By RICHIE HALL
Reporter Sports Editor
After Anderson got a little too close for comfort with Noblesville during the regular season, the Millers wanted to take care of business against the Indians in the sectional.
Noblesville did that in Tuesday’s first round at the Class 4A Sectional 8 at Fishers. The Millers pulled away in the second half to beat Anderson 72-44, and advance to Friday’s semi-finals where they will play second-ranked Carmel.
Noblesville set the tone early, scoring the game’s first seven points. Emily Kiser scored the first basket with a layin, then drained a pair of free throws. Kiser’s points sandwiched a 3-pointer by Maddie Knight.
Knight wound up with 10 points in the first quarter, a majority of the 19-10 lead that the Millers held at the period’s end. Noblesville kept its lead between six and nine points in the second quarter, with Kiser adding eight points, while Mallory Johnson and Madison Whetro both hit 3s.
Still, Anderson was within 33-26 at halftime, then made two foul shots to open the third quarter. But the Millers took off on a 12-0 run after that to jump ahead 45-28, and held a comfortable lead for the remainder of the game.
“We couldn’t put them away, and the start of the second half, we were able to come out and really just put them away and not let them hang around very much,” said Noblesville coach Donna Buckley. “So that was huge for us.”
“This time we wanted to take care of business and I thought we did that,” said Buckley.
Kiser wound up with 30 points and 11 rebounds for another double-double; she was 10-of-11 from the free-throw line and all over the stat line with eight assists, four steals and two blocked shots. Knight scored 20 points and Johnson added 12; both hit two 3-pointers.
The Millers are now 15-7 and winners of eight straight games. They will play Carmel at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the second semi-final.
“We got to rebound and do things a little bit better than what we did tonight,” said Buckley.
Noblesville 72, Anderson 44
Noblesville FG FT TP PF
Mallory Johnson 5-9 0-0 12 1
Maddie Knight 9-19 0-1 20 2
Madison Whetro 1-3 0-0 3 4
Abby Haley 0-1 0-0 0 3
Emily Kiser 10-19 10-11 30 1
Olivia Morales 0-0 0-0 0 1
Sarah Etchison 1-1 0-0 3 0
Anna Kiser 1-1 0-0 2 0
Kailyn Ely 0-1 0-0 0 1
Madi Randolph 0-0 0-0 0 0
Devon Ray 0-0 0-0 0 0
Emily Wood 1-2 0-0 2 0
Totals 28-56 10-12 72 13
Score by Quarters
Noblesville 19 14 20 19 – 72
Anderson 10 16 11 7 – 44
Noblesville 3-point shooting (6-18) Knight 2-8, Johnson 2-5, Whetro 1-2, Etchison 1-1, E. Kiser 0-2.
Noblesville rebounds (39) E. Kiser 11, Knight 4, Whetro 4, Haley 4, Johnson 3, A. Kiser 3, Morales 2, Etchison 2, Ely 2, Randolph 1, Ray 1, team 2.
ABOVE: Noblesville’s Abby Haley (22) and Maddie Knight (11) guard an Anderson player during the Millers-Indians sectional first-round game Tuesday at Fishers. Noblesville won 72-44 and will play Carmel in Friday’s semi-finals.
BELOW: Noblesville’s Mallory Johnson scored 12 points for the Millers in their sectional win. (Kent Graham)
