By RICHIE HALL
ANDERSON – The Fishers girls basketball team is off to its best start in four years.
The Tigers improved to 3-0 Wednesday by defeating Anderson on the road, 67-48. Fishers got off to a fast start, opened up a nice lead by the third quarter and held off a late comeback by the Indians in the fourth period.
The Tigers scored the first nine points of the game, and the first seven of them were from the free throw line. Skylar Fulton got the first basket of the contest on a jumper with just over four and a half minutes left in the first quarter, and that put Fishers up 9-0.
Anderson hit back-to-back 3-pointers to cut the Tigers’ lead to 9-6, but putbacks from Regan Newman and Tamia Perryman finished the period, and put Fishers up 13-6. Lydia Stullken and Katie Burton made layins to move the Tigers ahead 17-6 – an 8-0 run. All eight players that took to the court for Fishers scored on Wednesday.
“That’s the thing about us,” said Tigers coach Lauren Vail. “On any given night we have kids that can do that, that can help us out and come up late with points or rebounds or whatever it might be.”
At halftime, Fishers led 23-14. The Tigers started the third quarter with a 17-2 run, giving them a 40-16 lead. Perryman scored six points, while Audra Emmerson added five on two nifty shots: She made a no-look flip into the basket to begin the period, then later drained a 3-pointer.
Fishers enjoyed a 48-26 lead late in the third. The Indians’ Staisha Hamilton ended the quarter with a 3, and that actually began a 12-0 run for Anderson that cut the Tigers’ lead to 48-38. Fulton and Burton each made layins to end the run, and that gave Fishers the momentum to stay well in front. Emmerson helped out with another 3.
“I think our kids settled down and played our style of basketball,” said Vail.
Emmerson scored 16 points for the Tigers, while Perryman added 10 points and nine rebounds. Cierra Tolbert had nine points and eight rebounds, with Stullken grabbing five.
After three games on the road, Fishers will finally play at home on Saturday. The Tigers will host their own Fishers Classic, taking on Lake Central at 12:30 p.m. and Valparaiso at 3 p.m.
“It’s nice to see teams from outside of our area,” said Vail. “They always bring a little something different. Valpo’s very long and Lake Central is just very disciplined and they run a lot of sets. It’s good for us to play that competition.”
Fishers 67, Anderson 48
Fishers FG FT TP PF
Katie Burton 3-10 2-3 8 2
Audra Emmerson 5-9 3-4 16 2
Skylar Fulton 4-10 0-1 9 3
Tamia Perryman 5-10 0-1 10 3
Lydia Stullken 2-5 1-2 5 3
Regan Newman 3-5 0-1 7 0
Cierra Tolbert 3-5 3-6 9 2
Katie Howard 1-3 0-0 3 0
Totals 26-57 9-18 67 15
Score by Quarters
Fishers 13 10 25 19 – 67
Anderson 6 8 15 19 – 48
Fishers 3-point shooting (6-19) Emmerson 3-5, Fulton 1-6, Newman 1-2, Howard 1-1, Burton 0-3, Perryman 0-2.
Fishers rebounds (34) Perryman 9, Tolbert 8, Stullken 5, Burton 4, Emmerson 3, Fulton 3, Howard 1, Newman 1.
Fishers’ Cierra Tolbert scored nine points and pulled eight rebounds for the Tigers during their win at Anderson on Wednesday. Fishers won 67-48 and is now 3-0 for the season. (Richie Hall)
Audra Emmerson scored 16 points to lead the Tigers. (Richie Hall)