By CRAIG ADKINS
On Tuesday night at The Mill, Donna Buckley and her Millers continued their girls basketball series with Arsenal Tech from Indianapolis that has dated back to her second season at Noblesville. Buckley has raised her record versus Tech to 9-0 with the Noblesville girls basketball team’s 75-18 win over the Titans.
It was early and often that Noblesville made it look too easy against the Tech Titans. Right away, junior guard Mallory Johnson knocked down a three from the left wing for a 3-0 lead on the first offensive possession for the Millers and they were off to the races, literally, from that point forward.
Two straight buckets from junior guard Maddie Knight and it was 7-0, forcing Tech head coach Candace Jones to burn her first timeout and not even two minutes had run off of the first quarter clock.
The Millers would keep pouring it on with another 10-0 run following Tech’s timeout. Taking a couple more minutes off the clock, Noblesville eased itself out to a 17-0 lead with 3:43 left in the first, thanks to Johnson’s free throw line jumper. Tech called another timeout to try and regroup the Titans, but it was too late as Buckley’s bunch would have a 22-2 advantage through one quarter.
“We have to play and do things with an intensity and a purpose. That was something that every single kid that played, we emphasized that was what was expected of them and I felt they did a pretty good job of that tonight,” Noblesville head coach Donna Buckley on her team’s performance tonight.
The depth and quickness of the Millers just became way too much for Arsenal Tech to handle. It affected the Titans on both ends of the floor, preventing them to stop Noblesville’s offense from scoring and more importantly, they weren’t able to create opportunities of their own to score, which only helped Noblesville increase its lead throughout the game.
“We played 13 kids tonight and I felt all 13 kids got quite a few minutes and did a nice job for us and it makes a difference when you can play that many kids,” Buckley said on her team’s depth and the opportunities it gave her team tonight.
Noblesville took a 35-6 lead into the halftime locker room, but they weren’t going to let up on their consistent play, but also weren’t going to make it appear they were running up the score by any means either.
Emily Kiser made it look easier than she does on most nights on the court. The 6’3 senior forward and Michigan recruit led all scorers with 17 points and 17 rebounds on the night for her third double-double in three games on this young season.
“I would have never come close to guessing her stats tonight,” Buckley said on her star four-year varsity player in Kiser.
“She’s just a kid that has really dominated in every game this year. The nice thing is she doesn’t have to carry the load like she has in the past, which makes her life a lot easier to not have double and triple teams, that the other kids have to be respected,” Buckley said on Kiser’s dominating presence in all three games this season so far.
Noblesville exploded in the third quarter for 24 points, thanks to a great team effort of converting 9-of-10 free throws and seven field goals made.
The Millers saw the bench on the floor for a majority of the fourth and won in convincing fashion with a 75-18 win over Arsenal Tech.
Along with Kiser’s 17 and 17, fellow senior Olivia Morales chipped in throughout the night with 12 points off the bench, while Maddie Knight, junior Madison Whetro and sophomore Sarah Etchison all added eight for the victorious Millers.
Arsenal Tech dropped to 1-1 on the season and will host Lafayette Jeff on Friday night.
Noblesville won its second game in a row and will hit the road to play at Hamilton Heights on Friday night before coming back home to host Greenfield-Central on Saturday night.
Noblesville’s Olivia Morales (5) scored 12 points for the Millers in their 75-18 win over Arsenal Tech Tuesday at The Mill. Also pictured is Sarah Etchison (32), who scored eight points. (Kent Graham)