By RICHIE HALL
FISHERS – It was a successful day for both Fishers and Hamilton Southeastern at the Fishers Shootout.
Both the Tigers and the Royals got two victories out of the Saturday event, keeping them both undefeated for the season. It also gave both teams some momentum as they each head into big Hoosier Crossroads Conference openers next Friday.
Host Fishers cruised past Valparaiso 61-34 in its morning game, then took care of Lake Central 41-28 in an evening contest. Southeastern, ranked No. 6 in Class 4A, sailed past Lake Central 68-37, collecting coach Chris Huppenthal’s 400th career win in the process. In the evening, the Royals got Huppenthal win No. 401 by trouncing Valpo 73-22.
BALANCE FOR THE TIGERS
If there was a theme for Fishers’ victories on Saturday, it would be “balance.” In both games, all but one player that took to the court scored for the Tigers.
Fishers took care of Valparaiso early, leading 15-3 after the first quarter and 31-12 at halftime. The Tigers outscored the Vikings in each period.
Sophomore Katie Howard led Fishers with 12 points, she accomplished that total on four 3-pointers. Howard drained three of those 3s in the fourth quarter. Lydia Stullken and Regan Newman both added 10 points.
The Tigers dominated the boards in that game, pulling in 44 rebounds. Stullken had nine rebounds, as did Cierra Tolbert. Katie Burton cleared seven boards, while Skylar Fulton and Tamia Perryman both grabbed six.
Perryman handed out seven assists and made two blocked shots, while Burton dished out five assists.
In the evening game, Fishers led the Indians 8-4 after the first quarter. But the Tigers were already on their way to a big lead, as Tolbert’s free throw with 2:48 left in the first started a 9-0 run. Burton started the second period with back-to-back baskets, then Stullken threw in consecutive baskets.
Fishers led 19-7 at halftime, then went through the second half unbothered. Burton and Fulton were the Tigers’ leading scorers, each with eight points.
Perryman, Stullken and Tolbert all grabbed six rebounds. Perryman dished out another four assists, while Stullken blocked three shots.
“This team has so many different players that can step up,” said Tigers coach Lauren Vail. “We’re winning with our leading scorers having eight points, and that’s great when you have balance like that. These girls just compete well for each other and I thought that was evident today.”
ROYALS DOMINANT ON THE BOARDS
Both of Southeastern’s wins were lopsided, although the Royals arrived at them in different ways. But the common thread for both of those victories was dominance in rebounding.
Against Lake Central, HSE jumped out to a 24-8 lead in the first quarter, then were up 38-17 at halftime. Southeastern then pulled ahead 57-26 after three periods.
Four players landed in double figures for the Royals. Amaya Hamilton scored 19 points and reached double-double status with 13 rebounds. Malea Jackson threw in four 3-pointers on her way to 15 points, and also dished out four assists.
Sydney Parrish added 13 points (including three 3s) and handed out six assists. Jackie Maulucci scored 12 points. As a team, HSE outrebounded Lake Central 26-10.
That was just a warm-up for the Valpo game. The Vikings hung with the Royals through the first half ot he first period, leading 8-6. But Southeastern got going after that, making a 9-0 run to lead 15-8. Molly Walton started the run with a three-point play, Jackson scored on a short lob, then Parrish made consecutive baskets.
Valparaiso got back to within 15-12, but that started a 13-0 run which straddled the first and second periods. Parrish contributed eight points in that run. The Royals led 39-16 at halftime, with Hamilton scoring back-to-back layins to end the half.
Southeastern breezed through the second half, outscoring the Vikings 34-6. But the big story was the rebounding. The Royals outrebounded Valpo 49-11, including 29 offensive rebounds – Southeastern had more offensive boards than the Vikings had points.
Huppenthal said he thought his team started the game “sluggish,” noting that Valparaiso was getting offensive rebounds at the beginning of the contest.
“I thought we were a step slow getting to our spots when we were trying to press them,” said Huppenthal. “And then we challenged them after I took the timeout, ‘We need to crash the boards, we need to crash the boards better.’ And even at halftime, that was the focal point was, we need to continue to crash the boards as well as pick up our intensity on defense. I thought our girls answered the challenge.”
Parrish scored 22 points and earned a double-double by grabbing 12 rebounds. Hamilton got her second double-double of the day by scoring 13 points and clearing 10 boards. Jackson added 13 points, Walton hauled in nine rebounds and Maulucci had five rebounds.
Fishers is now 5-0 for the season and is off until Friday, when it hosts undefeated Westfield in both schools’ first Hoosier Crossroads Conference game of the season. Southeastern is 4-0 and hosts Perry Meridian on Tuesday before traveling to new HCC opponent Franklin Central on Friday for its league opener.
