Royals upend rival Tigers, advance to semis

By RICHARD TORRES

For The Reporter

NOBLESVILLE – At a glance, top-ranked Hamilton Southeastern’s 46-30 win over Fishers Tuesday night at The Mill to open the Class 4A Sectional 8 tournament seemed like any other victory for the unbeaten Royals.

Indiana commit Maya Makalusky led with a game-high 20 points, and the nationally-ranked Royals (23-0) finished with a trio of double-digit scorers to best their 47-34 regular-season margin from this past December against their Mudsock rivals.

However, nothing was easy despite the numbers.

Initially knocked down to the floor at Noblesville High School more times than the 6-foot-4 Makalusky buried field goals through the first eight minutes, the Royals needed a team effort to tame the Tigers (14-9).

Makalusky posted four points by halftime, as the Tigers focused on slowing the senior star down, but HSE responded.

“I was just leaning into my teammates and trusting what we’ve done. We’ve practiced this. We’ve been prepared for every situation, so it’s just staying calm and staying on the route,” Makalusky said.

The road towards a 20-11 halftime lead for HSE, which is ranked ninth in the nation by MaxPreps, was driven by junior Kennedy Holman to start.

Senior Kayla Brinley took the wheel from there by sparking a 12-5 run in the second quarter with four straight points, as HSE turned an 8-6 advantage into nine by the intermission.

“I think teams are going to have to try to find ways to beat us, be physical, bump us off our shots. Just leaning into other girls is what we need,” Makalusky said. “Kayla Brinley was hitting threes. Addison Van Hoesen and Kayla Stidham, too. We’re a multidimensional team, and it’s just exciting because it just opens the floor for everyone.”

Brinley’s baseline layup and putback 30 seconds later pushed HSE’s lead to 12-6 by the 6 minute, 22 second mark in the second quarter before the Royals hit their stride in the third.

In the first half, the Tigers revealed their defensive intentions with junior Makayla Tripplett blanketing Makalusky, but Fishers struggled offensively, shooting 4 of 22 from the field while HSE’s defense forced 11 turnovers and hauled in nine defensive rebounds.

“Everybody’s tried to throw a lot of things at us, and the thing is, we know what (Maya) can do, but we also have confidence in her teammates,” HSE head coach Brian Satterfield said. “She has confidence in her teammates, and I think that’s been the big thing. We’ve had different people step up. Kennedy Holman got it started in the beginning of the game, and we had different people. That’s what’s been special about this group.”

Composure and persistence defined HSE’s first-round victory and subsequent advancement into Friday’s semifinal against its second consecutive Hoosier Crossroads Conference opponent in Zionsville (10-12) at 6 p.m.

“All of us coming together and not getting too worked up over stuff is important,” Makalusky said. “My teammates hold me accountable for that at times. Just trusting our process and all the preparation we’ve had into this is our focus.”

Last year, HSE went 21-3 before losing to No. 10 Noblesville, 49-45, in the sectional finals, which halted the program’s aim at its first title since 2019.

This postseason, the Royals are collectively determined along with Makalusky, who poured in nine points in the third quarter and seven more in the fourth.

Makalusky shot 7 of 17 from the field and converted 6 of 7 free throws with five rebounds overall.

Brinley and Holman each finished with 11 points, while Fishers’ freshman Riley Schellhammer (14.1 points per game), senior Allison Scheu (9.2 ppg) and Triplett all fouled out in the fourth quarter.

Senior Nevaeh Dickman paced the Tigers with 10 points and four rebounds. Schellhammer had seven points followed by Scheu with six.

“I was so proud of our kids, the way we played defensively. That was about as well as I could have asked them to play. I’m just really proud of the way they stepped up tonight to that challenge,” Fishers head coach Lauren Votaw said. “We just couldn’t get anything going offensively, and credit to HSE. They’re very good defensively. We just couldn’t get anything to fall.”

HSE’s lead grew to 15 points in the third off a steal and transition layup by Makalusky, but her toughness was displayed in the fourth and gave the Royals their largest margin, 41-24, with four minutes remaining.

Setting up for a shot in the lane, Makalusky was momentarily rolled under as Triplett was whistled for her fifth foul. Makalusky shook off the contact and buried both free throws to cap a 9-2 HSE run.

“With everything everyone throws at her and everything that’s there, her composure has been tremendous through all of this,” Satterfield said. “The biggest thing is they’re playing as a team. They have great chemistry, and they keep playing as a group, and what we’re doing on the defensive end is pretty special.”

They’ll need execution on both sides of the floor with Noblesville (19-4) lurking on the opposite side of the bracket after defeating Carmel 51-40 to advance into Friday’s semifinal against Westfield (15-8).

“(Last year) that’s a different team. The one thing is this team has continued to grow. We keep prepping ourselves to get ready for whatever situations are thrown at us as we go. Friday night, Zionsville is probably going to throw something different, maybe something different we haven’t seen, but hopefully, we’ve done our due diligence to try to be ready for it,” Satterfield said.