BY RICHIE HALL
FISHERS – As the night went along at the Tiger Den, the Fishers girls basketball team’s defense got stronger.
The Class 4A No. 6 Tigers won a pivotal Hoosier Crossroads Conference game with Noblesville Friday, beating the 4A No. 8 Millers 53-40. Fishers was involved in a tough battle with Noblesville during the first quarter, but used its defense to pull away and improve its HCC record to 2-0.
“I got to credit our team defense,” said Tigers coach Lauren Votaw. In the past four games, Fishers has kept its opponents under 45 points.
“We’ve talked about keeping people under 45, so holding a team like that to 40 is good for us,” said Votaw.
The Tigers led for most of the game, jumping out to a 5-0 lead after Katie Burton made a 3-pointer and a putback. Noblesville’s Ashlynn Shade kept her team close, scoring the Millers’ first eight points to keep them within 9-8.
Hailey Smith scored on a layin to make it 11-8, Fishers, but Noblesville scored the first quarter’s last four points to lead 12-11. Olivia Smith opened the second period with her own layin to get the Tigers back on top 12-13, and the Millers’ Reagan Wilson nailed a triple to push Noblesville ahead 15-13.
Wilson’s layin got the Millers up 20-19, but Fishers went on a 7-0 run to lead 26-20 and never trailed again. Hailey Smith started the run with a free throw, then Burton took over, scoring the next six points. The Tigers’ bench was helping out: Jordan Imes finished the half with a layin, while Kaiya Walker provided some good minutes as well.
“This crew, they’re filling their roles so well,” said Votaw. “I thought Kaiya Walker came in and got good offensive rebounds and just was able to give us a spark. We had players get breaks when we needed players to get breaks. And I thought our bench energy was good tonight. Overall, I thought it was a great team win.”
Fishers led 28-23 at halftime, outscoring Noblesville 17-11 in the second period. The Tigers continued to slowly build its lead in the third quarter, which ended with Fishers ahead 39-31. Hailey Smith scored four points, on a putback and a layin. Emily Wood helped keep the Millers within reasonable distance, scoring six points in that quarter.
“She got going and gave us a second scorer,” said Noblesville coach Donna Buckley. “But we got to have other kids step up and take advantage. We just missed too many free throws and too many layups. Woody gave us some good minutes and obviously Ashlynn scored well for us tonight.”
The Tigers began the fourth period with a 7-0 run. Burton made a basket, Olivia Smith got a layin, and Emmerson was good on a three-point play, putting Fishers up 46-31 with 6:45 left in the game. Burton hit a 3-pointer later to give the Tigers their largest lead at 49-32. The Millers got the lead down to 49-40 with two minutes left, but Burton iced the game by making 4 of 4 foul shots.
“I think start to finish, that was our best defensive performance,” said Votaw. “We have had good nights, but we have talked about how we have had lapses. And I feel like we had lapses tonight, but they were fewer and further between.”
Burton finished the game with 25 points. Hailey Smith pulled nine rebounds, followed by Emmerson with seven and Burton with five. Emmerson handed out four assists.
Shade scored 16 for Noblesville, going 10-for-10 from the free-throw line. Wood added 10 points. Shade collected seven rebounds and dished out five assists, while Dani Mendez and Wood both pulled five rebounds.
“We had opportunities, so we got to do a better job of executing,” said Buckley. “We got more games coming up, so you just got to learn and move on.”
Fishers is 9-1 for the season and has made several adjustments to its schedule. The Tigers’ next game is Thursday at Pendleton Heights, but this will now be a varsity-only game that starts at 6 p.m.
Fishers has added Frankton to its schedule, and will play there Monday with a 1 p.m. junior varsity tipoff. The Tigers’ game with Hamilton Southeastern had been postponed to Saturday, Jan. 9, and also has a 1 p.m. JV start.
Noblesville is 2-1 in HCC play and 6-2 overall. The Millers’ next game is Tuesday at Anderson.
FISHERS 53, NOBLESVILLE 40
Noblesville FG FT TP PF
Ashlynn Shade 3-15 10-10 16 2
Reagan Wilson 3-10 0-0 8 2
Mallory Miller 0-3 1-2 1 3
Brooklyn Smitherman 0-1 1-2 1 1
Emily Wood 5-9 0-1 10 2
Kaitlyn Shoemaker 1-2 0-0 3 2
Dani Mendez 0-0 1-6 1 2
Jayla Jones 0-0 0-0 0 2
Brooklyn Ely 0-0 0-0 0 1
Totals 12-40 13-21 40 17
Noblesville 3-point shooting (3-10) Wilson 2-5, Shoemaker 1-1, Shade 0-4.
Noblesville rebounds (28) Shade 7, Mendez 5, Wood 5, Miller 4, Wilson 2, Shoemaker 1, Jones 1, Smitherman 1, team 2.
Fishers FG FT TP PF
Audra Emmerson 2-8 3-3 7 1
Katie Howard 1-4 0-0 3 1
Hailey Smith 3-6 1-2 7 4
Olivia Smith 4-8 0-1 8 4
Katie Burton 9-22 6-7 25 3
Emily Gausepohl 0-1 0-0 0 0
Jordan Imes 1-1 0-1 2 0
Kaiya Walker 0-0 1-2 1 1
Joirdyn Smith 0-1 0-0 0 0
Totals 20-51 11-16 53 14
Fishers 3-point shooting (2-14) Burton 1-5, Howard 1-4, Emmerson 0-2, J. Smith 0-1, Gausepohl 0-1, O. Smith 0-1.
Fishers rebounds (28) H. Smith 9, Emmerson 7, Burton 5, O. Smith 2, Walker 2, J. Smith 1, Howard 1, Imes 1.
Score by Quarters
Noblesville 12 11 8 9 – 40
Fishers 11 17 11 14 – 53