By RICHIE HALL
ZIONSVILLE – The theme for tonight’s Class 4A Sectional 8 girls basketball sectional championship game should be “Throwback Night.”
That’s because two old rivals will play each other for the title game. Noblesville and Carmel will face off at 7:30 p.m. at Zionsville tonight for the Sectional 8 crown, the first time the Millers and the Greyhounds have played for a title since Feb. 9, 2008.
Noblesville advanced to the final with a 72-62 win over the host Eagles in the first Friday semi-final game. In the nightcap, the Greyhounds won an epic over Fishers 59-57 on a basket with five seconds left in the game.
RILEY TAKES OVER
Carmel found itself trailing the Tigers 45-41 early in the fourth quarter, so the Greyhounds needed someone to step up if they were to come back and reach the sectional final.
Enter Riley Pennington. It was her time on Friday, and she rose to the occasion brilliantly. The senior scored 11 points during a two-minute span in the fourth quarter to get her team out of the hole, and Carmel was able to hold off Fishers in the final minutes.
Pennington converted an and-1 with 7:04 left in the fourth to get the ‘Hounds within one, then made two more foul shots seconds later, giving her team a 46-45 lead. But she wasn’t done: Back-to-back layins put Carmel ahead 50-45.
“I think I was playing pretty well,” said Pennington. “I think my teammates did a really good job of finding me inside.”
“She does so many things for us and it’s not always scoring,” said Carmel coach Erin Trimpe. “She’s always rebounding. She’s setting screens, she’s taking charges. She’s vocal. She’s such a good leader and such a great kid. I’m so happy to see that come together in her performance tonight because she really deserves that.”
The Tigers’ Audra Emmerson stopped the run with a 3-pointer, but Pennington made another layin to keep the ‘Hounds in front 52-48. Carmel would not trail again, but Fishers continued to fight back, creating a pattern in the final two minutes: The Tigers would tie, the Greyhounds would lead, the Tigers would tie, the Greyhounds would lead.
Katie Burton made two free throws to even the game at 52-52 with 2:18 left. Pennington made a layin, which Hailey Smith answered with two foul shots. Pennington put in another free throw with 1:29 remaining, Smith made a foul shot with 1:07 left to tie things up at 55-55.
Mackenzie Thomas stepped up by making a basket with under a minute to go. After a timeout, Burton made a layin, tying the game once again. Now Carmel took a timeout with 12.1 seconds left. The ‘Hounds found a wide-open Emily Roper, who easily laid the ball in. Fishers took one more timeout with 4.6 seconds left to set up a play, but its final shot didn’t go.
“They’re such a good team, they’re so well-coached. Their kids play so hard and with so much heart. They’re a team that we knew wasn’t going to quit because they were down nine at halftime,” Trimpe said of Fishers.
Carmel led for most of the first half. The only time the Greyhounds trailed was early in the first quarter, when Katie Howard hit her second 3-pointer of the game to put Fishers up 6-5.
Erin Baker gave Carmel the lead with an and-1, then Pennington made a putback. Another three-point play by Baker put the ‘Hounds up 15-8, but Smith answered that her own and-1, keeping the Tigers within 15-11 at the end of the quarter.
Carmel started the second period with a 10-3 run, including eight points from Kate Clarke (two 3s and two free throws). That gave the Greyhounds their biggest lead of the game at 25-14. Four points from Burton cut that advantage to 27-23, but a Thomas basket and another Clarke triple pushed Carmel up 32-23 at halftime.
Fishers quickly made up that lead to start the third quarter, thanks to the Smith twins, who took turns hitting 3-pointers. Hailey made the first one, followed by a triple by Olivia, then Hailey drained another 3. Just like that, the game was tied at 32-32, and Hailey Smith’s basket off a steal put the Tigers in front 34-32.
The two teams traded the lead in the third quarter. Hannah Lach nailed a 3 to put Carmel up 41-40, but Emmerson hit a triple to finish the period and put Fishers up 43-41. Olivia Smith started the fourth with a layin, and the Tigers led 45-41, holding their largest lead of the game before the Greyhounds began their comeback.
Pennington finished the game with 22 points for Carmel, which is now 15-6 for the season. Clarke drained three 3s on her to way to 13 points. Roper collected 10 rebounds while Lach had seven rebounds and six assists.
Burton, who is headed to St. John’s University in the fall to play Division I basketball in the Big East, finished her stellar career as a Tigers player with 17 points and seven rebounds. Hailey Smith scored 14 points and Olivia Smith added 11 points; both collected five rebounds. Emmerson scored nine points on three 3-pointers.
Fishers finished the season with a 17-5 record.
HIGH SCORING
Both the Millers and Zionsville are averaging 62 points per game this season, so a high-scoring game should have been expected. The Eagles got out in front first, leading 19-14 after the first quarter. Katey Richason, one of two seniors on a very young Zionsville team, scored 10 points in that opening period.
