Two Hamilton County girls basketball teams will compete in semi-states on Saturday.
Fishers travels to Huntington North for the Class 4A North semi-state title, while Hamilton Heights heads up to La Porte for the Class 3A North semi-state. Four teams will compete at each semi-state under the IHSAA’s new format. The last time four-team semi-states were played was from 1998 to 2001, right after class basketball was introduced.
The No. 3 Tigers play No. 10 Fort Wayne Snider in the first game at Huntington North, with that game tipping off at 10 a.m. No. 1 South Bend Washington and Lake Central play in the second game at noon, with the championship at 8 p.m.
Record at regional
Fishers won its first-ever regional championship last week, easily beating Homestead 61-31 to claim the Regional 3 trophy at Marion. Not only was it the Tigers’ first regional, but they also set a new mark for season wins. Fishers is 24-2 for the season.
The Panthers followed the Tigers on to the floor at Bill Green Arena, and won the Regional 4 championship by beating Harrison 67-55. Snider improved to 21-4 with the win; the Panthers won Sectional 5 at DeKalb by beating the host school 50-36 in the semi-finals and Fort Wayne Carroll 58-52 in the championship.
Snider has two juniors that average in double figures for scoring. Jordyn Poole contributes 16.1 points per game, with Johnea Donahue scoring 12.2 points per contest.
Another junior, Tia Phinezy averages 6.7 rebounds, while junior Ciara Sims pulls 4.7 rebounds and Donahue collects 4.6 rebounds per game. Donahue also averages 5.6 steals, while Phinezy has 3.9 blocked shots per game.
Fishers’ top scorer is senior Hailey Smith, who averages 11.9 points per game, followed by twin sister Olivia Smith at 10.9 points. Junior Talia Harris scores 9.4 points per contest.
Hailey Smith is also the leading rebounder at 6.8, followed by senior Alycia Triplett at 5.2 rebounds per contest. Hailey Smith dishes out 2.7 assists per game, with Harris making 2.3 steals per game.
Huskies play Twin Lakes
Hamilton Heights will take on No. 1-ranked Twin Lakes in the first game at La Porte Saturday. The game starts at 11 a.m. (10 a.m. Central Time) and will be followed by No. 7 Fairfield taking on Tippecanoe Valley. The championship is set for 8:30 p.m. (7:30 p.m. Central).
Twin Lakes is unbeaten for the season at 27-0. The Indians took care of Garrett 64-25 to claim the Regional 12 championship at Bellmont. Twin Lakes started its run with the Sectional 22 championship, overwhelming North Montgomery 76-23 in the first round before holding off No. 8 West Lafayette 68-61 in a double-overtime semi-final. After that, the Indians cruised past the sectional host, Benton Central 56-32.
Junior Olivia Nickerson is one of three scorers in double figures for the Indians, averaging nearly 18.7 points per game. Sophomore Addie Bowsman scores at a 17.6 points-per-game clip, with senior Addi Ward contributing 11.0 points per contest.
Senior Hannah Hodgen is the top rebounder at 6.4 per game, followed by Bowsman with 5.7 per game. Bowsmen is tops on the assists list with 7.1, while Nickerson has 2.6 steals per contest.
The Huskies also played their regional at Bellmont, defeating No. 4 Norwell 44-40 for the Regional 11 crown. Heights improved to 20-5 with the win, its first 20-win campaign since the 2017-18 season.
Junior Camryn Runner leads the Huskies in scoring (19.2 points), rebounds (7.0) and steals (2.7), with junior Ella Hickok handing out 3.6 assists per game.