By RICH TORRES
For The Reporter
NOBLESVILLE – With 4 minutes, 16 seconds left in the game last Saturday afternoon, Noblesville junior Reagan Wilson and sophomore Meredith Tippner walked off the court and towards the Millers’ bench to resounding applause.
The Millers’ duo didn’t finish out their team’s 53-19 victory over Hoosier Crossroads Conference rival Westfield at The Mill.
They didn’t have to. They did more than enough in their 27-plus minutes for the Class 4A defending state champions.
“Obviously, you’re trying to play 32 minutes and play them the right way regardless of the score, and I thought our kids were able to go out there and do that,” Millers head coach Donna Buckley said. “Not get caught up in the score but instead get caught up in being fundamental on both ends of the floor.”
Tippner and Wilson personified fundamentals, as the Millers turned a 6-4 lead in the first quarter into a 28-point halftime advantage and an eventual 38-point cushion after three frames.
Wilson posted 10 points, dished out five assists, hauled in six rebounds, went 2 of 5 from long range and logged four of the Millers’ 13 steals. Tippner had a game-high 14 points, 15 rebounds, four assists and three steals.
Tippner shot 6 of 12 from the field and buried one of her team’s nine 3-pointers, powering the Millers to their second straight victory and a 9-3 record overall.
“She’s been really good every game. She’s one of the best sophomores in the state. She rebounds the basketball really well. She had 15 today. She just does everything,” Buckley said. “She plays solid for us defensively, and obviously, she can score as well. She is just a really, really good basketball player.”
The Millers continue to prove they’re a contender, once again, improving to 3-2 in the HCC while facing one of the state’s most difficult schedules.
Noblesville’s three losses have come against No. 1 South Bend Washington, 77-56, No. 3 Hamilton Southeastern, 60-48, and No. 5 Fishers, 55-47.
Against Westfield, the Millers had seven different players score two points or more with Kaitlyn Shoemaker providing 11 points, four rebounds, three 3s and two steals. Brooklyn Ely (3-for-6 from 3-point range) added nine points.
Dani Mendez chipped in four points, Kate Rollins had three and C.C. Quigley scored two.
The decisive victory was a course correction, Buckley noted, eight days after falling on the road to Fishers, and the momentum the Millers needed with back-to-back, high-level holiday tournaments ahead at Bedford North Lawrence and in New Castle for the Hall of Fame Classic on Dec. 29.
“We have the No. 1 strength of schedule. We love playing good teams. It makes you better, and I think that loss to Fishers was good for us to expose some things we needed to clean up, and this group always responds. They’re just good kids, so they always respond, and they did this week,” Buckley said.
A 12-0 run that began in the first quarter and ran over into the second foreshadowed the inevitable for the Millers, who capitalized as the Westfield Shamrocks (6-6, 1-3 HCC) struggled offensively with scoreless spells that lasted 7:10 and 5:12 in the first half.
“Twenty turnovers don’t help you at all. When you don’t have the ball in your possession to score it, you can’t get too many looks at the basket, so when you turn it over that many times, it’s a challenge,” Westfield head coach Kelsey Key said.
“That’s kind of hurt us a lot this year. Our shooting percentage hasn’t been great yet, but I also felt like we weren’t tough. Now, credit Noblesville. They’re a good team. They have good players. Those kids are tough, but we gave up 13 offensive rebounds and turned the ball over 20 times. When you do that, the odds aren’t in your favor. We have to be tougher than we were today.”
Aubrey Crockett paced the Shamrocks with five points, followed by Ellie Kelleher (three assists, seven rebounds) and Lindsey Van Dyke with four apiece. Reagan Lorenzen and Maren Dee both had three points each.
The Millers are on the road for their next four games before returning home on Jan. 3 against 4A No. 13 Ben Davis. They open the Bedford North Lawrence Classic on Thursday at 2 p.m. against 4A No. 7 Lake Central and then take on the host 4A No. 4 Stars at 6 p.m. (Rankings were as of Dec. 12, a new list is due out today.)
