When it comes to girls basketball regional match-ups, one of the most talked about will take place 10 a.m. at Marion’s Bill Green Arena.
It will be an all-Tigers lineup: The No. 3-ranked Fishers Tigers vs. the No. 1-ranked Northwestern Tigers in the first semi-final of the Class 4A Marion regional. The second semi-final will see Fort Wayne Carroll take on Homestead; the winners advance to the 8 p.m. championship game.
Northwestern has been one of the big stories of Indiana girls basketball over the past two years. The Tigers are playing in 4A for the first time this season after back-to-back state championships in Class 3A.
Northwestern has had no problem adjusting to Class 4A. The Tigers are 26-0 and are winning their games by an average of 40 points. The closest any team has come to Northwestern was Maine West (Ill.) on Jan. 18; the Tigers won that game by the score of 61-58.
In the post-season, Northwestern won its fourth consecutive sectional last week. Playing at the Logansport sectional, the Tigers beat the host Berries 82-26, Marion 67-40 and McCutcheon 70-38.
Northwestern is led by its two 6-foot-1 seniors, Madison Layden and Kendall Bostic. Layden, committed to nearby Purdue University, is averaging 25.7 points and has scored 2,262 points in her high school career. She is solid in other statistics, with 6.5 assists, 5.5 steals and 4.0 rebounds per game. Bostic, who is headed to Michigan State, averages a double-double with 20.4 points and 10.0 rebounds per game, and also has 1.9 blocks per game.
“Northwestern has two very talented players in Layden and Bostic,” said Fishers coach Lauren Votaw.
Other players to look out for are senior Klair Merrell, who averages 10.2 points and 4.6 assists per game, and freshman McKenna Layden, who scores at a 6.2 points-per-game clip and collects 4.5 rebounds per contest.
Votaw pointed out that the Tigers have several players shooting over 40 percent from the 3-point line. Senior Kate Miller is 47 percent from 3, followed by McKenna Layden at 44 percent, Madison Layden at 42 percent, Klair Merrell at 41 percent and Bostic at 40 percent.
Northwestern also averages 15.5 steals per game; Votaw said the team does “a great job of changing defenses.”
“They use their length to cause problems for teams,” said Votaw. “Layden handles the ball well and Bostic is an extremely efficient scorer (74%).”
Fishers will come into the regional with a 23-1 record. The Tigers are coming off of their first sectional championship since 2014; winning two tough games to get the trophy. Fishers beat Westfield 58-56 in the semi-finals on a last-second layin by junior Katie Burton, then the Tigers defeated rival Hamilton Southeastern 50-42 in the championship game, coming back from a 21-5 deficit in the second quarter.
Burton is Fishers’ leading scorer, with 15.4 points per game, and is also tough on the boards with 4.8 rebounds per game. Senior Tamia Perryman is scoring at a 7.9 points-per-game clip, and has become one of Fishers’ best long-range shooters, making four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter of the sectional final. Kaitlyn Feagan is 46 percent from the 3-point line, while Perryman is 41 percent. Senior Lydia Stullken is averaging 5.9 rebounds per game, with Perryman averaging 4.9 per game.
“Practices this week have been relatively similar to those we have had all season,” said Votaw. “The players are having fun and seem focused and ready to play this weekend.”
