By RICHIE HALL
FISHERS – The Hamilton Southeastern girls basketball team took care of business in its home opener on Wednesday, sailing past Franklin Community 65-44.
The Royals began their season last Saturday with a 72-50 victory at Ben Davis, so the team picked up its second consecutive comfortable win. Southeastern played tremendous defense and plenty of scoring from Indiana University-bound Maya Makalusky and sensational sophomores Kennedy Holman and Kayla Stidham.
The Royals never trailed in the game, scoring the first four points off Stidham and Makalusky layins. Makalusky finished the quarter with a 3-pointer and Southeastern led 13-6.
Makalusky
The Grizzly Cubs are only two years removed from reaching the Class 4A state championship game, and still have a couple players from that team playing this season. Royals coach Brian Satterfield called Franklin “a very veteran team.”
“I thought we were able to take them out of some of the things that they were trying to do early on,” said Satterfield. “And we did a good job of communicating, getting to the shooters because they’re very dangerous from behind the arc.”
Stidham got going from outside in the second period, nailing a pair of 3s. Her second triple started a 9-0 run, which included baskets from Makalusky and Holman, then Stidham added a layin to give HSE a 25-12 lead.
The Royals led 29-15 at halftime and steadily increased their lead throughout the third quarter. Makalusky took over to the tune of 13 points in that period. Southeastern kept its lead anywhere from 21 to 25 points in the fourth quarter.
Makalusky finished the game with 29 points and three 3-pointers. Stidham also had three 3s on her way to 15 points, while Holman added 14 points. Stidham also had seven rebounds.
Stidham
“Those of are the types of things that we’re trying to get all of our girls to do is be gelled together, but also be communicating and doing a lot of those little things, those little things that can help us as we progress throughout the season,” said Satterfield.
The Royals are 2-0 and play in the Fishers-HSE Classic this weekend. Southeastern hosts Elkhart at 11:30 a.m. and Columbus East at 5:30 p.m.
HAMILTON SOUTHEASTERN 65, FRANKLIN COMMUNITY 44
Southeastern FG FT TP PF
Maya Makalusky 11 4-4 29 3
Kennedy Holman 7 0-1 14 3
Zoe Lawless 0 0-0 0 4
Kayla Stidham 6 0-0 15 2
Addison Van Hoesen 1 0-0 2 1
Kayla Brinley 0 1-2 1 0
Antonette Green 0 0-0 0 2
Kenley Johnson 1 0-0 2 1
Abigail Orme 0 0-0 0 0
Tommi Burton 0 0-0 0 0
Hannah Wade 1 0-0 2 0
Totals 27 5-7 65 16
Score by Quarters
Franklin 6 9 16 13 – 44
Southeastern 13 16 25 11 – 65
Southeastern 3-pointers (6) Makalusky 3, Stidham 3.