By RICHIE HALL
ZIONSVILLE – The opening games of the Class 4A girls basketball Sectional 8 at Zionsville lived up to the hype.
Noblesville and Fishers both advanced to the semi-finals on Tuesday after winning first-round contests. The Class 4A No. 5 Millers used a big second quarter to take a lead over Hamilton Southeastern and held off the Royals in the fourth quarter to win 57-48. Ashlynn Shade made some Noblesville history as well by joining the 1,000-point club.
In the second game, the 4A No. 8 Tigers took on Westfield, which won the regular-season contest between the two schools easily less than two weeks ago. In a remarkably close contest – neither team held a lead of more than six points – Fishers edged out the Shamrocks 45-43.
Noblesville is now 19-4 and plays Zionsville in the first game of Friday’s semi-finals. The Tigers are 17-4 and play Carmel in Friday’s second game.
FASTEST TO 1,000
The first quarter of the opening game was close, as it finished in a 13-13 tie. Shade was already playing well, with 10 points in that period. Ryan Viele had five points for Southeastern.
Viele’s 3-pointer late in the second quarter kept the Royals within 19-18. But the Millers made a sudden 12-0 run that took up the final minutes of the half. Reagan Wilson, Shade and Brooklyn Ely all drained 3-pointers right in a row.
“We finally settled in a little bit and were able to extend that lead and then just fight them off,” said Noblesville coach Donna Buckley.
Shade’s second-quarter 3 was big because it was the one that got her to 1,000 points. Shade is still just a sophomore and is now the fastest Millers player to reach that celebrated level.
“This is a kid who’s had her driver’s license for a couple of months, and here she is already at 1,000,” said Buckely. “It’s crazy. To score 1,000 points and to do it against the competition that we face, knowing that every single night, she’s got everybody’s best defense coming at her, is just huge.”
Wilson’s two free throws with 3.7 seconds left gave Noblesville a 30-18 halftime lead.
“I thought defensively, we were playing pretty well,” said HSE coach Chris Huppenthal. “They were hitting shots. We tried to weather the storm, and the second quarter hurt us a little bit, dug as a hole.”
In the third quarter, a triple by Makayla Hinshaw cut the Millers’ lead to 34-26, but Noblesville used a quick 6-0 run to get ahead 40-26. Jayla Jones and Shade made baskets and Mallory Miller hit a pair of free throws.
“We got some really nice contributions from our bench kids, too,” said Buckley. “Every time they made a run, we answered with a big shot.”
Southeastern made a run to finish the third quarter, a 10-2 stretch to get within 42-36 by the end of the period. Riley Makalusky had four points during the run, which was capped by another 3 from Viele. Midway through the fourth quarter, Olivia Brown’s fadeaway got the Royals within 45-40.
The Millers answered again, using another 6-0 run to jump ahead 51-40. Wood and Shade both hit baskets, sandwiched in between a pair of free throws by Wilson. Noblesville kept its lead between seven and 11 points from that point forward.
“I thought our kids gave Noblesville all they could handle,” said Huppenthal, whose team finished the season 11-7. “We fought until the end and that’s all you can ask them to do.”
Shade led all scorers with 24 points, and reached double-double status with 12 rebounds. Wilson added 12 points. Both players also handed out four assists and made four steals.
Makalusky led Southeastern with 16 points and eight rebounds, while Viele scored 13 points. Olivia Brown dished out five assists, while senior Lydia Self had seven rebounds and two blocked shots.
“You look up the definition of a Royal in the dictionary and there should be a picture of Lydia Self,” said Huppenthal. “How coachable she is, her effort, great teammate. You coach Lydia, she never looks at you like ‘What are you talking about,’ she just nods her head ‘Okay.’ You never have to talk to her about playing hard. She’s always going to play hard.”
BACK AND FORTH
Defense ruled the Westfield-Fishers game for the first few minutes. Neither team got on the board until the Shamrocks’ Olivia Robey made a layin at the 4:33 mark of the first quarter, then Jessica Castor hit a 3-pointer.
The Tigers got their first points at the 3:25 mark when Katie Burton scored on a layin. Alyssa Crockett hit a 3 to put the ‘Rocks ahead 8-2, but Fishers finished the quarter on a 7-1 run. Haley Gausepohl got the run going with a traditional three-point play, then Burton scored four more points, and the first quarter finished in a 9-9 tie.
“We played Westfield a week-and-a-half ago and it did not go as we would’ve wanted,” said Tigers coach Lauren Votaw. “I think everybody knew it would be closer this time. We’ve played five basketball games since the last time we saw them. That’s a quarter of our season. We’re a little bit different team than what we were a week-and-a-half ago. They were really focused. I thought we had a really good practice on Monday and their energy is good. And I have senior leaders. I think that that was evident tonight.”
Burton, one of those senior leaders, scored 12 points in the first half, six in each quarter. Her steal and basket to begin the second period gave Fishers its first lead at 11-9. Chesney Tebbe and Gigi Eldredge both scored to get Westfield back up 13-11, but the Tigers answered with five quick free throws. Burton made two, then Joirdyn Smith hit all three after being fouled on a 3-point attempt.
Castor’s triple sent the game into halftime tied 18-18. Crockett scored the first basket of the second half to put Westfield up 20-18, which Burton answered with a jumper to tie it at 20-20. Robey made two free throws and the Shamrocks led 22-20.
Fishers then scored five points in a row. Hailey Smith got the Tigers back in front with a 3, and Burton made a layin. The back-and-forth continued in the quarter, with everyone taking their turns stepping up.
