Regional championship preview: Class 4A, Marion

HSE plays Homestead at the 4A Marion Regional

By CRAIG ADKINS

For The Reporter

No. 3 Homestead (24-2) vs. No. 1 Hamilton Southeastern (25-0)

Class 4A No. 1 Hamilton Southeastern takes its unbeaten record into a regional championship matchup at 7 p.m. Saturday with a very good third-ranked Homestead (24-2) team in Regional 4 at Marion’s Bill Green Arena.

The Regional 3 matchup at 4 p.m. features McCutcheon (23-3) vs. Fort Wayne Snider (13-11). The IHSAA will draw for semi-state the matchups and locations on Sunday.

Head coach Brian Satterfield is in his fourth season with a record of 81-15. The prior 20 seasons before that, Satterfield coached the boys at Southeastern to the tune of 322-151. The Royals won three sectionals in that span.

Satterfield coached back-to-back Mr. Basketball recipients Gary Harris (2012) and Zak Irvin (2013).

HSE won its fifth sectional title at Noblesville last week with victories in the title game over Westfield (46-38), semifinal over Zionsville (59-40) and first round against Fishers (46-30).

It took a little longer for the Royals to counteract what Westfield brought, but once they turned it around, there was no stopping them.

“I think it took a little bit longer than we wanted to, but we were able to do it. But you got to give Westfield credit,” Satterfield said. He also said the Shamrocks were “still building off what they did the night before” when they beat Noblesville in the sectional semifinals.

The Royals overcame and made a 19-point turnaround to come back to defeat Westfield in the Sectional 8 championship, but it wasn’t easy.

“As you go through the tournament, you’re going to have teams that make runs at you,” said Satterfield.

The coach said the biggest thing for his team is to “figure out ways to get the tide turned.”

The tide turned on the Shamrocks and HSE mounted a comeback of all comebacks. Junior guard Antonette Green nailed a big three late in the third, starting a run that Westfield couldn’t stop.

“Ant hit that big 3. That gave us some energy. I thought our crowd was huge. We were more efficient offensively, once we settled down,” said Satterfield.

Along with a perfect 7-0 league mark in the Hoosier Crossroads Conference, the Royals found ways to win in convincing fashion over many quality opponents throughout the season.

Opening the season with a win over Lawrence North, Chicago’s Fremd, Pendleton Heights, Plainfield, Center Grove and Pike. In mid-season, the Royals won the Hall of Fame Classic in New Castle over 2A’s top-ranked South Knox (67-59) and the championship over then-No. 1 Lawrence Central on a buzzer-beater (52-50).

The Royals are led by Indiana commit, all-star, all-state and Miss Basketball candidate Maya Makalusky. She scores 22.3 points and brings down 7.0 rebounds per game and shoots 50 percent overall and 41 percent from three-point range, while also knocking down 80 percent at the foul line. Junior all-state candidate Kennedy Holman is at 11.6 points, 5.1 boards and 5.8 assists per game. Fellow junior Kayla Stidham is the third Royal in double-figures at 10.1 per contest and grabs 4.5 rebounds and dishes out 2.3 assists.

Homestead grabbed its 19th sectional crown last weekend and are in search of their sixth regional title in program history. They’ve won two semi-states with the latest in 2017 resulting in a state championship over Pike. The Spartans also were state runner-up to Columbus North in 2015.

Head coach Rod Parker is 449-142 in his 24th season at Homestead. Parker has won 11 sectionals, four regional, two semi-state and one state championship.

The Spartans waltzed right through the Summit Conference with a 9-0 record. Homestead also had key wins at Northridge, at Pike, Norwell, at Noblesville, Bellmont, South Knox (Hall of Fame consolation game), Lake Central and Warsaw.

Junior all-state candidate Myah Epps leads the way. Other key contributors are juniors Carley Moellering, Whitney Ankenbruck and Gabby Helsom, along with senior Liv Fry. No statistics are available online for Homestead.

“They’re a really good team.” Satterfield said the Spartans “have so many weapons. They’ve got multiple girls that can shoot it. But at the same time, they got some players that can put it on the floor.”

“It’s going to be a challenge for us to make sure we’re on the same page. “They’re a team that can get going.”

“On the offensive end, we’ve just got to be patient and execute and see if we can get them to break down,” Satterfield said.

The all-time series is tied 1-1. HSE won the lone tournament meeting in 2019 at the Kokomo regional (57-47), on its way to the state title. Homestead got a home holiday tournament win against the Royals in 2021 (58-56).