Reagan Wilson joins 1,000-point club
By CRAIG ADKINS
For The Reporter
NOBLESVILLE – From the tipoff of Friday’s Noblesville-Brownsburg girls basketball game at The Mill, the intensity was high and the crowd fed into it, ramping up the energy throughout all four quarters.
Late in the fourth, Noblesville grabbed momentum with suffocating defensive pressure. A historic three-pointer from senior Reagan Wilson proved to be the demise for Brownsburg in a 59-54 hard fought Miller victory.
Defensively, the main objective was to try to limit junior center Avery Gordon from getting to her 29 points per contest average. She scored 23.
“We did everything we could to stop her. She’s just so darned good,” Noblesville coach Donna Buckley said. “She keeps the ball high and finishes really well. She’ll be playing in the Big Ten and is just really good.”
“In the fourth quarter, it was the only chance we had against her. We played a box-and-one against her. I’ve never played a box-and-one on a post player,” Buckley said, laughing.
Gordon scored six in the first to guide Brownsburg to a 16-12 lead after one. She also got help from Elle McCulloch with four, but the Millers’ defensive prowess kept at the Bulldogs.
The Millers took the second period 15-10 to go into the locker room with a 27-26 advantage. Ava Shoemaker scored eight of her points in the second, including a pair of threes, one from each wing. A driving layup by Ava broke a 23-23 tie to make it 25-23.
McCulloch knocked down a left corner three for a 26-25 Brownsburg score, but two free throws from Meredith Tippner gave the Millers a 27-26 one-point edge after two.
It would be a second half for the ages. Wilson swished two three-pointers in consecutive possessions to start the third, pushing the lead to 33-26.
“We came out in the third and started what we thought was going to be a run, but they ended that real fast. They were killing our 1-3-1 and we moved to our 3-2. Gordon was going off no matter what we did,” stated Buckley.
“We ended it with that box-and-one. Our kids are willing to do whatever. They love defense. I’ve been coaching twenty-something years, and never played a box-and-one on a post. We just put it in this week and our kids were willing to give it a whirl,” continued Buckley. “It was a weird gamble, but it paid off for us. Honestly, I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. I’m just proud of our kids for trusting and executing really well.”
“We knew that she’s a stud and she’s huge. Our only way to stop her was to have someone face guard her, bug her throughout the whole game,” said Wilson. “We watched a lot of film and teams and nobody had tried that box-and-one. Might as well throw that out there and it worked pretty well.”
The Bulldogs went on a run themselves to tie it at 33-33. Gordon converted an and-one and a layup for five straight. Then it was Kenzie Touloukian with a driving layup to knot it up.
C.C. Quigley hit a left baseline jumper to put the Millers up 35-33, but it would be tied 35-35 with a Macy Twomey bucket.
Brownsburg ended the third on a 9-7 run to take a 44-42 lead into the fourth.
The Bulldogs were only able to increase their lead to four twice in the final quarter. The score would be tied at 48, 50 and 52.
The final eight minutes belonged to Wilson and the Millers. It was defensive pressure and rebounding that helped catapult the momentum the Millers’ way.
“Sometimes your offense isn’t there, so you have to try and create out of your defense and our kids did a great job,” said Buckley. “Tipp just rebounded the heck out of the basketball. I thought she was really good tonight, made huge plays for us, especially in that fourth quarter.”
“We all love defense. We’re hard-nosed, gritty players who love defense,” stated Wilson. “We know our defense makes offense. Live ball turnovers are going to get us layups. As a team, we love defense.”
Anytime the Bulldogs scored, Noblesville had an answer right back. Wilson tied it at 48. Kate Rollins tied it at 50-50 with a baseline jump shot.
Gordon tied it again at 52-52. Twomey drove for a layup to make it 54-52. At that point, the cork blew off the pressure cooker.
Wilson sank her sixth from downtown for the turning point with 2:06 left. She drained a long three for a 55-54 lead, giving her exactly 1,000 points for her career.
“Reagan, she’s all kinds of special. I’m so excited for her to get to 1,000 and then to do that here at home,” Buckley said. “A huge play. Hits that three, puts us ahead for good, just a monster play.”
Free throws in the final minute iced the game and win for Noblesville. Wilson led all with a game-high 27 for 1,000 exactly. Tippner and Shoemaker each had 12 points, while Tippner grabbed 13 boards.
Noblesville (3-1, 2-0 HCC) will head to No. 8 Homestead (3-0) tonight to finish the weekend.
NOBLESVILLE 59, BROWNSBURG 54
Noblesville FG FT TP PF
Ava Shoemaker 3-10 4-4 12 2
Reagan Wilson 10-22 1-2 27 4
Meredith Tippner 2-8 8-10 12 3
Kate Rollins 1-4 0-0 2 1
C.C. Quigley 2-4 2-3 6 2
Brookelyn Grayson 0-0 0-0 0 1
Totals 18-48 15-19 59 13
Score by Quarters
Brownsburg 16 10 18 10 – 54
Noblesville 12 15 15 17 – 59
Noblesville 3-point shooting (8-18) Wilson 6-11, Shoemaker 2-5, Rollins 0-2.
Noblesville rebounds (26) Tippner 13, Shoemaker 4, Wilson 3, Grayson 2, Quigley 2, team 2.