Noblesville came back in the second quarter, with Reagan Wilson scoring five straight points – a 3-pointer and two free throws – to move the Millers ahead 32-30 with 2:45 left in the period. A triple by Eagles freshman Emma Haan gave Zionsville a 35-34 advantage, but Wilson, also a freshman, nailed a 3 to put Noblesville in front 37-35 at halftime.
The Eagles took the lead back in the third quarter, going up 44-40 with 3:44 left. The Millers wouldn’t allow them another point in the period, finishing it up with an 8-0 run. Ashlynn Shade tied the game with a 3, Mallory Miller gave Noblesville the lead with a layin, and Wilson drained two more free throws. The Millers went into the fourth quarter with a 48-44 lead that they would not relinquish.
“I thought we wore them down,” said Noblesville coach Donna Buckley. “They’re big and strong. They were dominating us in the paint, so we wanted to use our speed and try and get that game more of a track meet than a game that’s going to be played in the paint.”
Haan hit two free throws to open the fourth, which Dani Mendez promptly answered with a layin.
“She phenomenal for us,” said Buckley. “Her stats, you’re not going to look at them and be like, ‘Wow,’ but she was awesome tonight.”
That was the beginning of a 9-0 run: Miller made two free throws, Shade converted a three-point play and Jayla Jones hit a jump shot to give Noblesville a double-digit lead for the first time at 57-46.
“It was a little of everyone,” said Buckley.
Zionsville made one last push, cutting the Millers’ advantage to 59-53. But Shade took care of that, draining a 3, then quickly scoring off a steal. Noblesville stayed in firm control after that; Wilson helped out by going 6-of-6 from the line during the game’s final two minutes.
Wilson scored 24 points, and was an outstanding 14-of-15 from the free-throw line. She also made five steals for the Millers, who are now 20-4 for the season.
“I love her energy,” said Buckley. “She gives us just a really dynamic guard play with her and Ashlynn and Mallory and all those kids.”
Shade added 23 points, including four 3s, and earned a double-double with 11 rebounds, plus making six steals. Kaitlyn Shoemaker added eight points.
NOBLESVILLE 72, ZIONSVILLE 62
Noblesville FG FT TP PF
Ashlynn Shade 7-17 5-8 23 4
Reagan Wilson 4-10 14-15 24 3
Mallory Miller 1-4 2-2 4 3
Brooklyn Smitherman 1-1 0-0 2 0
Emily Wood 2-6 0-0 4 1
Kaitlyn Shoemaker 3-7 0-1 8 3
Brooklyn Ely 0-1 0-0 0 0
Dani Mendez 2-2 0-0 4 5
Jayla Jones 1-3 1-2 3 0
Totals 21-51 22-28 72 19
Score by Quarters
Zionsville 19 16 9 18 – 62
Noblesville 14 23 11 24 – 72
Noblesville 3-point shooting (8-21) Shade 4-9, Shoemaker 2-4, Wilson 2-3, Jones 0-2, Miller 0-2, Ely 0-1.
Noblesville rebounds (32) Shade 11, Wilson 4, Mendez 4, Miller 3, Smitherman 3, Shoemaker 2, Jones 2, team 3.
CARMEL 59, FISHERS 57
Carmel FG FT TP PF
Erin Baker 3-5 2-2 8 0
Riley Pennington 9-12 4-5 22 5
Kate Clarke 4-12 2-2 13 3
Hannah Lach 2-8 0-0 5 3
Emily Roper 3-8 0-0 7 1
Mackenzie Thomas 2-3 0-0 4 4
Laura Valiente 0-0 0-0 0 2
Totals 23-48 8-9 59 18
Carmel 3-point shooting (5-14) Clarke 3-6, Lach 1-4, Roper 1-4.
Carmel rebounds (24) Roper 10, Lach 7, Pennington 4, Baker 1, Clarke 1, Thomas 1.
Fishers FG FT TP PF
Audra Emmerson 3-4 0-0 9 0
Katie Howard 2-4 0-0 6 1
Hailey Smith 3-8 6-7 14 4
Olivia Smith 3-10 4-6 11 2
Katie Burton 5-15 7-8 17 4
Joirdyn Smith 0-5 0-0 0 1
Kaiya Walker 0-0 0-0 0 1
Jordan Imes 0-0 0-0 0 2
Totals 16-46 17-21 57 15
Fishers 3-point shooting (8-20) Emmerson 3-4, H. Smith 2-4, Howard 2-3, O. Smith 1-2, J. Smith 0-4, Burton 0-3.
Fishers rebounds (20) Burton 7, H. Smith 5, O. Smith 5, Emmerson 1, Howard 1, Walker 1.
Score by Quarters
Carmel 15 17 9 18 – 59
Fishers 11 12 20 14 – 57