Noblesville could see Bedford North Lawrence again at the Hall of Fame Classic, if both programs advance to the tournament finals in New Castle. The Millers face 4A East Central in the semifinal round.
It’s a tough stretch ahead, but one the Millers are built to withstand.
“These kids are going to persevere no matter what happens. Obviously, Ashlynn (Shade) transferred, and we lost our starting 6-foot-5 post player (Brooklyn Smitherman) as well, and we have our third-leading scorer (Ava Shoemaker) out with an elbow injury,” Buckley said. “These are great kids that want to win and they’re competitive, and that’s their expectation. They’re just an awesome group of kids and fun to coach.”
By RICH TORRES
For The Reporter
NOBLESVILLE – With 4 minutes, 16 seconds left in the game Saturday afternoon, Noblesville junior Reagan Wilson and sophomore Meredith Tippner walked off the court and towards the Millers’ bench to resounding applause.
The Millers’ duo didn’t finish out their team’s 53-19 victory over Hoosier Crossroads Conference rival Westfield at The Mill.
They didn’t have to. They did more than enough in their 27-plus minutes for the Class 4A defending state champions.
“Obviously, you’re trying to play 32 minutes and play them the right way regardless of the score, and I thought our kids were able to go out there and do that,” Millers head coach Donna Buckley said. “Not get caught up in the score but instead get caught up in being fundamental on both ends of the floor.”
Tippner and Wilson personified fundamentals, as the Millers turned a 6-4 lead in the first quarter into a 28-point halftime advantage and an eventual 38-point cushion after three frames.
Wilson posted 10 points, dished out five assists, hauled in six rebounds, went 2 of 5 from long range and logged four of the Millers’ 13 steals. Tippner had a game-high 14 points, 15 rebounds, four assists and three steals.
Tippner shot 6 of 12 from the field and buried one of her team’s nine 3-pointers, powering the Millers to their second straight victory and a 9-3 record overall.
“She’s been really good every game. She’s one of the best sophomores in the state. She rebounds the basketball really well. She had 15 today. She just does everything,” Buckley said. “She plays solid for us defensively, and obviously, she can score as well. She is just a really, really good basketball player.”
The Millers continue to prove they’re a contender, once again, improving to 3-2 in the HCC while facing one of the state’s most difficult schedules.
Noblesville’s three losses have come against No. 1 South Bend Washington, 77-56, No. 3 Hamilton Southeastern, 60-48, and No. 5 Fishers, 55-47.
Against Westfield, the Millers had seven different players score two points or more with Kaitlyn Shoemaker providing 11 points, four rebounds, three 3s and two steals. Brooklyn Ely (3-for-6 from 3-point range) added nine points.
Dani Mendez chipped in four points, Kate Rollins had three and C.C. Quigley scored two.
The decisive victory was a course correction, Buckley noted, eight days after falling on the road to Fishers, and the momentum the Millers needed with back-to-back, high-level holiday tournaments ahead at Bedford North Lawrence and in New Castle for the Hall of Fame Classic on Dec. 29.
“We have the No. 1 strength of schedule. We love playing good teams. It makes you better, and I think that loss to Fishers was good for us to expose some things we needed to clean up, and this group always responds. They’re just good kids, so they always respond, and they did this week,” Buckley said.
A 12-0 run that began in the first quarter and ran over into the second foreshadowed the inevitable for the Millers, who capitalized as the Westfield Shamrocks (6-6, 1-3 HCC) struggled offensively with scoreless spells that lasted 7:10 and 5:12 in the first half.
“Twenty turnovers don’t help you at all. When you don’t have the ball in your possession to score it, you can’t get too many looks at the basket, so when you turn it over that many times, it’s a challenge,” Westfield head coach Kelsey Key said.