Crockett scored six points in the third quarter. Audra Emmerson drained a 3. Eldredge tied the game on a layin, then a jumper from Joirdyn Smith and a putback by Hailey Smith got Fishers up 34-30. Robey hit a 3 for the final basket of the third period, with Fishers ahead 34-33.
The Tigers led 38-35 early in the quarter before Robey and Crockett’s baskets got them ahead 39-38. Katie Howard hit a 3-pointer with just over a minute left, and Fishers was back in front 41-39, never to trail again. Burton made two free throws with 48 seconds left, then Hailey Smith scored off a steal to give the Tigers their biggest lead at 45-40 with under 30 seconds to go.
“We spent a lot of time on defense and understanding that we got to be better,” said Votaw. “And I thought we were much better defensively tonight.”
Burton scored 22 points for Fishers. Hailey Smith dominated the boards with 13 rebounds, also adding nine points and making four steals.
Crockett earned a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds, also making four blocked shots. Robey added 12 points and Chesney Tebbe handed out four assists.
“We played hard,” said Shamrocks coach Ginny Smith. Her team is a champion team, as Westfield won the Hoosier Crossroads Conference title with a 6-1 record.
“Katie Burton was excellent tonight and I think they made big plays down the stretch and we didn’t necessarily execute and make good plays down the stretch,” said Smith. “I think that’s what it boils down to. We got away from our game plan in the first half, inside-out action. We got back to it. Overall, the second half wasn’t a bad half of basketball, it just came down to a few little things that resulted in big changes in the game.”
Westfield finished its season 16-5, its most wins since the 2015-16 season.
NOBLESVILLE 57, HAMILTON SOUTHEASTERN 48
Southeastern FG FT TP PF
Lydia Self 1-6 3-5 5 4
Makayla Hinshaw 2-7 1-2 6 4
Riley Makalusky 8-17 0-4 16 3
Olivia Brown 2-3 4-6 8 4
Ryan Viele 4-12 2-2 13 1
Lauren Stewart 0-1 0-0 0 2
Teegan Acres 0-1 0-0 0 0
Brin Bair 0-0 0-0 0 0
Shalyn Rathbun 0-0 0-0 0 0
Totals 17-47 10-19 48 18
Southeastern 3-point shooting (4-16) Viele 3-9, Hinshaw 1-4, Acres 0-1, Makalusky 0-1, Stewart 0-1.
Southeastern rebounds (24) Makalusky 8, Self 7, Brown 4, Acres 1, Hinshaw 1, Viele 1, Rathbun 1, Stewart 1.
Noblesville FG FT TP PF
Ashlynn Shade 8-10 5-8 24 2
Reagan Wilson 2-3 6-8 12 2
Mallory Miller 1-6 3-4 5 3
Brooklyn Smitherman 1-3 0-0 2 1
Emily Wood 2-5 0-0 4 5
Kaitlyn Shoemaker 0-2 1-2 1 1
Jayla Jones 2-5 2-3 6 2
Dani Mendez 0-0 0-0 0 2
Brooklyn Ely 1-1 0-0 3 0
Totals 17-35 17-25 57 18
Noblesville 3-point shooting (6-14) Shade 3-4, Wilson 2-3, Ely 1-1, Jones 0-3, Miller 0-2, Shoemaker 0-1.
Noblesville rebounds (28) Shade 12, Shoemaker 4, Miller 3, Wilson 2, Smitherman 2, Wood 2, Jones 1, team 2.
Score by Quarters
Southeastern 13 5 18 12 – 48
Noblesville 13 17 12 15 – 57
FISHERS 45, WESTFIELD 43
Westfield FG FT TP PF
Alyssa Crockett 6-14 0-0 13 2
Chesney Tebbe 3-7 1-2 8 3
Jessica Castor 2-3 0-0 6 1
Olivia Robey 4-7 3-4 12 3
Gigi Eldredge 2-4 0-0 4 4
Ellie Kelleher 0-1 0-0 0 0
Hailey Remaks 0-0 0-0 0 0
Emmrey Collinsworth 0-1 0-0 0 0
Jadeyn Hammes 0-0 0-0 0 0
Totals 17-37 4-6 43 13
Westfield 3-point shooting (5-16) Castor 2-3, Crockett 1-9, Robey 1-2, Tebbe 1-1, Collinsworth 0-1.
Westfield rebounds (19) Crockett 10, Tebbe 3, Robey 2, Eldredge 2, Castor 1, Remaks 1.
Fishers FG FT TP PF
Audra Emmerson 1-5 0-1 3 0
Katie Howard 1-5 0-0 3 0
Hailey Smith 3-8 2-2 9 2
Olivia Smith 0-2 0-1 0 3
Katie Burton 9-14 4-4 22 2
Joirdyn Smith 1-6 3-3 5 1
Haley Gausepohl 1-1 1-1 3 0
Jordan Imes 0-1 0-0 0 0
Totals 16-42 10-12 45 8
Fishers 3-point shooting (3-15) Howard 1-4, Emmerson 1-3, H. Smith 1-1, J. Smith 0-5, Burton 0-2.
Fishers rebounds (29) H. Smith 13, Emmerson 4, Burton 4, J. Smith 1, Gausepohl 1, Howard 1, Imes 1, O. Smith 1.
Score by Quarters
Westfield 9 9 15 10 – 43
Fishers 9 9 16 11 – 45