AFTERNOON GAMES
Fishers 61, Valparaiso 34
Fishers FG FT TP PF
Katie Burton 0-8 2-2 2 1
Audra Emmerson 3-7 0-1 7 0
Skylar Fulton 4-10 0-0 9 1
Tamia Perryman 1-4 0-0 2 2
Lydia Stullken 5-8 0-0 10 2
Katie Howard 4-8 0-0 12 1
Regan Newman 4-7 0-0 10 1
Kaitlynn Feagan 1-1 0-0 2 0
Cierra Tolbert 3-6 1-2 7 1
Addison Arena 0-0 0-0 0 1
Totals 25-59 3-5 61 10
Score by Quarters
Fishers 15 16 14 16 – 61
Valparaiso 3 9 9 13 – 34
Fishers 3-point shooting (8-24) Howard 4-6, Newman 2-3, Fulton 1-5, Emmerson 1-4, Burton 0-4, Perryman 0-1, Stullken 0-1.
Fishers rebounds (44) Stullken 9, Tolbert 9, Burton 7, Fulton 6, Perryman 6, Newman 4, Emmerson 3.
Southeastern 68, Lake Central 37
Southeastern FG FT TP PF
Malea Jackson 5-8 1-2 15 1
Sydney Parrish 4-12 2-4 13 1
Amaya Hamilton 8-10 1-1 19 1
Jackie Maulucci 4-9 2-2 12 2
Lydia Self 0-4 0-0 0 0
Tayah Irvin 3-4 0-0 6 2
Molly Walton 1-4 0-0 3 2
Lauren Morris 0-2 0-0 0 0
Bri Baker 0-0 0-0 0 1
Allie Poyer 0-0 0-0 0 1
Bailee Poore 0-1 0-0 0 1
Totals 25-54 6-9 68 12
Score by Quarters
Lake Central 8 9 9 11 – 37
Southeastern 24 14 19 11 – 68
Southeastern 3-point shooting (12-25) Jackson 4-7, Parrish 3-8, Maulucci 2-3, Hamilton 2-2, Walton 1-2, Self 0-1, Irvin 0-1, Morris 0-1.
Southeastern rebounds (26) Hamilton 13, Parrish 4, Walton 3, Jackson 2, Irvin 2, Self 1, Maulucci 1,
EVENING GAMES
Fishers 41, Lake Central 28
Fishers FG FT TP PF
Katie Burton 4-10 0-1 8 3
Audra Emmerson 2-3 0-0 5 3
Skylar Fulton 3-3 0-0 8 3
Tamia Perryman 1-7 2-7 4 3
Lydia Stullken 3-6 0-0 6 1
Katie Howard 2-5 0-0 5 1
Regan Newman 1-3 0-0 3 0
Cierra Tolbert 0-4 2-4 2 2
Kaitlynn Feagan 0-0 0-0 0 0
Totals 16-41 4-12 41 16
Score by Quarters
Lake Central 4 3 10 11 – 28
Fishers 8 11 12 10 – 41
Fishers 3-point shooting (11-25) Burton 3-7, Stullken 3-6, Perryman 2-5, Emmerson 1-1, Fulton 1-1, Howard 1-1, Tolbert 0-4.
Fishers rebounds (23) Perryman 6, Stullken 6, Tolbert 6, Fulton 2, Howard 2, Emmerson 1, Feagan 1.
Southeastern 73, Valparaiso 22
Southeastern FG FT TP PF
Malea Jackson 5-12 0-0 13 1
Amaya Hamilton 6-11 0-0 13 0
Jackie Maulucci 1-7 0-0 3 2
Tayah Irvin 2-4 0-0 4 0
Sydney Parrish 11-21 0-0 22 3
Lydia Self 0-4 1-2 1 4
Molly Walton 4-6 1-1 9 2
Bri Baker 0-1 0-0 0 0
Bailee Poore 1-4 0-0 2 2
Lauren Morris 2-7 0-0 4 0
Allie Poyer 1-2 0-0 2 0
Totals 34-79 2-3 73 14
Score by Quarters
Southeastern 19 20 22 12 – 73
Valparaiso 12 4 2 4 – 22
Southeastern 3-point shooting (5-21) Jackson 3-8, Maulucci 1-3, Hamilton 1-3, Parrish 0-3, Self 0-1, Walton 0-1, Irvin 0-1, Baker 0-1.
Southeastern rebounds (49) Parrish 12, Hamilton 10, Walton 9, Maulucci 5, Self 4, Poore 3, Irvin 3, Jackson 2, Poyer 1.
Hamilton Southeastern’s Sydney Parrish scored 22 points and pulled 12 rebounds in the Royals’ win over Valparaiso Saturday at the Fishers Shootout. (Kirk Green)
Fishers’ Skylar Fulton scored eight points during the Tigers’ win over Lake Central. (Kirk Green)