By RICHIE HALL
Saturday is girls basketball regionals day in Indiana, and three Hamilton County teams are among those that will be playing in that level of the tournament.
Noblesville will be traveling up to Marion’s Bill Green Arena for its first visit to a regional since 2015. The Class 4A No. 5 Millers will play Homestead in the noon semi-final game, following a 10 a.m. match-up between No. 6 Fort Wayne Carroll and McCutcheon.
Hamilton Heights heads even further north, to Bellmont. The 3A No. 7 Huskies take on Benton Central in the second semi-final, which tips off at 1 p.m. Angola and No. 6 Norwell play the first semi-final game at 10 a.m.
University, playing in a 2A regional for the first time, will be going west to Southmont, for a 10 a.m. semi-final game with No. 5 Triton Central. Seventh-ranked Shenandoah and No. 9 South Putnam will face off in the other semi-final, which tips at 1 p.m.
The semi-final winners advance to the championship game, which begins at 8 p.m. at all three sites.
KEY RE-MATCH
Noblesville and Homestead played each other early in the season, back on Nov. 21. The Spartans won that game 55-47, but the Millers were missing several players. Homestead was led by its star player Ayanna Patterson, who scored 26 points in that game.
“The first time we played them, we were missing five players,” said Noblesville coach Donna Buckley. “We hung with them but let Patterson dominate. We definitely learned that we have to do a better job on her if we are going to beat Homestead.”
Both teams have gone on to successful seasons since that game. The Spartans won the Columbia City sectional for their seventh sectional title in eight years, beating Fort Wayne Wayne 69-26 in the first round, Columbia City 45-33 in the semi-finals and Fort Wayne South Side 33-31 in the championship.
Against South Side, Homestead trailed 24-9 at halftime, but began its comeback by shutting out the Archers 12-0 in the third quarter to get within 24-21, then surged ahead in the fourth quarter. Patterson, who has offers from Division I schools all across the country, scored 21 points.
The Millers are 21-4 for the season, having won their last seven games. Noblesville emerged victorious from the very tough Zionsville sectional, beating Hamilton Southeastern 57-48 in the first round, the host Eagles 72-62 in the semi-finals and Carmel 68-62 in the title game.
Ashlynn Shade scored 36 points for the Millers against the Greyhounds. She made Noblesville history earlier in the sectional by becoming the fastest basketball player to reach the 1,000-point mark. Shade, still only a sophomore, is averaging 23.8 points, 8.2 rebounds. 4.4 steals and 4.3 assists per game.
The Millers have a whole cast of solid players. Freshman Reagan Wilson adds 9.6 points per game; she scored 24 against Zionsville in that sectional clash. Seniors Mallory Miller (6.5 points) and Jayla Jones (6.1 points) are solid scorers, while sophomores Brooklyn Smitherman and Dani Mendez have come into their own on the boards, averaging 3.9 and 3.5 rebounds per game respectively. Sophomore Kaitlyn Shoemaker adds 5.8 points per game, with senior Emily Wood and Smitherman both blocking 10 shots this season.
“Our kids are very excited to be playing in the regional,” said Buckley. “This group loves playing basketball together and wants to keep the season going.”
WINNING TRADITIONS
With four sectional championships in the past 10 years, Hamilton Heights has established a winning tradition. The Huskies will be playing Benton Central, which has one of the oldest girls basketball winning traditions in the state.
The Bison claimed their 23rd sectional championship by winning the Twin Lakes sectional. Benton Central beat Maconaquah 58-46 in the first round, got past West Lafayette in overtime, 60-54 in the semi-finals, then ran past Twin Lakes 66-36 in the championship game. Kyrah Tucker scored 21 points for the Bison in the final. Benton Central is 14-3 for the season.
Both teams play in the Hoosier Conference, but in different divisions, so Heights and BC did not play each other in the regular season.
