5, Mason-Striverson 1-5, Tingle 1-1, Sierota 0-1, Foley 0-2).
Rebounds: Chatard 32 (Bell 15); Silver Creek 25 (Mason-Striverson 8).
Assists: Chatard 9 (Caskey 3); Silver Creek 12 (Sierota 6).
Steals: Chatard 7 (Adams 4); Silver Creek 8 (Sierota 3).
Blocked shots: Chatard 3 (Bell 2); Silver Creek 2 (Foley, Decker).
Turnovers: Chatard 16, Silver Creek 14.
Team fouls: Chatard 18, Silver Creek 17.
Fouled out: None.
Technical fouls: None.