“That’s kind of hurt us a lot this year. Our shooting percentage hasn’t been great yet, but I also felt like we weren’t tough. Now, credit Noblesville. They’re a good team. They have good players. Those kids are tough, but we gave up 13 offensive rebounds and turned the ball over 20 times. When you do that, the odds aren’t in your favor. We have to be tougher than we were today.”
Aubrey Crockett paced the Shamrocks with five points, followed by Ellie Kelleher (three assists, seven rebounds) and Lindsey Van Dyke with four apiece. Reagan Lorenzen and Maren Dee both had three points each.
The Millers are on the road for their next four games before returning home on Jan. 3 against 4A No. 13 Ben Davis. They open the Bedford North Lawrence Classic on Thursday at 2 p.m. against 4A No. 7 Lake Central and then take on the host 4A No. 4 Stars at 6 p.m. (Rankings were as of Dec. 12, a new list is due out today.)
Noblesville could see Bedford North Lawrence again at the Hall of Fame Classic, if both programs advance to the tournament finals in New Castle. The Millers face 4A East Central in the semifinal round.
It’s a tough stretch ahead, but one the Millers are built to withstand.
“These kids are going to persevere no matter what happens. Obviously, Ashlynn (Shade) transferred, and we lost our starting 6-foot-5 post player (Brooklyn Smitherman) as well, and we have our third-leading scorer (Ava Shoemaker) out with an elbow injury,” Buckley said. “These are great kids that want to win and they’re competitive, and that’s their expectation. They’re just an awesome group of kids and fun to coach.”
WESTFIELD 48, NOBLESVILLE 43
Westfield FG FT TP PF
Ellie Kelleher 2-10 0-0 4 3
Aubrey Crockett 2-6 0-0 5 3
Emmrey Collinsworth 0-5 0-0 0 3
Kiki Loveless 0-2 0-0 0 0
Lindsey Van Dyke 2-4 0-0 4 0
Reagan Lorenzen 1-8 0-0 3 2
MaKayla Hatcher 0-1 0-0 0 0
Maren Dee 1-2 0-0 3 1
Brittany Brown 0-0 0-0 0 0
Mia Crask 0-1 0-0 0 0
Meg Hamilton 0-0 0-0 0 0
Sam Price 0-0 0-0 0 0
Totals 8-39 0-0 19 12
Westfield 3-point shooting (3-18) Crockett 1-4, Lorenzen 1-4, Dee 1-1, Kelleher 0-3, Collinsworth 0-3, Van Dyke 0-2, Crask 0-1.
Westfield rebounds (24) Kelleher 7, Crockett 5, Loveless 3, Lorenzen 2, Van Dyke 2, Collinsworth 1, Dee 1, Price 1, Hatcher 1, team 1.
Noblesville FG FT TP PF
Kaitlyn Shoemaker 4-7 0-0 11 0
Reagan Wilson 3-13 2-2 10 1
Meredith Tippner 6-12 1-5 14 2
Kate Rollins 1-4 1-2 3 0
Dani Mendez 0-1 4-4 4 0
Brooklyn Ely 3-6 0-0 9 0
C.C. Quigley 1-1 0-0 2 0
Bri Gray 0-0 0-0 0 0
Carly Motz 0-0 0-2 0 1
Addy Horvath 0-0 0-0 0 0
Brookelyn Grayson 0-0 0-0 0 0
Ally Hutchinson 0-0 0-0 0 0
Totals 18-44 8-15 53 4
Noblesville 3-point shooting (9-21) Ely 3-6, Shoemaker 3-5, Wilson 2-5, Tippner 1-2, Rollins 0-3.
Noblesville rebounds (36) Tippner 15, Wilson 6, Shoemaker 4, Rollins 2, Gray 2, Mendez 1, Quigley 1, team 5.
Score by Quarters
Westfield 4 3 4 8 – 19
Noblesville 13 22 14 4 – 53