No. 1 Royals run away with regional crown over No. 3 Homestead

By CRAIG ADKINS

For The Reporter

MARION – Saturday night, the top-ranked Hamilton Southeastern girls basketball team jumped out from the opening tip simply on a mission and there wouldn’t be anything that could stand in the Royals’ way.

A big first quarter that doubled up the Spartans helped undefeated Hamilton Southeastern to its first regional championship since 2019 with a convincing 65-48 victory.

Junior Kayla Stidham rose to the occasion. Senior Addison Van Hoesen grabbed an offensive rebound and dished it to Stidham for an open three. Stidham again laid it off the glass for two. She would put the Royals up 8-0, swishing a three from the left wing.

“The biggest thing we preached all week was the defensive end,” said Hamilton Southeastern head coach Brian Satterfield. “Rod does such a great job with his team and what they do from a set standpoint, how they can space you out and all of the different weapons that they have.”

Homestead’s weapon, junior Myah Epps scored their first points with 5:35 on the clock.

“We really emphasized on us being us,” said junior point guard Kennedy Holman. “The only team that can beat us is us. They were going to have their runs. We were going to have our runs. Overall, we just needed to stay together and play our game.”

Southeastern scored another quick six. Senior Maya Makalusky drained her first trey from the right. Kennedy Holman pulled down a rebound and drove coast-to-coast. She made the basket, got fouled and sank the free throw, bumping the lead to 14-3.

“I think it’s what we’ve installed on defense,” Makalusky. “It’s our overall game and who we are and I think that’s something we’re really priding ourselves in. We just have to do the little things and stay consistent.”

“We talked all week that we had to be locked in, all five of us glued together. I thought we came out and were tremendous from a defensive standpoint, being able to get to the shooters. That allowed us to execute a few things early on offensively. The first play we ran, it didn’t happen. But, we were able to get something and create. Kayla Stidham hits that three, then the second play worked and that gave us a little momentum there,” continued Satterfield.

HSE continued the rest of the first on a 12-8 run to close it out and lead 26-13. The final two baskets came from Holman when she ended the quarter with an and-1 with 6.3 seconds left.

Already with a pair of triples in the first, Makalusky began the second with a three from the right off an assist from Abby Brown. Maya caught the inbound pass from Holman for a score to make it 31-13.

Stidham got her fourth field goal on a backdoor pass from Holman. Makalusky got the crowd going with back-to-back threes to go up 39-19 and eventually went to halftime with a 40-23 lead.

Holman started the third off with an 18-foot jumper just beyond the free throw stripe. Gabby Helsom and Delaney Noll each made two free throws for the Spartans to cut it to 42-27. That was the point when Makalusky was whistled for her third foul, second in the quarter. She would sit out for a few minutes.

Holman took over for the Royals. She made a top of the key three, got a steal and scored on a fast break, and made a couple free throws for a 53-34 advantage heading to the fourth. Scoring nine in the period, Holman was able to put the team on her back briefly.

“Kennedy, in that situation, we’ve been in situations when she was in foul trouble. She took that challenge and she was gassed at the end of the third,” said Satterfield. “The thing that everybody sees from her standpoint, what she does that opens the floor.”

“She’s that type of player,” Satterfield said of Holman. “Maya is a leader, but Kennedy is also a leader for us. Between those two, they do so much, but all of the intangibles that both of those girls bring is something special.”

Homestead went on an 8-1 run to open the fourth, cutting it back to a dozen at 54-42, forcing a full timeout by Hamilton Southeastern with 3:15 left. That was the closest the Spartans got the rest of the way.

Over the final three minutes, Southeastern would put the icing on the cake, making 11-for-12 at the foul line to close out the regional championship.

Homestead only scored under 50 points three times all season and lost all three. They lost at Columbia City (51-47), in the Hall of Fame Classic to Lawrence Central (66-42) and this regional game to HSE (65-48).

The Spartans (24-3) end their season snapping a 13-game winning streak. Homestead was led by junior all-state candidate Myah Epps with 18 points, three rebounds and three assists. Gabby Helsom and Delaney Noll each scored 12.

The Royals were led by 24 points each from Makalusky and Holman. Makalusky also grabbed eight rebounds and was 5-of-9 from three-point range. Holman pulled in six boards and had five assists and shot 7-for-8 from the floor. Kayla Stidham scored 13 on 5-for-8 shooting.

Hamilton Southeastern (26-0) continues its unbeaten season and heads to the semi-state on Saturday. Their opponent will be determined today at 2 p.m. when the IHSAA re-draws for the semi-state pairings.

Northern semi-state locations are La Porte, Huntington North, Logansport and Frankfort. Other regional winners in the Class 4A northern semi-state are No. 5 Warsaw (24-1), McCutcheon (24-3) and Valparaiso (19-7).

“If we do what we are capable of doing, we’ll see where it takes us,” said Satterfield. “There’s still some great quality teams left and it’s not going to be easy. But, when we’re locked in and we can do what we do with the defensive end, we keep moving the basketball, we take great quality shots every possession, I’ll take our chances.”