By RICHIE HALL
ARCADIA – Hamilton Heights pulled its record to the .500 mark on Tuesday after beating Guerin Catholic 47-27 in a game at the Huskies’ gymnasium.
Heights got off to a rough start, as the Golden Eagles led early. But the Huskies turned up their defense and sailed to a convincing win that improved their record to 2-2 for the season.
Guerin skipped off to 9-1 lead midway through the first quarter. Carly Wilson capped the run with a 3-pointer. Heights began to get going after that, with Mykayla Moran making a putback for the Huskies’ first basket of the game. Abby Christiansen had made a free throw earlier.
Wilson’s layin put GC up 11-5 before Heights cut the lead to 11-10. Lauryn Wiley and Jillian Osswald each made baskets. Still, Guerin led 13-10 after the end of the quarter, with Sarah Holba’s two free throws getting her team up by three.
But the Huskies took over from there, allowing the Golden Eagles no points in the second period. Bayleigh Runner tied the game with a 3-pointer, then Payton Dissett’s jumper put Heights up 15-13, and the Huskies stayed in the lead from there. Heights held a 23-13 advantage at halftime, with Runner also making 6 of 6 free throws in the second period.
“That’s a little bit disappointing, having a start like that, but it was somewhat expected,” said Heights coach Keegan Cherry, who admitted that his team had a bit of a letdown after its big win over Noblesville on Friday. But once the Huskies settled in, things started going their way and Cherry was proud of his team’s effort.
“To hold them scoreless in the second quarter there is impressive,” said Cherry. “And then five and nine there, nine in the fourth quarter.”
In the third quarter, Christiansen took over, scoring six points in the early stages. Then Moran got going, with two baskets in the later part of the period. Heights led 37-18 at the end of three.
Osswald got her turn for the Huskies in the fourth quarter, scoring six points. Heights led 47-20 with 1:14 left before Guerin Catholic scored the last seven points of the game. MT Ford scored five of those points.
“We started out well and then they turned up the defense a little bit,” said GC coach Jeff Buckner. “Shots weren’t falling for us like they were in the first quarter and they were able to hit some shots and start to increase that lead a little bit. And then we started to try to get it all back really quickly, which doesn’t always work.”
Runner led all scorers with 14 points and all rebounders with six. Osswald added 10 points and made five steals, while Moran scored eight and pulled five rebounds.
“The thing that we preach is, we play to a standard,” said Cherry. “We don’t ever want to get caught up playing the scoreboard. Luckily we had Bayleigh Runner again tonight and she was really good. I’m super proud of her effort.”
Nicole Cunningham scored seven points to lead the Golden Eagles, while Claire Sawyer and Holba each had four rebounds.
Heights will play two games at the Fort Wayne Snider Classic on Saturday, taking on both Snider and Northrop. Guerin Catholic, now 2-3, plays at Heritage Christian on Saturday in a Circle City Conference game.
Heights 47, Guerin Catholic 27
Guerin Catholic FG FT TP PF
Claire Sawyer 0-1 0-2 0 2
Carly Wilson 2-5 0-0 5 3
Hanna Bills 1-1 2-2 4 3
Nicole Cunningham 2-8 3-4 7 1
Katie Koger 0-4 2-2 2 2
Sarah Holba 0-4 3-4 3 2
MT Ford 1-2 3-4 5 1
Kathryn Loso 0-2 0-0 0 0
Lauren Wagoner 0-1 1-2 1 1
Allison Sponhauer 0-0 0-0 0 0
Totals 6-28 14-20 27 15
Guerin Catholic 3-point shooting (1-11) Wilson 1-2, Cunningham 0-3, Koger 0-1, Sawyer 0-1, Holba 0-1, Loso 0-1, Wagoner 0-1, Ford 0-1.
Guerin Catholic rebounds (18) Sawyer 4, Holba 4, Koger 3, Bills 2, Cunningham 2, Wilson 2, Wagoner 1.
Heights FG FT TP PF
Payton Dissett 2-6 0-0 4 1
Jillian Osswald 3-12 4-5 10 3
Bayleigh Runner 2-4 9-10 14 3
Lauryn Wiley 1-6 0-5 2 0
Abby Christiansen 1-1 5-6 7 3
Mykayla Moran 4-6 0-1 8 2
Hailey Champion 1-2 0-0 2 1
Chloee Henderson 0-0 0-0 0 1
Sydney Runyan 0-0 0-0 0 1
Totals 14-37 18-27 47 15
Heights 3-point shooting (1-12) Runner 1-3, Osswald 0-5, Dissett 0-2, Wiley 0-2.
Heights rebounds (28) Runner 6, Moran 5, Osswald 4, Dissett 4, Wiley 3, Christiansen 3, Champion 3.
Score by Quarters
Guerin Catholic 13 0 5 9 – 27
Heights 10 13 14 10 – 47
Guerin Catholic’s Claire Sawyer (right) tries to work her way towards the basket while being guarded by Hamilton Heights’ Lauryn Wiley (left) and Abby Christiansen (center) during the Huskies-Golden Eagles games Tuesday night at Heights. (Richie Hall)