By RICHIE HALL
NOBLESVILLE – The girls basketball tournament began on Tuesday, and that included two first-round Class 4A Sectional 8 games at The Mill in Noblesville.
In the first game, Fishers beat Carmel 63-43, then Zionsville beat Westfield 45-27 in the second game. Both teams advanced to Friday’s semi-finals, where the No. 4 Tigers will play No. 2 Noblesville, and the No. 5 Eagles will take on No. 3 Hamilton Southeastern.
In both games, the winning team got off to a fast start by building large first-quarter leads. Fishers went on a 12-0 run to take a 19-5 advantage; Hailey Smith started the run by making two 3-pointers, then Kate Thomas made two layins. Olivia Smith finished the run with a layin of her own.
The Greyhounds’ Lauren Perry ended that stretch with a 3, but Allison Scheu finished the quarter with a basket, and the Tigers led 21-8. Fishers then made three straight layins – Alycia Triplett, Hailey Smith and Olivia Smith all scored – and the Tigers now had a 27-8 advantage.
Fishers and Carmel played each other two weeks ago, and Tigers coach Lauren Votaw remembered that “almost all of their points were paint points, and we really knew that we had to contain them off the dribble. And so I was really proud of our kids. We did a much better job of that tonight for the most part.”
The Tigers led 35-18 at halftime. Carmel made a 10-3 run to start the third quarter; Hannah Lach hit two triples during that stretch. Lach’s second 3 got the ‘Hounds within 38-28.
“I’m just incredibly impressed by our girls,” said Greyhounds coach Erin Trimpe. “The fight that they showed, the way that the stuck in a game that they could have easily given up on was a testament to them.”
Olivia Smith answered that with back-to-back layins, and Fishers stayed in front by double digits, 42-31 going into the fourth quarter. Another Lach 3, this one early in the fourth, got Carmel within 43-34. But Talia Harris stepped up, getting her team’s lead back to 45-34 with a layin. That would be the start of a great quarter for Harris, as she poured in 11 points, including a triple. Fishers outscored the ‘Hounds 21-12 in the fourth quarter.
Olivia Smith led the scoring with 18 points. Harris was next with her 11 points, then Hailey Smith added 10 points. Fishers is now 21-2 for the season.
“That’s one of the most special parts of this team is our depth and our ability to have a leading scorer in so many different areas on any given night,” said Votaw.”
Lach, a senior who has been a Carmel varsity player since her freshman year, scored 11 points for the Greyhounds, while Perry had 10 points.
Carmel finished the season 4-19 in a season with an already-young team and several key injuries. But Trimpe was pleased with her team, and how those young players stepped up throughout the season.
“I was just very impressed with our young team who had a pretty severe lack of varsity experience, especially when you look at our sectional,” said Trimpe. Those teams returned a lot. While some of our scores looked big, I don’t think that they really indicated the fight that our girls put in and the way that the games were going. I think we learned a lot.”
SECOND GAME
Zionsville got off to an equally fast start against Westfield, scoring the game’s first 11 points. Emmrey Collinsworth got the Shamrocks on the board with a 3-pointer at the 3:50 mark of the first quarter.
The Eagles led 19-10 after one period. The second quarter was defensive, with Zionsville outscoring Westfield 6-3 for a 25-13 lead. Reagan Lorenzen hit a 3-pointer for the Shamrocks’ only score of the period.
“We gave up too many live-ball turnovers that led to points,” said Westfield coach Kelsey Key. “They had eight points off of our turnovers in the first half and then they had four points off of offensive rebounds. So really, the difference in the first half was that 12 points that were our own doing in a lot of ways.
“But that’s a very good Zionsville team. They’re old and experienced and they came out and they really put it to us there at the start. But I think once we got into a rhythm, once we got into a flow, we started to settle in a little bit.”
