By RICHIE HALL
CARMEL – Many girls basketball teams across the area are challenging themselves during the first couple weeks of the season.
Carmel is among those teams. The Greyhounds took on Heritage Christian, the No. 2-ranked program in Class 3A, and scored a big victory, taking control in the third quarter to win 65-46 at the Eric Clark Activity Center. Carmel is receiving votes in the 4A poll.
“We came in with a game plan,” said Greyhounds coach Erin Trimpe. “We really wanted to pound it inside and we were stressing to not settle for jump shots and to really see what we can do inside the zone. And I thought the girls did a good job of finding our bigs down low, which opened up our guards a little bit on the perimeter, and our guards started to trap.”
The game was close in the first quarter, which ended with the Eagles ahead 15-11. Ariana Wiggins scored seven points for Heritage during that period.
The second quarter opened with Kate Clarke hitting a 3-pointer, her second of the game. Clarke began to take over after that, scoring seven points to start the period and bring Carmel back to an 18-18 tie. The Eagles were still within 25-24 with 2:20 left in the first half, but the ‘Hounds finished the half by scoring seven straight points to go into the break ahead 32-25. Bridget Dunn scored five of those points, including a 3.
Carmel rolled through the third quarter, outscoring Heritage 22-12. Clarke added another seven points, while Kiara Gill hit two 3-pointers. Gill finished the game a perfect 4-for-4 from the field, scoring 10 points.
“I thought Kiara Gill came off the bench and just really made the difference,” said Trimpe. “She was the difference in the game for us from the moment she stepped on the floor, I don’t think she came out. And so that spread the wealth a lot.”
Clarke added another five points in the fourth quarter, bringing her game-high total to 25 points, including five 3-pointers. Dunn finished with 16 points (including two 3s), giving Carmel three players in double figures. That balance was important for the Greyhounds, as Trimpe wanted to see her team “spread the wealth” when it came to scoring.
“We know every game Kate is going to be a focus,” said Trimpe. “She is a great scorer. She can do a lot of things with the ball, so we were stressing to other kids that they needed to step up.”
Carmel is now 1-1 for the season. The ‘Hounds opened their season Saturday with a 47-46 loss at Homestead, which was ranked No. 2 in Class 4A last week. In this week’s poll, the Spartans moved up to a tie with Northwestern for the No. 1 ranking in 4A.
And guess who comes to the Eric Clark Activity Center on Saturday afternoon for Carmel’s next game? Northwestern. The Tigers won the last two 3A state championships and are playing in 4A this season due to the IHSAA’s success factor.
“There’s no easy games on our schedule,” said Trimpe. “We get to play Northwestern and then we get to go to Zionsville, and then we’re going to LN (Lawrence North). We’re all over the place. We know every night that we have to bring our ‘A’ game and we have to play our best. We try to prepare the girls as best we can. We’ve got one day to prepare for a very good Northwestern team, so we’re going to meet as coaches and come up with our game plan and hopefully implement it tomorrow in practice and see how it goes.”
CARMEL 65, HERITAGE CHRISTIAN 46
Carmel FG FT TP PF
Brooklynn Edwards 1-3 4-4 6 2
Bridget Dunn 5-11 4-4 16 0
Riley Pennington 1-6 2-4 4 2
Kate Clarke 10-21 0-0 25 2
Hannah Lach 0-1 0-0 0 1
Fatima Valiente 1-2 0-0 2 0
Kiara Gill 4-4 0-0 10 1
Emily Roper 1-4 0-0 2 3
Gracie Collins 0-0 0-0 0 0
Erin Baker 0-0 0-0 0 0
Evan Spidel 0-0 0-0 0 0
Mahalet Zeruesenay 0-0 0-0 0 0
Totals 23-52 10-12 65 10
Score by Quarters
Heritage Christian 15 9 12 10 – 46
Carmel 11 21 22 11 – 65
Carmel 3-point shooting (9-21) Clarke 5-11, Dunn 2-5, Gill 2-2, Edwards 0-1, Pennington 0-1, Lach 0-1.
Carmel’s Kate Clarke (center) scored 25 points for the Greyhounds in their 65-46 win over Heritage Christian on Thursday. At left is Kiara Gill, who scored 10 points on perfect 4-of-4 shooting from the field. (Richie Hall)