By RICHIE HALL
NOBLESVILLE – The defense of the Tigers ruled the night at Noblesville on Friday, as Fishers clashed with the Millers in a big Hoosier Crossroads Conference girls basketball game at The Mill.
The Class 4A No. 7 Tigers used its solid defense to take control during the middle quarters, then held firm in the fourth to beat the 4A No. 1 Millers 57-45. It was an important win because both teams were unbeaten in HCC play coming into the game. Fishers is now all by itself on the top of the conference standings at 3-0.
Noblesville skipped out to a 6-0 lead, with Brooklyn Smitherman scoring four of those points. Ashlynn Shade was on fire early as well, hitting three 3-pointers on her way to 11 first-quarter points. Shade’s third 3 of the period gave Noblesville its largest lead of the game at 12-5.
The Tigers began to work their way back into it during the last part of the first, cutting the Millers’ lead to 17-15 by the end of the quarter. Joirdyn Smith and Talia Harris both had 3-pointers for Fishers.
Kate Thomas finished the period with a putback, and that started a 9-0 run for the Tigers. Ava Carter made two baskets to start the second quarter, then Thomas nailed a 3. Fishers led 22-17 and would never trail again.
“I was really proud of our kids,” said Tigers coach Lauren Votaw. “We told them coming in that Noblesville is a phenomenal shooting basketball team, and we had to make sure that we were there on the catch. Obviously, early we gave them some looks. Shade hit a few over us early, we gave up a couple more in the first half, and we really just talked about, ‘You’ve got to be there on the catch. You got to be there in the catch. Nothing easy.’ That was our goal and I was really proud of our kids. I truly believe they left about everything they had out there tonight.”
Fishers led 27-25 at halftime, but opened the second half on a blistering 14-2 run to lead 41-27 with 4:46 left in the third quarter. Thomas started the run with a layin, then Karina Scott threw in a 3.
After that, Hailey Smith took over. After missing the last few games with a concussion, Smith came back in a big way, scoring nine points in the third quarter. Her three-point play pushed the Tigers’ lead up to 14 points, their largest advantage of the game.
“They were just awesome on the defensive side and we didn’t handle that challenge very well,” said Noblesville coach Donna Buckley. It was the first time this season that the Millers had been held to under 50 points.
Smith showed her toughness throughout the game, including taking a second-quarter charge.
“I stayed on the floor a little longer, because I was like, ‘All right, let me regather everything,'” said Smith. “But after that, I was like, ‘I’m cool.'”
“They had to be tough,” said Votaw of her team. “They were tough. I was proud of them. Hailey stood in there and took that charge, fully knowing that it probably wasn’t going to feel very good. I was just really proud of everybody. We did a lot of subbing there late, just calling people off the bench. They were ready to step in and do their job.”
Fishers led 43-33 after three quarters. The Millers didn’t go away, of course, cutting the Tigers’ lead to five points on three different occasions. Two free throws from Kaitlyn Shoemaker kept Noblesville within 50-45 with 41. 2 seconds left.
But Fishers finished the game from the free-throw line, making seven of eight foul shots during the last 29 seconds. Harris went 4-of-4 from the line, giving the Tigers their final points.
“I’m just going out there, leading my team, doing whatever we need us to do,” said Harris. “Rebounding, taking charges, whatever.”
Smith finished the game with 17 points, six rebounds and four assists, while Harris had 11 points and six rebounds. Thomas also had a strong game, with nine points and nine rebounds.
Shade led the Millers with another double-double of 19 points and 14 rebounds. Shoemaker had nine points and four steals.
“We got to get better at handling pressure, defensive pressure and just physicality,” said Buckley. The coach said the loss was “good for us,” as it showed what her team needed to work on.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t get out with a win this time, but at the end of the day, all of our goals are still ahead of us and we’re going to work to get better starting tomorrow,” said Buckley.
Fishers is 9-1 for the season and hosts Pendleton Heights on Monday. Noblesville is 3-1 in HCC play and also 9-1 overall, and hosts Anderson Tuesday.
FISHERS 57, NOBLESVILLE 45
Fishers FG FT TP PF
Karina Scott 1-4 2-3 5 2
Joirdyn Smith 1-8 0-0 3 1
Kate Thomas 4-12 0-2 9 2
Hailey Smith 4-11 8-13 17 2
Olivia Smith 2-3 1-2 5 4
Ava Carter 3-4 1-3 7 1
Talia Harris 3-3 4-6 11 1
Alycia Triplett 0-0 0-0 0 0
Totals 18-45 16-29 57 13
Fishers 3-point shooting (5-16) J. Smith 1-5, H. Smith 1-4, Thomas 1-3, Scott 1-2, Harris 1-1, Carter 0-1.
Fishers rebounds (42) Thomas 9, Harris 6, H. Smith 6, O. Smith 3, Scott 2, J. Smith 2, Carter 2, Triplett 2, team 10.
Noblesville FG FT TP PF
Kaitlyn Shoemaker 3-8 2-2 9 3
Ashlynn Shade 7-15 2-2 19 4
Reagan Wilson 1-12 1-2 3 4
Meredith Tippner 2-7 0-0 4 4
Brooklyn Smitherman 2-2 0-1 4 3
Brooklyn Ely 2-5 0-0 6 0
Ava Shoemaker 0-4 0-2 0 1
Dani Mendez 0-0 0-0 0 1
Totals 17-53 5-9 45 20
Noblesville 3-point shooting (6-26) Shade 3-6, Ely 2-5, K. Shoemaker 1-4, Wilson 0-6, Tippner 0-3, A. Shoemaker 0-2.
Noblesville rebounds (25) Shade 14, Tippner 4, Smitherman 3, Wilson 2, A. Shoemaker 1, team 1.
Score by Quarters
Fishers 15 12 16 14 – 57
Noblesville 17 8 8 12 – 45