“Benton Central plays a unique style,” said Huskies coach Keegan Cherry. “They like to press, trap all over and create havoc. They do this in both the full court and half court and from several different looks. And really, this leads to their best offense much of the time. They get you to turn it over and go score in transition. They will be physical on the ball and really get into you defensively. Once teams are able to handle their zone traps, they will switch up and play some junk like a Triangle and 2 or different schemes to limit opportunities for the opposing team’s primary options. I think it is these same things that have allowed them to have success over the years. They keep coming at you defensively. The counter to that is being aggressive and attacking to score without turning it over. And that will be no different for us on Saturday. We must be able to capitalize against their pressure by being strong and playing with poise.”
Heights is 18-1 for the year and won its first sectional title since 2018 at New Castle last week. The Huskies zoomed past Winchester 64-42 in the first round and the host Trojans 73-24 in the semi-finals, then toughed out a win over Jay County 46-42 for the championship.
This year’s Heights team has a freshman as its leading scorer. Camryn Runner has adapted to high school ball with no trouble, averaging 16.6 points per game. Jillian Osswald, the Huskies’ lone senior, is contributing 14.9 points per game and leads in assists with 3.9 per contest. Junior MyKayla Moran adds 10.5 points per game and is the top rebounder, with 5.3 per game. Another freshman, Ella Hickok, adds 5.6 points, with junior Sydney Runyan contributing 3.2 points.
“Advancing in the tournament is all about the team, the friendships and the sense of pride of playing for each other,” said Cherry. “At some point the ride ends for everyone. And there will come a time that not one single person will remember the score of any of these games. It happens. But, you will always remember who you played with and for. So, outside of winning, that’s our hope and message for this regional experience. How do you want to be remembered? And it’s these tournament experiences that can’t be replicated that build the bond for teams to continue raising the bar for the program.
“During the regular season you always have that mind set of looking forward. And after a loss, it’s on to the next one. In the tournament, it’s lose and go home. So, the sense of urgency and taste for what it takes to win high level tournament games can only happen by being a part of these types of tournament games. It’s preparation and execution with a sprinkle of luck – win and advance. I’ve said it before, our girls are fighters. Our young ones are mature beyond their years and we have solid leadership from our upperclassmen. I’m confident our ladies will leave it all on the floor this weekend – win or lose. And at the end of the day, whatever happens on Saturday – this team is special. Our goal is to be practicing next week.”
MATURITY AND TOUGHNESS
Probably no team has had a more unique circumstance in the tournament than University. The Trailblazers had to pause their season twice, and jump right into sectional play after nearly three weeks off.
But University prevailed at the Cascade sectional, and did so rather convincingly. The ‘Blazers beat Western Boone 74-40 in the semi-finals and Covenant Christian 59-45 in the championship. It was University’s first-ever sectional title in Class 2A, a good achievement for a team that is still young.
“They are really young and don’t have a ton of experience so they really had to lock in and think about the direction they wanted to go,” said Trailblazers coach Justin Blanding. “We lost three games and we felt the games we lost we beat ourselves. The kids showed a lot of maturity and had some tough conversations with each other to get on the same page. They want to be really good and they have worked hard.”
University is 10-3 for the season and will be taking on a Triton Central team that is 20-3. The Tigers won their own sectional with easy victories over Eastern Hancock 70-47 and Scecina 70-30.
Senior Taylor Heath is Triton Central’s top scorer with 15.0 points per game. She also hands out 9.1 assists per contest. Sophomore Lizzie Graham adds 13.3 points, while senior Bailey Stamper is the top rebounder at 7.5 per contest.
Blanding called Heath a “terrific floor general.”
“Just a huge fan of her game,” said Blanding. “She makes them go on all cylinders and she is fun to watch. For us to compete and win we just have to be who we are and focus on us. We definitely have to prepare for them but at the end of the day we have to just focus on what do.”
Sophomore Kelsey DuBois is averaging a double-double for the ‘Blazers, with 16.7 points and 11.9 rebounds per game. Senior Sierra Hinds is next in scoring with 15.7 points, with sophomore Payton Seay adding 13.6 points and 8.8 rebounds. Seay also leads in assists with 3.0 per game.