By RICH TORRES
CARMEL – When the calendar flipped two weeks ago, so did the mentality for the Carmel girls basketball team.
Stuck at 6-8 prior to the new year with eight games left on the regular-season schedule, the Greyhounds’ resolution for 2019 was momentum, and so far they’re right on track.
Winners of three straight, Carmel pushed its streak to four in row on Tuesday night, defeating potential Class 4A Sectional 8 foe Fishers 68-41 to claim its fourth victory in five games.
“It’s amazing what we’ve done this year, coming from a really good team last year, and everyone doubting us and saying that Carmel wasn’t going to be as good without certain seniors that graduated,” Greyhounds senior Reagan Hune said. “I think we really bought into our roles and have really stepped up. Now, we’re just excited to finish the season out.”
The defending sectional champion Greyhounds (10-9) are upping the ante with the state tournament two weeks away and the postseason draw this Sunday, and it starts with defense.
Up 8-0 to start against Fishers (11-9) before the visiting Tigers tied the game 11-11 by the end of the first quarter, Carmel applied the pressure to open the second quarter, leading to a decisive 18-0 run.
“When we faced them in previous years, just like tonight, we focused on jumping on them early and making a statement,” Hune said. “We just have to keep the ball rolling heading into the sectional season.”
Hune was one of three double-digit scorers for Carmel, which shot 50 percent from the field and erupted for a 23-point second quarter and another 22 points in the fourth.
Sophomore Bridget Dunn had 13 points with three rebounds, and Hune posted 12 points with two steals and three rebounds. However, it was freshman Kate Clarke, who stands 6-0, that provided the spark.
A former starter that has cemented herself as the Greyhounds’ first reserve off the bench, Clarke contributed immediately, scoring seven points in the first 1:28 of the second quarter en route to a game-high 14 points.
“Any more the sixth man is very underappreciated and not understood, and Katie has come out from the bench and has really done a lot of good things for us. It’s not easy to be pulled from the starting lineup and understanding the reasoning for it and what we’re looking for,” Carmel coach Erin Trimpe said. “She came out tonight and really put on a show. We love seeing that from her.”
Clarke shot 6-of-11 from the field and hauled in six rebounds to go with three assists. She buried a 3-pointer to kickoff the Greyhounds’ key run. Her second long-range dagger put Carmel ahead 27-11 as Fishers went scoreless the first five minutes of the second quarter.
Lydia Stullken ended the Tigers’ drought with a bucket at the 3:00 mark and cut the Greyhounds’ lead 31-17 with three straight conversions in the paint. Stullken paced Fishers with a team-high 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Tamia Perryman had 11 points and five rebounds for Fishers, while Carmel’s defense disrupted Tigers’ leading scorer Katie Burton, who entered averaging 12.6 points per game. Burton finished with seven points on 3-of-6 shooting.
“We knew she was a phenomenal player that not only creates for herself but for her teammates. She does such a great job at that, so we really worked at practice the past few days on how to deny her the ball,” Trimpe said. “We kind of did it by committee.”
The Greyhounds’ defense kept the Tigers’ under 35 percent from the field and forced nearly 20 turnovers.
A 10-3 run in the third quarter increased Carmel’s lead to 20 points. The margin reached 27 points after a Lauren Gartenhaus 3-pointer late in the fourth.
“We let them fight back in the first quarter, which we talked about in pregame; those runs are going to happen, and we withstood it,” Trimpe said. “We came out in that second quarter, and that was a very impressive effort by all of our girls. We went deep into our bench tonight and asked a lot of our girls, especially on the defensive end.”
The result opened the passing lanes on offense with 14 assists overall. Sophie Bair had six assists and three steals. Hune and Macy Berglund both has two steals. Mackenzie Wood added nine points and nine rebounds.
“We have really started to stress how that defensive end can turn into the offensive game we want to play,” Trimpe said. “And it got us some really good transition opportunities.”
Fishers travels to Avon on Saturday, followed by consecutive home games next week against 4A No. 10 Lawrence North and Franklin Central.
Carmel hosts 4A Pike on Friday night in a Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference matchup before ending the regular-season on the road at Cathedral on Monday and at league rival Ben Davis on Jan. 25.
“We’re at a place that I love, and I told them, once we got through winter break when we looked at our schedule and broke things down, how important it was going to be to roll into sectional with a couple of wins under our belt,” Trimpe said. “It’s been fun to see them buy into that and take that momentum.”
Carmel 68, Fishers 41
Carmel FG FT TP PF
Bridget Dunn 5-10 1-1 13 4
Sophie Bair 2-2 0-0 4 0
Reagan Hune 3-5 6-7 12 2
Mackenzie Wood 3-8 2-4 9 0
Macy Berglund 3-4 1-2 7 2
Riley Pennington 0-0 1-2 1 0
Tally Seitz 0-2 1-2 1 1
Kate Clarke 6-11 0-0 14 0
Kiara Gill 1-2 0-0 2 0
Lauren Gartenhaus 1-2 0-0 3 1
Brooklynn Edwards 0-2 0-0 0 0
Gracie Collins 1-2 0-0 2 1
Breanna Bolles 0-0 0-0 0 0
Totals 25-50 12-18 68 11
Carmel 3-point shooting (6-17) Dunn 2, Gartenhaus 1, Clarke 2, Wood 1.
Carmel rebounds (32) Wood 9, Clarke 6, Berglund 4, Dunn 4, Bair 3, Hune 3.
Fishers FG FT TP PF
Katie Burton 3-7 0-0 7 3
Audra Emmerson 1-5 0-0 3 0
Skylar Fulton 1-8 0-0 2 1
Tamia Perryman 5-9 1-2 11 2
Lydia Stullken 5-8 2-4 12 4
Regan Newman 1-1 0-0 3 1
Cierra Tolbert 0-4 0-0 0 2
Kaitlynn Feagan 0-2 2-2 2 0
Katie Howard 0-0 0-0 0 0
Addison Arena 0-1 1-2 1 1
Totals 16-45 6-10 41 14
Fishers 3-point shooting (3-12) Burton 1, Emmerson 1, Newman 1.
Fishers rebounding (28) Stullken 10, Perryman 5, Burton 5, Newman 2, Tolbert 3.
Score by Quarters
Fishers 11 8 12 10 – 41
Carmel 11 23 12 22 – 68
Carmel’s Macy Berglund grabs the basketball during the Greyhounds’ Tuesday night game with Fishers at the Eric Clark Activity Center. Pictured for the Tigers are Tamia Perryman (22), Cierra Tolbert (35) and Skylar Fulton (15). (Richie Hall)