Bunker, Evans propel Eagles to final
Duo scores 27 of team’s 33 second-half points to send team to semifinal triumph
Megan Bunker is a sophomore, so she still has a few more chances to win a title. Maddy Evans is a senior, so this is her last shot at a second title.
With Indian Creek locked in a tight game with defending Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland C Conference champion Bryn Mawr on Friday, the pair combined to score 27 of the Eagles’ 33 second-half points and lifted their team to Sunday’s championship game following a 47-40 victory in a conference semifinal.
Indian Creek (17-4) will face Catholic at 2 p.m. on Sunday at Stevenson University. The Eagles are going for their second title in three years.
“We just kept our heads high, even when we were down,” said Evans, who led Indian Creek with 24 points. “They spoiled us last year, so we were definitely coming out for revenge.”
Evans scored 17 of her points in the second half, but Bunker provided a huge spark when she scored five straight points to close the third quarter and fed Evans in transition in the opening minute of the fourth to turn a tie game into a seven-point Indian Creek lead. Bunker, who went scoreless in the first half, finished with 10 points, including seven in the third and helped the Eagles fight back from a halftime deficit.
“My teammates just really helped me pull it together in the locker room and get me back in the game,” Bunker said. “We’re definitely really determined and we just rallied around each other.”
A key piece to the Eagles’ championship team two years ago, Delaney Dignam was strong inside and finished with 11 points for Indian Creek. She helped keep her team in the game with seven points in the first half and added four points in the fourth quarter to help close out the game.
“That was a very good and well-coached team and we were very fortunate to get the win,” Indian Creek first-year coach Ciaran Lesikar said. “There was a lot of pressure. Everybody expected that out of us, so anything short of getting there would have been tough.”
When Indian Creek won the IAAM C Conference title two years ago, it had to rally from an 18-point deficit to win its semifinal. On Friday, the Eagles trailed by as many as six points in the first half and were down three at the half. The game was tied three times in third quarter before the Eagles went on a 9-0 run to take control.
Sunday’s game will be a matchup of the top two seeds in the conference. Indian Creek went unbeaten in the conference in the regular season, while Catholic lost just twice. The Eagles defeated the Cubs, 50-24, on Dec. 14, but the Cubs were without one of their top players. Catholic (12-9) advanced to the final with a 49-34 victory over Park in the other semifinal
“They’re the one team where we really can’t look at the tape because they were missing their best player,” Lesikar said. “It’s going to be a completely different game.”
Virginia Oursler scored 10 points and Allison Harbaugh and Abby Hurlbrink each added eight points for Bryn Mawr (13-9).