By RICHIE HALL
ARCADIA – Hamilton Heights girls basketball coach Keegan Cherry got a surprise Friday night, and not the good kind.
Cherry had been scouting Benton Central over several games as he prepared his Huskies team to play the Bison Friday for the Hoosier Conference championship at the Heights gym. The surprise came during the game, when it seemed as if Benton Central couldn’t miss.
The Bison, ranked No. 3 in the ICGSA Class 3A poll and No. 11 in the IBCA one-class ratings, shot 53 percent for the game Friday, and that led them to a 54-46 victory over the 3A No. 6 Huskies. Benton Central, the champion of the conference’s West Division, thus won the title while Heights, the East Division champion, is the runner-up.
“That second half, they spurted there,” said Cherry. “I’ve watched several games on them – five – plus a live scout and hadn’t seen them shoot the basketball like that. Credit to them, they made shots tonight.”
The Huskies were the ones making the shots early, as they ran out to an 11-5 first-quarter lead. MyKayla Moran scored the game’s first points on a jump shot, then Camryn Runner threw in two 3-pointers. Kaylee Rhoton made a 3 to give Heights its six-point lead.
Benton Central began to find its range towards the end of the quarter, but Rhoton and Mia Shields both nailed triples to keep the Huskies in front 17-14 going into the second period. Heights pushed its lead back up to 21-15 after Moran scored off a rebounds and Runner made two free throws with 4:49 left in the half.
The Bison then went on a 13-2 run, including 11 straight points, to jump ahead 28-23. Shields scored the last basket of the half, but the Huskies trailed 28-25 at the break.
Benton Central kept rolling in the third quarter, outscoring Heights 16-3. Sienna Foster got hot for BC, scoring eight straight points. Kennedy Tolen scored the period’s last five points to put the Bison up 44-28. A free throw from Moran and a layin by Ella Hickok were the only points Heights could score in the period.
“For us, we were trying to eliminate any paint touches for them,” said Cherry. “Their size for us is a problem, so we were trying to protect the paint, and we were giving up those outside shots. And they made them. So I told the girls in the locker room, ‘This one’s on me. I had five games on them and a live scout, and I didn’t see them shoot the ball like this one time.’ Sometimes that happens, but our girls did exactly what we were asking them to do. They just made the shots.”
Benton Central kept its lead in double digits for all but the final few seconds of the fourth quarter, when the Huskies made a run. Ella Hickok went off for seven points during a 25-second period, getting Heights within 52-44. But there were 23.9 seconds left, and it was simply too much to overcome.
Runner scored 13 points to lead Heights, while Hickok scored 11. Moran led the rebounds with seven, followed by Runner with six and Hickok with five. Both Hickok and Runner handed out four assists.
Kennedy Tolen scored 22 points to lead the Bison, and scored her 1,000th point late in the second quarter. Heights stopped the game to recognize her achievement.
The Huskies are 15-5 for the season. Heights’ Thursday game with Lafayette Jefferson was canceled, so as of right now, the conference championship game was the season-finale. The Huskies are trying to find replacement games for next week.
BENTON CENTRAL 54, HAMILTON HEIGHTS 46
Heights FG FT TP PF
Ella Hickok 4-6 2-4 11 2
Mia Shields 3-8 0-0 7 1
Camryn Runner 3-13 5-6 13 3
Hadleigh Cherry 0-0 0-2 0 1
MyKayla Moran 3-7 1-2 7 3
Kaylee Rhoton 2-4 2-2 8 3
Katie Brown 0-0 0-0 0 0
Kennedy Cherry 0-0 0-0 0 1
Totals 15-38 10-16 46 14
Score by Quarters
Benton Central 14 14 16 10 – 54
Heights 17 8 3 18 – 46
Heights 3-point shooting (6-20) Runner 2-9, Rhoton 2-3, Shields 1-5, Hickok 1-3.
Heights rebounds (23) Moran 7, Runner 6, Hickok 5, Rhoton 2, team 3.