Fishers falls just short to BNL at state championship game
By RICHIE HALL
sports@readthereporter.com
INDIANAPOLIS – The historic season for the Fishers girls basketball team finished just shy of the Tigers’ ultimate goal last Saturday.
Fishers played in the Class 4A state championship game, which took place at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. The Tigers took on Bedford North Lawrence in a tight contest, and the Stars scored four points in the final 20 seconds to beat Fishers 46-42 and claim their fifth state title.
“We didn’t come out on the end that we wanted to come out on tonight, but just super proud of the young ladies that they’ve turned into,” said Tigers coach Lauren Votaw. “And these seniors, man, they’ve given so much to this program and the impact that they’ve had.”
It was a back-and-forth game all the way through. The Tigers jumped out to an 8-2 lead after consecutive 3-pointers by Hailey Smith and Talia Harris. But BNL finished the first quarter on an 8-0 run, holding a 10-8 lead by the end of the period.
The Stars’ Chloe Spreen scored the first basket of the second quarter to give her team a 12-8 advantage. Fishers came streaking back, outscoring BNL 10-1 during the remainder of the period for an 18-13 halftime lead. Olivia Smith scored three points, Kate Thomas drained a pair of free throws, then Harris poured in five points, including another triple to finish the half. Votaw said that Harris did a “phenomenal job” during the game.
“We knew they were struggling with the ball screen, and we said ‘Talia, let’s go,’” said Votaw. “And she did it.”
Fishers coach Lauren Votaw talks to her team during a timeout. (Kent Graham)
The Tigers led for most of the third quarter. Joirdyn Smith got going with a couple of 3s, and her second triple gave Fishers its largest lead of the game, 26-19 at the 5:18 mark of the period. The Stars came back with a 6-0 run, then eventually tied the game at 30-30 with a Spreen layin.
Alycia Triplett made two free throws with 2.1 seconds left in the quarter, and the Tigers went into the fourth period leading 32-30. Mallory Pride tied the game with a layin, then the Stars took their first lead since the second quarter when Spreen’s layin got them up 34-33.
Triplett stepped up again, making a putback to get Fishers back up by one, then Harris’ two free throws pushed the Tigers’ lead to 37-34. But Spreen made a three-point play to tie the game again.
Joirdyn Smith made two second-half 3-pointers to help keep the Tigers in
the game. (Kent Graham)
Hailey Smith drained a pair of free throws and Fishers was in front 39-37. Spreen answered again with another and-1, giving BNL a 40-39 lead.
The Stars would not trail again. Harris made a jumper with less than a minute to tie the game at 42-42, but Emma Brown’s layin with 19.5 seconds left proved to be the game-winner. Brown sealed it seconds later with two free throws.
Harris led the Fishers scoring with 15 points, while Joirdyn Smith added eight points. Triplett and Hailey Smith both scored six points, Thomas had four and Olivia Smith had three. Triplett collected 12 rebounds, followed by seven for Harris and six for Hailey Smith, who also made four steals. Triplett had two blocked shots.
Spreen led all scorers with 20 points, while Pride had 11 points.
The Tigers completed their season with a 26-3 record, winning first-ever regional and semi-state championships to go with the program’s third sectional title.
“We came out of the toughest sectional, the toughest conference in the state,” said Votaw. “And these kids, they’ve endured all of that. It’s not the ending that we wanted, but it can’t take away from what these kids have done and what the seniors have done.
Fishers brought a large crowd to the IHSAA girls basketball state finals. (Kirk Green)
There’s only two teams in the state with a higher winning percentage than our seniors over the last two years. And one of them’s that one right there (BNL) and the other one’s Lanesville that won earlier today.” (Lanesville won the 1A state title.)
“And aside from that, no other group of seniors in the state of Indiana has won a higher percentage of games than our kids. And nobody can take that away from them.”
Reporter photos by Kent Graham