ANDERSON – Senior Maddi Sears scored a career high 29 points as the Class 2A No. 2 University girls routed Liberty Christian 84-30 Saturday night. The win clinched the Pioneer Academic Athletic Conference North Division championship for the 11-0 Trailblazers.
Senior Lindsey Syrek had 19 points, 16 rebounds and five steals. Syrek recorded her 1,000th career rebound in the first quarter with an offensive rebound. The New Jersey Institute of Technology recruit now has 1,013 rebounds in her four-year Trailblazer career.
Freshman Payton Seay had 14 points, four assists and four steals and junior Sierra Hinds had ten points, four assists and four steals. Freshman Jordan Patterson made her career start and had five points including a first quarter three pointer to give the Trailblazers a lead they would not relinquish at 7-5 with 5:00 remaining in the quarter.
The Trailblazers held Liberty Christian for more than 10 minutes over the first and second quarters, scoring 30 straight points to turn a 13-7 lead in to a 43-7 advantage.
University will host the PAAC championship game on Saturday, Jan. 18. Greenwood Christian, Park Tudor and Bethesda Christian are all currently undefeated in PAAC South play.
The Trailblazers have three more games to play before the Christmas break. They will wrap up finals on Thursday and face Indianapolis Tindley at home that night. University travels to the Indiana School for the Deaf next Saturday afternoon before playing Randolph Southern on Monday, Dec. 23 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
UNIVERSITY 84, LIBERTY CHRISTIAN 30
University FG FT TP PF
Sierra Hinds 3 4-6 10 1
Lindsey Syrek 8 3-4 19 4
Payton Seay 5 4-10 14 2
Jordan Patterson 2 0-0 5 1
Maddi Sears 11 4-4 29 2
Elise Nachlis 1 2-2 4 1
Arrion Sherrod 1 0-0 2 1
Abby Hannon 0 0-2 0 3
Ria Narayanan 0 1-2 1 0
Bayan Abdullah 0 0-0 0 0
Totals 31 18-30 84 15
Score by Quarters
University 22 25 26 11 – 84
Liberty Christian 7 2 14 7 – 30
University 3-pointers (4) Sears 3, Patterson 1.