Carmel took on one of the No. 1-ranked teams in Class 4A on Saturday.
Northwestern currently shares the top ranking with Homestead, and the two-time defending 3A state champions played at the Eric Clark Activity Center that afternoon. The Greyhounds gave the Tigers a scare in the first quarter, but Northwestern soon took control of the game and won 66-41.
Carmel jumped out to a 15-6 lead with 1:55 left in the first quarter. Kate Clarke got off to a great start, scoring seven points, including 3-of-3 from the free throw line.
The Tigers came back to get within 15-11 by the end of the period. Northwestern then outscored the ‘Hounds 17-5 in the second quarter, taking a 28-20 lead by halftime. The Tigers continued the pressure into the third period, pouring in another 20 points to lead 48-29 going into the fourth.
“They just have so many weapons, and size-wise, they outmatch us,” said Carmel coach Erin Trimpe. “We came in with a game plan that I thought we executed really well in the first quarter. In the second quarter, we let them speed us up. We had talked about the tempo of the game needing to be to our benefit, and that fast-paced, turning them over, letting them get fast break points like they did, it just wasn’t what was going to win us the game, and we went away from that a little bit, panicked and went into a rush.”
Clarke scored 16 points to lead the Greyhounds, including a 7-of-7 performance from the free throw line. Fatima Valiente came off the bench and hit two 3-pointers.
“We saw a lot of good things in that first quarter, especially,” said Trimpe. “We can only learn from it and get better, but that’s a phenomenal team who really came out and showed us what they’ve got.”
Carmel is 1-2 and hosts Zionsville on Tuesday.
NORTHWESTERN 66, CARMEL 41
Carmel FG FT TP PF
Brooklynn Edwards 1-1 0-0 3 1
Kiara Gill 1-3 1-2 3 3
Bridget Dunn 2-5 0-0 5 5
Riley Pennington 2-4 2-4 6 3
Kate Clarke 4-13 7-7 16 1
Fatima Valiente 2-2 0-0 6 2
Hannah Lach 0-5 0-0 0 1
Emily Roper 0-2 0-0 0 2
Gracie Collins 0-0 0-0 0 0
Erin Baker 0-1 0-0 0 0
Evan Spidel 1-1 0-0 2 0
Mahalet Zeruesenay 0-0 0-0 0 0
Totals 13-37 10-13 41 18
Score by Quarters
Northwestern 11 17 20 18 – 66
Carmel 15 5 9 12 – 41
Carmel 3-point shooting (5-18) Valiente 2-2, Clarke 1-7, Dunn 1-3, Gill 1-1, Lach 0-5.
Carmel’s Kiara Gill looks towards the basket during the Greyhounds’ game with Northwestern on Saturday. (Richie Hall)