By RICHIE HALL
ARCADIA – Coach Keegan Cherry was saying all week: His Hamilton Heights team was the underdog in the its Class 3A Sectional 24 semi-final game with Jay County.
As it turned out, the Huskies played like the big dogs.
Heights put on an incredible shooting display in the first half, then held its ground in the second half to come away with a 58-47 win over the Patriots. The game was played at the Huskies’ gym in front of a packed house, and so Heights will host Yorktown in the championship game at 7:30 p.m. tonight.
Jay County is ranked No. 2 in Class 3A, and came barreling into the sectional with a 23-1 record. The Patriots’ only loss before Friday was also to the Huskies, back on Nov. 12, with Heights winning 45-44 in overtime.
Jay County’s Molly Muhlenkamp scored the first basket of the game, but that would be the only lead for the Patriots. Ella Hickok put the Huskies in front with a 3-pointers, then Camryn Runner nailed a 3. Renna Schwieterman hit two free throws, which Heights answered with triples by Hickok and Kaylee Rhoton. The Huskies now led 12-4.
But Heights was just beginning. The Huskies went on to make nine 3-pointers in the first half – in fact, every single one of their first-half baskets was a triple. A Runner 3 finished the first quarter to give Heights a 15-4 lead. Then in the second quarter, Rhoton, Hickok and Runner threw in triples, one after the other, to give the Huskies a 24-6 lead, which would be their largest lead of the contest.
Hickok
“They’re a good team and they’re well-coached,” said Cherry. “But I’ve got fighters. My locker room is full of them. They’re all fighters. We got special kids.”
Another Hickok 3 put Heights up 27-10 late in the second quarter. Jay County’s Gabi Bilbrey cut that to 27-13 with a three-point play with 2:12 left in the period, and that was the halftime score. The Patriots made it a run to begin the second half, scoring six points to open the third quarter and cutting the Huskies’ lead to 27-19.
Enter Katie Brown. The sophomore came off the bench and nailed a 3-pointer, the 10th of the game for Heights, then scored off a steal. With those five quick points, the Huskies were back up 32-19.
“I’m normally a bench player,” said Brown. “I go in when it’s needed, and tonight was really needed. Me being there really helped the team gain confidence.”
“I told the coaches before the game, even last night in practice, I said ‘I’ve been doing this for a long time,’” said Cherry. “And when it comes to the tournament, there’s always an X factor and there’s always somebody that steps up. There’s always somebody that makes plays. And tonight it was Katie Brown. We bring her off the bench, she can shoot it really well. And when she gets going, she stretches the floor for us and relieves some pressure off of Cam and Ella, which is huge for us.”
Brown
From that point forward, Heights maintained kept its lead between nine and 15 points for the remainder of the game. The Huskies led 37-25 after three quarters, then Brown opened the fourth period with another 3, pushing Heights’ advantage up to 40-25.
Jay County continued to fight in the fourth quarter, but the Huskies were able to get a basket or a free throw to keep their lead comfortable. Heights also got a big defensive play from Kassidy Schakel, as she took a charge with 2:15 left in the game, turning a Patriots basket into an offensive foul. The Huskies didn’t shoot any free throws in the first three quarters, but made up for it in the fourth, going 15 of 21 from the line.
Hickok finished the game with 18 points, while Runner and Brown both scored 15 points. As a team, Heights threw in 13 3-pointers; four Huskies players had multiple triples. Hickok made five 3s, Brown and Runner both had three, and Rhoton made two.
Heights improved to 18-5 with the victory.
HAMILTON HEIGHTS 58, JAY COUNTY 47
Heights FG FT TP PF
Ella Hickok 5 3-4 18 4
Camryn Runner 3 6-8 15 3
Kaylee Rhoton 2 1-2 7 2
Kassidy Schakel 0 0-0 0 3
Hadleigh Cherry 1 1-2 3 4
Katie Brown 4 4-5 15 1
Totals 15 15-21 58 17
Score by Quarters
Jay County 4 9 12 22 – 47
Heights 15 12 10 21 – 58
Heights 3-pointers (13) Hickok 5, Brown 3, Runner 3, Rhoton 2.