Indeed, Westfield continued to battle. The Eagles jumped ahead 30-14 early in the third quarter, but the ‘Rocks used a 7-0 run to cut that lead to 30-21. Kiki Loveless made a layin, Collinsworth drained her second 3 of the game, and Ellie Kelleher hit two free throws.
Kelleher added one more free throw, then a 3-pointer, and that helped keep Westfield within 37-25 going into the fourth quarter. But Zionsville used a 6-0 run in that period to take control of the game.
Kelleher scored eight points to lead the ‘Rocks, while Aubrey Crockett collected four rebounds.
Westfield finished the season 12-11. It was a season where the Shamrocks had a new coach and a few new faces, but they put together a good season.
“I think we grew together as a group,” said Key. “They grew in getting to know me, what I expect. And Ginny (Smith) has laid such a great foundation. I stepped into a program that had been successful. I have really good people that I’m coaching. I think more than anything, we grew.”
FIRST GAME
FISHERS 63, CARMEL 43
Carmel FG FT TP PF
Keaton Gatlin 3-5 1-2 9 1
Mackenzie Woods 1-6 3-5 5 3
Jamie Elliott 1-2 0-0 2 0
Mallory Bourquein 2-3 0-0 4 2
Hannah Lach 4-6 0-0 11 2
Rilee McBride 0-0 0-0 0 1
Lauren Perry 4-8 0-2 10 2
Brooke Thoren 1-2 0-0 2 0
Lydia Pedersen 0-0 0-0 0 0
Jacobi Warren 0-0 0-0 0 0
Sydney Bonds 0-0 0-0 0 0
Totals 16-32 4-9 43 11
Carmel 3-point shooting (7-14) Lach 3-4, Perry 2-6, Gatlin 2-3, Woods 0-1.
Fishers FG FT TP PF
Joirdyn Smith 0-2 2-2 2 0
Talia Harris 4-6 2-3 11 1
Alycia Triplett 4-10 1-2 9 1
Hailey Smith 4-7 0-0 10 1
Olivia Smith 8-10 1-2 18 2
Karina Scott 0-1 0-0 0 0
Kate Thomas 2-2 1-4 5 0
Allison Scheu 1-2 0-0 2 1
Morgan Roberts 0-0 2-2 2 0
Nevaeh Dickman 1-1 0-0 2 0
Ava Carter 1-1 0-0 2 0
Totals 25-42 9-15 63 6
Fishers 3-point shooting (4-11) H. Smith 2-2, O. Smith 1-3, Harris 1-2, J. Smith 0-2, Scott 0-1, Scheu 0-1
Score by Quarters
Carmel 8 10 13 12 – 43
Fishers 21 14 7 21 – 63
SECOND GAME
ZIONSVILLE 45, WESTFIELD 31
Westfield FG FT TP PF
Ellie Kelleher 1-9 5-6 8 3
Aubrey Crockett 1-7 0-0 3 2
Emmrey Collinsworth 2-9 0-0 6 2
Kiki Loveless 1-1 3-4 5 1
Lindsey Van Dyke 1-3 0-0 2 0
Reagan Lorenzen 1-4 0-0 3 1
Maren Dee 0-0 0-0 0 1
Meg Hamilton 1-2 0-0 2 0
Brittany Brown 0-0 0-0 0 0
Mia Crask 0-0 0-0 0 0
Samantha Price 1-1 0-0 2 0
MaKayla Hatcher 0-0 0-0 0 0
Totals 9-36 8-10 31 10
Score by Quarters
Westfield 10 3 12 6 – 31
Zionsville 19 6 12 8 – 45
Westfield 3-point-shooting (5-19) Collinsworth 2-6, Kelleher 1-5, Crockett 1-3, Lorenzen 1-3, Hamilton 0-1, Van Dyke 0-1.
Westfield rebounds (19) Crockett 4, Kelleher 3, Collinsworth 3, Loveless 3, Van Dyke 3, Lorenzen 1, team 2.