Lake Central’s Aniyah Bishop wasn’t going to be denied.
Not in the opening game of her final high school postseason. Not with this accomplished group’s aspirations on the line.
“It was just getting the ball in the paint and scoring,” she said. “That’s what I do best, especially when they know I have somebody who’s my size or if not bigger. I do mismatches all the time. If I’m able to get a mismatch, they already know, get me the ball.”
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The Indians did, and Bishop delivered in the first round of the Class 4A Lake Central Sectional against Munster on Tuesday. The 5-foot-10 forward scored eight of her 14 points in the fourth quarter as Lake Central escaped with a 59-53 victory.
Bishop posted all but one of her points in the second half for the Indians (21-4), who remained unbeaten against Region opponents over two seasons and advanced to play West Side (3-17) in the sectional semifinals Friday.
“We started to get her the ball,” Lake Central coach Joe Huppenthal said. “That’s why she was scoring. We made it an emphasis there in the fourth quarter and the middle of the third quarter. I talked all week that we have to get the ball inside.
“Now there’s a flip side too. She has to do some stuff to make herself available.”
Bishop agreed she had to do her part to get the ball.
“A lot more movement, but going to the right spots,” she said. “That’s more of what he was trying to tell me because I would go to a spot, but there’s a better spot that’s wide open. He was just trying to get that through my head, and I feel like I got it.”
Bishop has been a quick study throughout her career at Lake Central, which won its second straight Duneland Athletic Conference title and ended the regular season ranked No. 15 in the state coaches poll. She has led the team in scoring in each of her four seasons and in rebounding three times, finishing second by one board as a sophomore.
The Indians, who did not lose any players after winning a regional title last year for the first time since 1998, are remarkably balanced. All five starters were averaging between Nadia Clayton’s 8.1 points and Bishop’s 9.2 points entering the postseason.
Against Munster (18-5), which won its first Northwest Crossroads Conference championship since 2020, Ayla Krygier finished with 13 points, Riley Milausnic and Vanessa Wimberly each had 12 points, and Clayton added eight points.
Bishop led the way again.
“Niyah’s phenomenal,” Krygier said. “She really is. She’s just fun to play with. When she gets hot like that, you just have to get her the ball.
“Niyah driving in and getting those and-ones, you have to get it to her. She helped out a lot and just really brought the crowd into the game too. That fueled us.”
Lake Central needed the energy against upset-minded Munster, which lost 70-45 in the teams’ regular-season matchup Nov. 28, a game in which Bishop eclipsed 1,000 career points. Led by star sophomore guard Gracyn Gilliard, who scored 28 points, the senior-less Mustangs proved to be ready for the rematch.
“I’m not going to lie, it was nerve-wracking,” Bishop said. “But I have confidence in my team 100%. I know we’re going to come back. That’s why we weren’t too irate. We got the ball to people who could shoot. We got the ball to people who were hot.
“We are confident in what we can do. We’re going to go after them. Anything we can do, we’re going to win. We’re all some dawgs, and we have that dawg mentality.”
The Mustangs led 27-21 at halftime, scored seven consecutive points behind CeCe Mason’s back-to-back 3-pointers for a 36-29 edge with 3:07 left in the third, and still led 44-39 entering the fourth.
But Clayton’s 3-pointer tied the score at 46-46, and Bishop’s basket inside pushed Lake Central ahead for good at 48-46 with 5:03 left. Bishop added a 3-point play to make it 51-46, and another basket inside from her gave the Indians their largest cushion at 56-47 with 2:16 left.
“That’s what this tournament’s about,” Huppenthal said. “This is what happens. … Kudos to them. They pushed us to the hilt. Credit them.
“Then on the flip side of that, credit our kids because it was looking dim there for a little bit. But they fought back, just like they always have. Our schedule and what we’ve done, we’ve been in this situation, so there was no panic.”
Bishop said she will likely join already committed Clayton and Milausnic, Lake Central’s other senior starters, at Purdue Northwest next season, forming what she described as a “Big Three.” In the meantime, the Indians have unfinished business.
“Whatever play they want me to make, I’m there,” Bishop said.
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