Royals win two close games

The REPORTER

The Hamilton Southeastern girls basketball team won two tough games on back-to-back nights last week.

First, the Royals got a 47-42 victory at Carmel last Friday. The Greyhounds jumped out to an 18-9 lead after one quarter, with Izzy Shepherd hitting two 3-pointers on her way to 10 points.

The Royals cut that lead to 25-19 by halftime, then surged ahead in the third quarter to a 38-37 advantage. Maya Makalusky scored six points in the third while Kennedy Holman added five. Southeastern outscored Carmel 9-5 in the fourth.

Holman led the Royals with 16 points, while Kayla Stidham scored 12. Shepherd finished with 13 points and Mackenzie Woods added 10 points.

The Royals returned to their home gym last Saturday and got past Plainfield in overtime 57-55.

Southeastern jumped out to a 17-3 lead in the first quarter before the Quakers hit a 3-pointer to finish the period. The Royals still were up 17-6, with five different players scoring.

Plainfield turned the tables in the second quarter, outscoring HSE 17-6 to tie the game 23-23 at halftime. The contest was close in the entire second half, with the Quakers leading 40-39 after three quarters.

The score was 50-50 at the end of regulation. In the overtime, Plainfield’s Hannah Menser hit a 3 to give the Quakers the lead with under a minute to go. But the Royals’ Kayla Brinley drained a 3 with 26 seconds left to get Southeastern back in front. Ant Green forced a jump ball with eight seconds left, then got a deflection that Maya Makalusky grabbed to seal the victory.

Makalusky scored 17 points and reached double-double status with 10 rebounds. Holman and Brinley both had nine points; Brinley made three 3s. Holman finished with five rebounds and four assists. Stidham collected 11 rebounds.

Southeastern is perfect for the season at 17-0 and hosts Fort Wayne Carroll Saturday afternoon. The Greyhounds are 7-7 and plays Thursday at Center Grove, then travels to Heritage Christian for a Saturday afternoon game.