By RICHARD TORRES
For The Reporter
NOBLESVILLE – Westfield senior Aubrey Crockett hauled in her 12th defensive rebound Friday night, and fittingly the 5-foot-9 guard dribbled out the clock in celebration.
Unable to beat Class 4A No. 10 Noblesville at the Mill during the regular season, 53-51, on Dec. 21, Crockett and the unranked Shamrocks learned their lesson and applied it in the rematch during the Sectional 8 semifinals.
The Shamrocks (16-8) jumped out to a quick 18-point lead in the first quarter, which put the host Millers (19-5) in a deep hole, and the defense held strong, as Westfield upset Noblesville, 61-52, to advance into tonight’s sectional title game at 7:05 p.m. against No. 1 Hamilton Southeastern (24-0).
Westfield ran out to a 7-0 lead after winning the opening tip and led 21-3 before the Millers could attempt to mount a comeback in the final three quarters.
Crockett finished with a modest four points, but her additional contributions were difficult to match including 13 rebounds, a block and a game-high nine assists.
One of the many Rocks to benefit from Crockett’s decisive distribution was junior Audra Parker, a 5-10 forward, who converted 4 of 4 jumpers from beyond the arc en route to a team-high 17 points.
In their first meeting this season, the Shamrocks held a double-digit lead against the Millers, but the margin dissipated resulting in a one-possession loss.
Not this time.
“We were just more confident this time. Last time, we weren’t as confident, and we got scared. This time, we were like, ‘No, we can do this.’ We just believed in ourselves,” Crockett said.
The Rocks, who drew the first-round bye, were more than prepared for Noblesville’s 1-3-1 zone and press. The solution was rapid ball movement and high-percentage shooting, which they displayed to net the program’s first win over the Millers since 2021-22.
“We talked a lot about moving the basketball against them. Obviously, when anyone plays a zone, you want to try to shift it as much as you possibly can and get them moving, get the ball moving,” Westfield coach Kelsey Steele said. “Aubrey does that for us. It’s a lot of things. Sometimes, it’s a lot of things that don’t show up in the stat sheet.”
Crockett quarterbacked an offensive attack that shot 63 percent from the field, 43 percent from 3-point range (6 of 14) and out rebounded the Millers 30-15.
Westfield led 34-25 by halftime and never let the Millers get any closer than five points in the second half.
“If you look back at our last game, we went up by about 15, and they ended up scoring 16 points off of our 19 turnovers, so we talked a lot about that this week,” Steele said. “We still weren’t perfect at it, and it’s really hard when Meredith Tippner is running around up top, and she’s creating turnovers, but I felt like our kids responded to that.”
Westfield had 16 turnovers with four steals by Tippner, who put the Millers on her back with a 12-point second quarter and 11-point third to finish with a game-high 33 points and five rebounds.
Tippner cut the Millers’ deficit to six points behind a 5-0 run she engineered to end the third quarter. She had five points in the fourth quarter before fouling out in the game’s final 32.3 seconds as the program’s single-season scoring record holder.
The Miami (Florida) commit ended her senior season with 623 points through 24 games, one better than Ashlynn Shade (622 in 26 contests in 2020-21). Overall, Tippner amassed 1,779 career points behind Courtney Cox (1,869 from 1986-89).
“It was tough tonight. You go on a run, but you’re still down. It’s tough to get back, but you always leave everything on the court. That’s never been a problem with this group. I know we would fight to the end, and that’s what made this season so special and made the feeling we all feel right now hurt a little bit more,” Tippner said.
“This community, this town, it’s meant a lot to me. I’m super excited to see what college brings, and if I can have a group that supports me as much as this group did, then I’ll be so lucky. I’m super grateful to have been a part of this.”
Junior C.C. Quigley had 11 points and seven rebounds. She buried the Millers’ final bucket with 39.4 remaining to narrow the gap, 58-52, but Westfield junior MaKayla Hatcher and senior Lindsey Van Dyke combined to shoot 3-for-4 from the foul line to end the game.
Hatcher had 12 points, and Van Dyke added 13 points. Senior Samantha Price provided 10 points and nine rebounds.
“We kind of felt like we let one slip out of our hands when we were here the last time, so it was one of those things where we knew we were capable, and they showed up and performed tonight,” Steele said. “We talk to our kids about how they’re not really losses, they’re lessons. How can we learn from them? I know that’s a cliché, but there’s a lot of truth to it. We wanted to find a way not to lose the same way twice, so we knew we needed to be composed.”
The Millers and Tippner refused to go quietly behind an 8-0 run to start the second quarter to bring the score within 10 points and a 5-0 run to open the third made it 34-29.
However, the Rocks countered when pressed.
“We just did not play well in that first half, and credit to Westfield. They came out and just put it to us. Parker came out averaging about three points per game and just went off,” Noblesville coach Donna Buckley said. “Everything was falling for them. When you get down big against a really good team that defends well, it takes all your energy to get back into it, and credit to our kids. They fought.”
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