By RICHIE HALL
FISHERS – It’s one of the biggest clichés in sports: “Anything can happen in a rivalry game.”
The thing is, “anything” usually does happen in those games. The latest example of that took place Friday afternoon at Hamilton Southeastern, as the Royals girls basketball team hosted Carmel.
The Greyhounds got off to a huge first-quarter lead, then Southeastern slowly worked its way back into the game. The Class 4A No. 10 Royals blasted back to take a fourth-quarter lead before a shot at the buzzer sent the game to overtime. Southeastern then took the big lead in the extra period before Carmel made the comeback, and the Greyhounds won 68-67.
It was a big win for Carmel, which had dropped its last two games, and gives the ‘Hounds some momentum as they begin a busy week on Tuesday with their Metropolitan Conference opener at Lawrence North.
“This was a must-win, and we talked about it before the game,” said Carmel coach Erin Trimpe. “We’ve been right there, we’ve been close. We’ve been in all these places. This was one we needed. Hopefully we got into LN on Tuesday, it’s going to get us into a good rhythm, but we got a lot to improve on and a lot to work on. This effort was unbelievably good tonight.”
The Greyhounds had led for the entire game and were still up 49-39 with around four minutes left in the fourth quarter. But that’s when HSE began an 16-2 run. It started with two 3-pointers by Maya Makalusky, with Makayla Hinshaw hitting a free throw in between.
Emily Roper’s layin interrupted the run, but the Royals then scored nine straight points to lead 55-51. Lauren Stewart nailed a 3, then Riley Makalusky went on a personal 6-0 run. Her first layin tied the game, then she scored off a steal by Olivia Brown to give Southeastern its first lead. Two free throws then put the Royals up 55-51 with 23.4 seconds left.
But Carmel came back. After taking a timeout with 13 seconds left, Mackenzie Thomas made a layin. The Greyhounds got the ball back, and Laura Valiente tied the game with a floater at the buzzer. On to overtime.
The Royals jumped ahead 64-57 with 2:09 remaining, but Carmel took over after that, finishing the game on an 11-3 run. Thomas played brilliantly during those minutes, scoring eight points, and it was her layin with seven seconds left that got Carmel in front for good. Ava Carter helped out with a 3-pointer right before Thomas’ game-winner. Thomas led all scorers with 24 points.
“It was crazy,” said Thomas. “We were under a lot of pressure. We have a hard time handling pressure, but we had to calm down, get out of our heads, under control, just think about our actions, what we were supposed to do. Just take care of the ball, really.”
“I think Emily Roper and Mackenzie Thomas are just so solid and took over when they needed to,” said Trimpe. Roper had a great game in the first quarter, scoring nine points. She continued to contribute throughout the game, winding up with a double-double of 18 points and 12 rebounds, along with six assists and four steals.
“She’s one of the most competitive kids you’ll ever meet and she was not losing that game,” said Trimpe.
Roper said that her competitiveness gets fueled by things not going the team’s way.
“And when things don’t go our way, I want to get back and I want to go and score,” said Roper. “I want our team to go and succeed, so I think that helps me be more competitive and then picks the whole team up in competitiveness as well.”
Carmel’s big first quarter was fueled by Roper, eight points from Thomas and four more from Valiente. Southeastern started to chip away at the lead in the last couple minutes of the quarter, which finished with the Greyhounds up 24-15.
“One of the things we talked about before the game is trying to be the bully and getting off to a good start, and that was not the case,” said Royals coach Brian Satterfield. “We always have that little saying that you don’t win games at the beginning, but you can lose games, and I thought we put ourselves in a deep hole that we almost couldn’t dig ourselves out of.”
The Royals had actually begun an 18-4 run that got them within 25-24 with 4:46 left in the second period. Stewart hit two triples during that run, and Maya Makalusky scored eight points. But Carmel pulled away and led 36-28 at halftime. Valiente drained two 3s, and Taryn Fisher scored three points, including a putback.
Both teams scored nine points in the third quarter, so the Greyhounds led 45-37 going into the fourth. Southeastern got within 40-37 before Carmel’s Jamie Elliott hit a 3 and Fisher made a layin. Neither team scored again until the 4:25 mark of the fourth quarter when Roper hit a layin. Riley Makalusky answered that with a basket, then Thomas scored to put the ‘Hounds up 49-39.
“For me, it’s just more looking to score and knowing that I have the capability and knowing that I can make it happen,” said Thomas. “I just have to go out and do it. And it’s not just for myself, but also for my teammates, just knowing that I have a duty for them to go out and give it everything I have every game.”
Valiente also reached double figures with 12 points and also collected six rebounds, while Thomas had five.
Riley Makalusky led the Royals with 23 points, followed by Maya Makalusky with 17 points and two blocked shots. Stewart’s four 3-pointers gave her 12 points. Brown had eight steals and five assists.
Despite the loss, Satterfield thought the fight and effort of his team “was tremendous” and something great for the Royals to build on.
“The biggest thing we hvae to do is figure out a way to do that for 32 minutes,” said Satterfield. “I think that’s the key and that’s something that we’ve been talking to the girls about and if we can do that for 32 minutes, then we’ll see what we can accomplish.”
Carmel is 2-3 and plays at Lawrence North on Tuesday. Southeastern is 5-3 and hosts Noblesville Wednesday in a Hoosier Crossroads Conference game.
CARMEL 68, HAMILTON SOUTHEASTERN 67
(overtime)
Carmel FG FT TP PF
Mackenzie Woods 0-5 0-1 0 5
Laura Valiente 5-7 0-1 12 4
Hannah Lach 0-5 3-4 3 5
Mackenzie Thomas 12-14 0-0 24 4
Emily Roper 6-12 6-8 18 2
Taryn Fisher 2-2 1-2 5 0
Maya Berglund 0-0 0-0 0 1
Bethany Ducat 0-0 0-0 0 0
Jamie Elliott 1-3 0-0 3 0
Ava Carter 1-1 0-0 3 1
Totals 27-49 10-16 68 22
Carmel 3-point shooting (4-12) Valiente 2-3, Elliott 1-3, Carter 1-1, Lach 0-4, Thomas 0-1.
Carmel rebounds (32) Roper 12, Valiente 6, Thomas 5, Woods 4, Lach 3, Fisher 1, Elliott 1.
Southeastern FG FT TP PF
Maya Makalusky 5-11 4-5 17 5
Makayla Hinshaw 3-6 3-7 9 3
Riley Makalusky 7-20 8-10 23 1
Olivia Brown 1-2 1-3 3 2
Zoe Bolding 0-2 1-2 1 3
Caleigh Scott 0-0 0-0 0 0
Maine Hooks 0-0 2-2 2 2
Lauren Stewart 4-6 0-0 12 2
Gabi Layman 0-0 0-0 0 0
Totals 20-47 19-29 67 18
Southeastern 3-point shooting (8-18) Stewart 4-5, M. Makalusky 3-8, R. Makalusky 1-4, Hinshaw 0-1.
Southeastern rebounds (13) R. Makalusky 4, M. Makalusky 4, Brown 2, Hooks 2, Scott 1.
Score by Quarters
Carmel 24 12 9 10 13 – 68
Southeastern 15 13 9 18 12 – 67