Carmel opened its season on Saturday with a loss to Homestead 64-43 at the Eric Clark Activity Center.
The Class 4A No. 8 Greyhounds started off well in the first quarter, but the 4A No. 2 Spartans began to take control, ending the period with a 19-13 lead. Carmel freshman Kate Clarke began her high school career with eight points in the quarter, including two 3-pointers.
Homestead ran its lead to 32-18 at halftime, allowing the Greyhounds only five second-period points. The Spartans then slowly increased their lead throughout the second half.
“I thought in the first quarter we came out and really executed things well,” said Carmel acting coach Erin Trimpe. But after that, the ‘Hounds began to get affected by Homestead’s physicality.
“And we really let them get us out of system, and that is really what hurt us today, not executing the plays that we know,” said Trimpe.
Clarke finished the game as Carmel’s leading scorer, with 15 points. That included three 3-pointers.
“She did great,” said Trimpe. “She really looked to score and she really hit some good shots for us. We want to push her to get to the bucket a little bit more and get to that free throw line. But for her first varsity game, I thought she really came out and really did her job in our lineup.”
Seniors Reagan Hune and Mackenzie Wood each scored six points, with Hune also pulling six rebounds.
“They’re great,” said Trimpe. “And they’re really girls who buy into what we’ve done. They’ve been with us for the last four years and they know what practice looks like. They know how to lead these girls and they’ve really bought into the system that we want to run and we really appreciate that experience that they bring because the rest of our lineup is relatively young and inexperienced.”
Carmel’s next game is Thursday at Heritage Christian, then the Greyhounds play next Saturday at 3A No. 1 Northwestern.
“It doesn’t get any easier, but we love the schedule that we play, that we push ourselves to get better every week,” said Trimpe. “Now we just got to focus on the next one.”
Carmel senior Reagan Hune scored six points and pulled six rebounds for the Greyhounds in their season opener against Homestead on Saturday. (Richie Hall)
Freshman Kate Clarke scored 15 points for Carmel. (Richie Hall)