By RICHIE HALL
WESTFIELD – Are the young Fishers Tigers playing beyond their years?
Fishers showed a nice amount of maturity during its game with Westfield at the Shamrocks’ CSI Gymnasium on Thursday. In the Hoosier Crossroads Conference opener for both teams, the Tigers got off to a big early lead, then held steady during a Westfield comeback in the third quarter. Fishers would regain the lead in the fourth, and eventually win 46-43 in a hard-fought game.
With that, the Tigers remained perfect for the season at 5-0.
“Obviously young teams are more motivated by the wins because that’s all that they know, right?” said Fishers coach Lauren Votaw. “They haven’t been through the process and they don’t know how long the season is. It is really important to continue to get those wins, but like I’ve challenged them, it’s important to learn from every opportunity that we have in order to keep growing and getting better. I’ve told them, we got to turn around, we’re practicing tomorrow morning at 6:30 and we got to get ready for Zionsville on Tuesday.”
Fishers trailed 33-30 going into the fourth quarter, but went on a 7-0 run that took up the first part of that period. Olivia Smith got the Tigers back in front by making back-to-back layins, then Joirdyn Smith made two free throws. Hailey Smith finished the run with another foul shot. (If your name was Smith, you were scoring during the game.)
With that, Fishers led 37-33. The ‘Rocks pushed back to tie the game after Ellie Kelleher’s layin and two free throws from Alyssa Crockett. But Hailey Smith would break that tie by hitting a 3-pointer, which would turn out to be the game-winner, as the Tigers never trailed again. The game’s final two minutes followed a pattern: Westfield would cut Fishers’ lead to one point, but Fishers would make the baskets it needed to stay ahead. Emmrey Collinsworth hit two foul shots to get the ‘Rocks within 40-39, then Hailey Smith made a layin. Crockett’s two free throws were answered by an Olivia Smith basket, then Crockett scored to keep Westfield within 44-43.
The Shamrocks had to foul, though, and that put Hailey Smith on the line with 5.4 seconds left. She made the two free throws to seal the game.
“I think our players did a great job of managing the game down the stretch,” said Votaw. “We talk about layups and free throws. They know when I say ‘layups and free throws’ that I want them to take great shots only and literally, or if you get fouled, you’re allowed to shoot the free throws. And I thought they did a fabulous job of moving the basketball, meeting passes, staying out of trouble. And then when we drew everybody out, finding the open player and finishing layups. I thought we battled on the defensive end of the floor for the rebounds all night long. I was really proud of our effort down there, too.”
Fishers jumped out to a 13-3 lead after one quarter of play. Hailey Smith scored six points and Olivia Smith added four. Alycia Triplett also helped out by making a three-point play.
A Triplett free throw gave the Tigers another 10-point lead, at 18-8. But Westfield roared back with an 8-0 run to get back into the game. Collinsworth and Olivia Robey each hit 3-pointers, sandwiched between a basket from Chesney Tebbe. Joirdyn Smith made a pair of foul shots to give Fishers a 20-16 lead at halftime.
Joirdyn Smith then nailed a 3 to put the Tigers up 25-22, but back-to-back baskets from Robey and Crockett put Westfield in front for the first time at 26-25. It was the first of five straight lead changes in the quarter. The fifth was due to Mikayla Rudolph’s layin, which put the Shamrocks up 31-30, then Robey scored to give Westfield the three-point advantage after three.
But after that, the Smith twins took over, with Hailey scoring eight and Olivia six.
“They’re our leaders and they know that and they embrace that,” said Votaw. “I challenged them in the second half to step up and to be those leaders and they exceeded my expectations of what to do. I was just really proud of our kids. We were running kids in and out. We got some young kids minutes and everybody who came in, I thought did a good job. Credit to Westfield. They just would not go away. Their shots weren’t falling early on and they battled and battled and battled.”
Hailey Smith finished with a double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds, while Olivia Smith scored 16 points. Triplett collected five rebounds.
Crockett had a double-double as well, with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Robey scored nine and Collinsworth added eight, including two 3-pointers.
“We didn’t maximize opportunites when we had them,” said Westfield coach Ginny Smith. “They switched all screens and we never got it in the paint. We had mismatches. First half, we shot 27 percent and just didn’t make shots, didn’t make free throws. We were excellent defensively overall. We had very few missed boxouts, we didn’t give out a lot of o-boards. We only had 11 turnovers on the night. We forced 19 turnovers, but never capitalized on any of them. We forced them to cough the basketball up, but then couldn’t convert. I think until we can find some consistent scoring, it’s going to be tough to beat a good team. We can put ourself in a position, but when you need a bucket and you can’t get a bucket, it makes it tough to win.”
The Tigers’ next game is back home at the Tiger Den, as they host HCC opponent Zionsville on Tuesday. Westfield is 3-2 and hosts Pike on Tuesday.
FISHERS 46, WESTFIELD 43
Fishers FG FT TP PF
Karina Scott 0-3 0-0 0 3
Joirdyn Smith 1-4 4-4 7 2
Kate Thomas 0-2 0-0 0 3
Hailey Smith 5-9 8-9 19 3
Olivia Smith 8-10 0-1 16 3
Talia Harris 0-1 0-0 0 1
Morgan Roberts 0-0 0-0 0 0
Alycia Triplett 1-1 2-3 4 1
Allison Scheu 0-1 0-0 0 0
Ava Carter 0-0 0-0 0 0
Totals 15-31 14-17 46 16
Fishers 3-point shooting (2-9) H. Smith 1-3, J. Smith 1-1, Scott 0-2, Harris 0-1, Thomas 0-1, Scheu 0-1.
Fishers rebounds (26) H. Smith 10, Triplett 5, Harris 3, Thomas 2, O. Smith 2, J. Smith 1, team 3.
Westfield FG FT TP PF
Ellie Kelleher 2-5 0-0 4 3
Alyssa Crockett 4-14 5-7 13 1
Chesney Tebbe 3-5 0-0 6 3
Olivia Robey 4-10 0-0 9 2
Hailey Remaks 0-2 1-2 1 1
Emmrey Collinsworth 2-6 2-2 8 1
Mikayla Rudolph 1-1 0-0 2 2
Kiki Loveless 0-0 0-0 0 2
Totals 16-43 8-11 43 15
Westfield 3-point shooting (3-14) Collinsworth 2-2, Robey 1-4, Crockett 0-5, Kelleher 0-1, Tebbe 0-1, Remaks 0-1.
Westfield rebounds (18) Crockett 10, Remaks 2, Kelleher 1, Tebbe 1, Rudolph 1, Robey 1, team 2.
Score by Quarters
Fishers 13 7 10 16 – 46
Westfield 3 13 17 10 – 43
Click here to see more pictures from the game.