By RICHIE HALL
FISHERS – The Fishers girls basketball team was trailing Hamilton Southeastern by 10 points in the middle of the fourth quarter of Thursday’s Mudsock game at the Royals’ gym.
Was there still a chance for the Tigers? Katie Burton said “Yes.”
With her team down 38-28, the senior St. John’s commit poured in 11 of Fishers’ next 12 points to get the Class 4A No. 7 Tigers ahead 40-38 with 11.5 seconds left. Seconds after that, Katie Howard made two free throws, and Fishers had a 42-39 comeback victory over the Royals.
The Tigers won the Mudsock trophy last year, so this marks the first time Fishers has ever scored back-to-back wins in the regular-season rivalry game.
“I’m just really proud of their fight,” said Tigers coach Lauren Votaw. “We’ve talked all year about finding a way. I thought tonight we were really struggling to find what that way was going to be. Sometimes it just takes the lid to come off. Katie hit a shot, and then we got a couple steals and we just started going.”
Burton got things going by making back-to-back 3-pointers, and suddenly Fishers was within 38-34. Then with three minutes left, Burton was fouled while attempting another 3-point shot, and made two of the three free throws, cutting HSE’s lead to 38-36.
The score remained the same until Olivia Smith’s free throw got the Tigers within one point at the 1:42 mark. Burton scored seconds later on a layin, and the Tigers were in front 39-38, never to trail again. Burton made a free throw with 11.5 seconds left, then Howard hit her foul shots to give Fishers a 42-38 advantage with 10.3 seconds left.
The Tigers led 11-6 after the first quarter, with Burton scoring eight points in that period. Howard also hit a 3. But the Royals took over in the second, scoring 17 points for a 23-18 lead at halftime. Riley Makalusky scored six points, Lydia Self had five, including a triple, and Lauren Stewart made her own 3-pointer in the final seconds of the half.
Southeastern continued to roll in the third quarter, cruising to a 34-23 lead. Ryan Viele added five points and Makalusky scored four. Makalusky added an additional four points in the first part of the fourth quarter as well.
“We had some opportunities, even down the stretch,” said Royals coach Chris Huppenthal. “We got a few open shots, not many, but a few open shots and a few opportunities to get an open shot. Just didn’t execute.”
Burton finished the game with 27 points, including four 3-pointers.
“Give Katie a lot of credit,” said Huppenthal. “She deserves it. She took the game over, like you would expect a senior to.”
Howard added eight points, and hit two 3-pointers. Olivia Smith led the rebounds with four.
Makalusky scored 18 points for the Royals, with Viele scoring 10. Self collected five rebounds, while Hinshaw pulled four. Olivia Brown dished out seven assists and Hinshaw handed out four assists.
Southeastern finished Hoosier Crossroads Conference play 3-4 and is 11-6 overall after completing its regular season. The Royals play Noblesville Tuesday in the first round of the Zionsville sectional.
Fishers is 4-2 in HCC play and 15-4 overall. The Tigers have one more regular-season game to go, hosting Franklin Central tonight to finish up conference play. It’s been a hectic schedule for Fishers the past week, but Votaw is finding the positives in the situation.
“I think it’s really good as a coach,” said Votaw. She mentioned the Tigers’ tough loss to Brownsburg on Tuesday, where Fishers fell after holding the lead late in the game.
“You don’t have time to worry about it,” said Votaw. “We come back on Wednesday, I got to get ready for Southeastern on Thursday, which means that we can’t pout about it, we can’t think about what would’ve been. I asked them to text me and tell me what they learned. We learned something? Okay. We learned something, now we’re moving on.”
FISHERS 42, HAMILTON SOUTHEASTERN 39
Fishers FG FT TP PF
Audra Emmerson 0-1 0-0 0 1
Katie Howard 2-5 2-2 8 0
Hailey Smith 2-2 0-2 4 2
Olivia Smith 1-2 1-2 3 3
Katie Burton 9-16 5-8 27 4
Joirdyn Smith 0-1 0-0 0 1
Jordan Imes 0-1 0-1 0 0
Kaiya Walker 0-0 0-0 0 1
Karina Scott 0-1 0-0 0 0
Haley Gausepohl 0-0 0-0 0 0
Emily Gausepohl 0-0 0-0 0 0
Totals 14-29 8-15 42 12
Fishers 3-point shooting (6-14) Burton 4-7, Howard 2-4, Scott 0-1, J. Smith 0-1, Emmerson 0-1.
Fishers rebounds (11) O. Smith 4, Emmerson 2, H. Smith 2, J. Smith 1, Imes 1, Burton 1.
Southeastern FG FT TP PF
Lydia Self 2-3 1-2 6 4
Makayla Hinshaw 1-5 0-0 2 2
Riley Makalusky 9-11 0-0 18 3
Olivia Brown 0-0 0-0 0 4
Ryan Viele 4-9 1-3 10 1
Jocelyn Davis 0-0 0-0 0 3
Teegan Acres 0-0 0-2 0 0
Lauren Stewart 1-4 0-0 3 0
Totals 17-32 2-7 39 17
Southeastern 3-point shooting (3-13) Viele 1-5, Stewart 1-4, Self 1-1, Hinshaw 0-2, Makalusky 0-1.
Southeastern rebounds (18) Self 5, Hinshaw 4, Acres 2, Makalusky 2, Brown 2, Viele 2, Stewart 1.
Score by Quarters
Fishers 11 7 5 19 – 42
Southeastern 6 17 11 5 – 39