Hamilton Heights kept its record perfect in Hoosier Conference East Division play by beating Western 42-29 Tuesday in a home game.
While it wasn’t easy, the Class 3A No. 7 Huskies outscored the Panthers in each quarter. Heights led 9-7 after the first quarter, then went up 19-14 at halftime. Mia Shields scored five points in the second period, including a 3-pointer. Kaylee Rhoton had two 3s in the first half.
The Huskies continued to slowly separate themselves during the second half, leading 31-22 after three quarters, then outscored Western 11-7 in the fourth. MyKayla Moran helped out in the final quarter by scoring six points. Rhoton made two more 3s; she wound up with one triple in each quarter for a total of four 3-pointers during the game.
Rhoton led the scoring with 12 points, while Moran had 11 points. Shields totaled nine points; Shields, Camryn Runner and Hadleigh Cherry each hit one 3-pointer for the Huskies.
“Gutsy performance tonight,” said Heights coach Keegan Cherry. “Western plays a unique style by switching defenses often and they try to make games ugly and be there in the end. This was a good game for us. We can’t simulate that physicality in practice. And the remaining games will be similar. Not pretty, but a conference win is always nice. Kaylee Rhoton was a key factor in this one. Her ability to stretch the floor was huge. And her threes were timely tonight. We’ve been waiting on teams to play this style against us. And now as a staff we get to work on our counters. We know Saturday against Tipton is going to be much the same.”
The Huskies are 3-0 in division play and 14-4 overall. Heights will finish up the division Saturday when it hosts the 2A No. 3 Blue Devils at 1:30 p.m. Tipton is 16-1 and was the 2A state runner-up last season.
HAMILTON HEIGHTS 42, WESTERN 29
Heights FG FT TP PF
Ella Hickok 1 0-0 2 2
Mia Shields 4 0-2 9 2
Camryn Runner 2 0-0 5 3
Hadleigh Cherry 1 0-0 3 2
MyKayla Moran 3 5-6 11 3
Kaylee Rhoton 4 0-1 12 0
Kennedy Cherry 0 0-0 0 0
Totals 15 5-9 42 12
Score by Quarters
Western 7 7 8 7 – 29
Heights 9 10 12 11 – 42
Heights 3-pointers (7) Rhoton 4, Shields 1, Runner 1, H. Cherry 1.