By CRAIG ADKINS
MARION – It was obvious from the opening tip that the Noblesville Millers were on a mission. Their feet were on the gas pedal and they didn’t let off until the benches were emptied in the final minutes during their regional semifinal rout of Homestead, 61-40.
Homestead was taken by surprise, but not completely. They knew exactly what Noblesville was capable of from an earlier meeting this season on Nov. 20, when the Millers paid the Spartans a visit, giving them a 69-48 loss at home.
Noblesville jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first couple of minutes and just made it look easy. The scoring spree started with junior UConn commit Ashlynn Shade swishing a three from the left corner and then a possession later, sophomore guard Reagan Wilson sank a trey of her own.
A steal by freshman Meredith Tippner led to a pair of free throws and the Millers led 8-0. The lead grew to 12-0 with a Wilson jumper and then the super soph stole the ball. Tippner drained another two from the charity stripe to put them up 14-0 with just two minutes of clock gone, forcing Homestead to burn their first timeout.
“Obviously, Ashlynn’s one of the best players in the country and she’s going to get hers,” said Noblesville head coach Donna Buckley on standout Ashlynn Shade.
“Our other kids, Reagan hit big shots and Tipp just was awesome, creating havoc and then her defensive pressure led to Shoe getting opportunities. And Shoe has no fear, nothing rattles her cage and when you’ve got those kids coming out and doing things, it’s a lot of fun,” Buckley continued on her team.
The Millers kept pouring it on and crashing the boards. Wilson canned another three to push it to 17-4. Shade would score four in a row, followed by junior forward Dani Mendez getting the dish from Kaitlyn Shoemaker, making the basket and getting fouled for the the old-fashioned three-point play. This stretch extended the lead to 24-9 after one.
Noblesville would outscore the Spartans 13-11 in the second. The momentum stayed heavily with the Millers in the closing seconds of the half when Mendez took a pass from Shade and layed it in to give Noblesville a 37-20 lead at the half.
Wilson continued her offensive prowess in the second half, nailing three from downtown, pushing the Spartans further away. Her third three of the quarter put the advantage at 54-29 and there was no stopping the Millers.
It was a frustrating situation for senior UConn commit Ayanna Patterson of Homestead. She was held 11 points below her 26.3 average, ending her final high school game with 15 points.
“We knew we had to rebound. If you give Patterson two of three chances, she’s going to score or somebody’s going to get a foul, so we definitely want to make sure we block out,” said Buckley on her team’s ability to keep all-state candidate Patterson in-check. The Millers won the rebounding battle, 36-24, limiting Patterson to just five, seven boards below her 12 per game average.
Just into the fourth quarter with a lot of game clock left, Patterson committed her fifth foul when Dani Mendez drew a charge, giving Patterson an early chair with 6:55 remaining.
“Our kids were not going to let that one get away from us. We had a great start and there was no letdown. We talked about the Fishers game having a little bit of a letdown, not this time,” Donna Buckley on her team’s pursuit of the semifinal win.
Along with Patterson’s 15, Alison Stephens joined her in double-figures with 12.
Noblesville was led by Wilson’s game-high 18, including 4-of-9 from three-point range. Kaitlyn Shoemaker tallied 15, sinking all three of her shots from downtown. Shade also joined in double-digits with 13 and grabbed 13 rebounds for a double-double and dished out five assists.
NOBLESVILLE 61, HOMESTEAD 40
Noblesville FG FT TP PF
Kaitlyn Shoemaker 4-6 4-4 15 1
Ashlynn Shade 5-17 2-2 13 3
Reagan Wilson 6-13 2-2 18 2
Meredith Tippner 1-5 5-7 7 3
Brooklyn Smitherman 0-0 0-0 0 1
Dani Mendez 2-4 2-3 6 3
Ava Shoemaker 1-6 0-0 2 2
Brooklyn Ely 0-2 0-0 0 1
Aubrey Novinger 0-0 0-0 0 0
Kate Rollins 0-0 0-0 0 0
Carly Motz 0-0 0-0 0 0
Bri Gray 0-0 0-0 0 0
Totals 19-53 15-18 61 16
Score by Quarters
Noblesville 24 13 20 4 – 61
Homestead 9 11 11 9 – 40
Noblesville 3-point shooting (8-21) Wilson 4-9, K. Shoemaker 3-3, Shade 1-4, Ely 0-2, A. Shoemaker 0-2, Tippner 0-1.
Noblesville rebounds (39) Shade 14, Mendez 8, Tippner 6, K. Shoemaker 5, Wilson 5, A. Shoemaker 1.