By RICHIE HALL
NOBLESVILLE – When Noblesville needed a big basket, Reagan Wilson delivered. Twice.
The Millers were in a tough semi-final battle with Carmel at Class 4A Sectional 8 at Westfield Friday night, as the Greyhounds were within 27-25 with around three minutes to go in the third quarter. But back-to-back 3-pointers by Reagan Wilson launched a 19-0 run, and Noblesville was soon in the championship game, beating Carmel 57-48.
The Millers notched their 20th win of the season, improving to 20-4, and will play Fishers tonight in the final. Carmel finished its season 15-8.
While Noblesville never trailed in the game, the ‘Hounds kept it close for the first half and the majority of the third quarter. The Millers led 10-3 after Ashlynn Shade made a rare four-point play – she was fouled while draining a 3-pointer, then made the subsequent foul shot.
Carmel cut the lead to 10-8 after Mackenzie Thomas hit a layin and Kate Clarke threw in a triple. Kaitlyn Shoemaker added five points for Noblesville (a 3 and a layin) to get them ahead 15-10 by the end of the first quarter.
The ‘Hounds held the Millers to four points in the second period, which kept Carmel within 19-18 at halftime. Emily Roper scored four points for the ‘Hounds, while Dani Mendez’s layin and two free throws from Shade accounted for Noblesville’s scoring.
The Millers started the second half with an 8-2 run, including four points from Shade, to increase their lead to 27-20. But the University of Michigan-bound Clarke quickly cut that advantage to 27-25 with a 3 and a basket off a steal.
Someone needed to step up for Noblesville, and it was Wilson. She nailed her back-to-back triples, and the run was on.
“I think we were all excited to come out and get a win,” said Wilson. “I think in the first half, we were disappointed in how we played, so just being able to pick it up in the second half is what got us going.”
“Her energy and intensity is phenomenal,” said Buckley. “It changes everything for us.”
Shade pushed the lead up to double digits with a layin, Wilson added two free throws, Shoemaker threw in her own 3, and Wilson’s jumper ended the quarter. Suddenly, the Millers led 42-25.
“We just talked about at halftime, trusting each other and executing our offense, and our kids did that,” said Millers coach Donna Buckley.
The coach also said her defense was “pretty awesome” in the half.
“We went to a 3-2,” said Buckley. “We’ve played a lot of our 1-3-1 this year, but we’ve also put in that 3-2.”
Buckley freely admitted that she was using the same 3-2 that Carmel coach Erin Trimpe used, saying she “loved their 3-2. We tweaked it to fit our personnel. But I really like their 3-2,” she said.
“I thought we’d run into them in the sectional, and the first time we played them, we struggled against their 3-2, so we wanted to emulate that and it actually turned out something that we’ve utilized quite a bit,” said Buckley.
“We had watched them do it, so we were prepared,” said Trimpe. The coach said her team was doing things it worked on in practice, saying “we really stretched them out, got some good looks, hit some good shots, got some good cuts down the lane, and really cut into our scoring opportunities, which we liked. As we went away from that, turnovers and things just stopped going our way.”
Another Wilson 3-pointer and an Ava Shoemaker free throw gave Noblesville its biggest lead of the game at 46-25. Clarke ended the run with a jumper, but the Millers were able to stay comfortably ahead for the remainder of the game, although the Greyhounds did make a 7-0 run late in the fourth.
“They really believed that they were going to fight back,” said Trimpe, who also said her team gave everything it had in order to do that. “It just fell a little bit short,” she said.
Shade finished the game with 20 points, six assists, four rebounds and four steals. Wilson totaled three 3-pointers for 13 points, while Meredith Tippner had four rebounds and four steals.
Clarke made four triples on her way to 18 points, with Roper scoring 10 and collecting 10 rebounds for a double-double. Clarke had seven rebounds.
NOBLESVILLE 57, CARMEL 48
Carmel FG FT TP PF
Laura Valiente 1-1 0-0 3 2
Kate Clarke 6-20 2-2 18 0
Hannah Lach 1-3 0-0 3 3
Mackenzie Thomas 4-6 0-1 8 4
Emily Roper 5-10 0-2 10 4
Mackenzie Woods 0-3 0-0 0 2
Jamie Elliott 1-1 0-0 2 1
Ava Carter 0-0 0-0 0 0
Maya Berglund 1-1 0-0 2 1
Taryn Fisher 0-0 0-0 0 0
Sophie Shepherd 1-1 0-0 2 0
Bethany Ducat 0-0 0-0 0 0
Totals 20-46 2-5 48 17
Carmel 3-point shooting (6-13) Clarke 4-10, Lach 1-2, Valiente 1-1.
Carmel rebounds (26) Roper 10, Clarke 7, Ducat 3, Lach 3, Berglund 1, Shepherd 1, Thomas 1.
Noblesville FG FT TP PF
Kaitlyn Shoemaker 3-5 1-3 9 0
Ashlynn Shade 7-15 5-5 20 2
Reagan Wilson 5-11 0-2 13 0
Meredith Tippner 1-2 2-4 4 2
Brooklyn Smitherman 1-1 0-0 2 0
Ava Shoemaker 0-2 5-6 5 1
Dani Mendez 2-4 0-0 4 4
Brooklyn Ely 0-1 0-0 0 0
Totals 19-41 13-20 57 9
Noblesville 3-point shooting (6-22) Wilson 3-9, K. Shoemaker 2-4, Shade 1-5, A. Shoemaker 0-2, Ely 0-1, Tippner 0-1.
Noblesville rebounds (22) Shade 4, Tippner 4, Mendez 3, K. Shoemaker 2, A. Shoemaker 2, Wilson 2, team 5.
Score by Quarters
Carmel 10 8 7 23 – 48
Noblesville 15 4 23 15 – 57