Fishers began the first game of its month-long road trip with a win, toughing out a Friday night contest at Hamilton Heights 35-31.
It was a close game the entire way, with the Tigers leading 13-10 after the first quarter before the Huskies cut that advantage to 20-19 at halftime. Fishers led 25-21 after three periods.
The Tigers led 32-28 with under a minute to go after Audra Emmerson made two foul shots. Bayleigh Runner answered by making a 3-pointer to get Heights within one. But Fishers’ Katie Burton came back by making a traditional three-point play; Burton rushed an inbound pass down to the Tigers’ basket for an easy layin, followed by an and-1 with 26.6 seconds left, effectively sealing the game.
“That was a play that we haven’t run before, and I just threw it up there in the timeout,” said Fishers coach Lauren Vail. “And I told her right before we went out, I said ‘Hey, if you have the layup, go score.’ She did exactly that. I’m just really proud of the way we played together tonight.”
Burton finished the game with 13 points, with Tamia Perryman scoring eight points and collecting four rebounds.
“First of all, I have to give credit to Hamilton Heights. Those kids are patient and they make sure they find a great shot every time down the floor,” said Vail. “So I was really, really proud of our kids at how they were able to adjust to that throughout the game, and how they worked through their own problems.
Bayleigh Runner scored 14 points to lead the Huskies, including three 3-pointers. Payton Dissett threw in two 3s.
“I’m really proud of our locker room,” said Huskies coach Keegan Cherry. “I’m really proud of the girls. In terms of execution of a game plan, I thought they were excellent, especially offensively. Took me back to my first year when we played Heritage Christian in the sectional finals. We wanted to dictate tempo, have long possessions, make them guard us.”
Cherry called Fishers “a really good team” – “Burton is one of the better guards that we’re going to play all year,” said the coach. “They’ve got size. They do a terrific job of guarding the basketball and they’re great on the backboard. But I was proud of the fight that we showed there in the second half.”
The Tigers are 10-4 and will play next weekend at the East Central Holiday Tournament, taking on North Harrison in their first game next Friday. Heights is 6-8 and is off until Jan. 3, when it plays at Lewis Cass in a Hoosier Conference East game.
Fishers 35, Hamilton Heights 31
Fishers FG FT TP PF
Katie Burton 5-7 2-4 13 3
Audra Emmerson 0-3 2-2 2 1
Kaitlynn Feagan 0-3 0-0 0 1
Skylar Fulton 3-5 0-0 7 0
Tamia Perryman 4-6 0-1 8 1
Lydia Stullken 2-4 0-0 4 1
Cierra Tolbert 0-1 1-2 1 3
Reagan Newman 0-0 0-0 0 0
Totals 14-29 5-9 35 10
Fishers 3-point shooting (2-9) Fulton 1-3, Burton 1-2, Emmerson 0-3, Feagan 0-1.
Fishers rebounds (15) Perryman 4, Burton 3, Tolbert 3, Emmerson 2, Feagan 1, Fulton 1, Stullken 1.
Heights FG FT TP PF
Payton Dissett 2 0-0 6 2
Jillian Osswald 2 1-1 5 1
Bayleigh Runner 5 1-2 14 2
Lauryn Wiley 2 0-0 4 3
Mykayla Moran 1 0-0 2 2
Hailey Champion 0 0-0 0 0
Chloe Henderson 0 0-0 0 1
Sydney Runyan 0 0-0 0 0
Lexi Hayden 0 0-0 0 0
Totals 12 2-3 31 11
Heights 3-pointers (5) Runner 3, Dissett 2.
Score by Quarters
Fishers 13 7 5 10 – 35
Heights 10 9 2 10 – 31
Hamilton Heights’ Bayleigh Runner (right) is guarded by Fishers’ Tamia Perryman during the Tigers-Huskies game Friday night at Heights. Fishers won 35-31. (Richie Hall)