By CRAIG ADKINS
For The Reporter
NOBLESVILLE – Last night, Noblesville hosted Hamilton Heights for its home opener at The Mill. It was quite the crowd that greeted the 4A No. 1 Millers. They were able to rise to the occasion on their way to a 55-38 convincing win over the 3A No. 4 Huskies.
From the opening tip, Noblesville had control of the tempo at both ends of the floor.
Swarming defense and relentless offense for the Millers and Heights was on the ropes right away. Recent Iowa State commit Reagan Wilson took a pass from Meredith Tippner and knocked down a deep three from the left wing. Next possession down the floor, Tippner found sophomore C.C. Quigley for a layup, forcing the Huskies to burn a timeout just 90 seconds into the game.
“Obviously when you play Heights and they shoot the ball so well and Runner is all kinds of special, we wanted to make sure we got out and played hard on defense. I thought we did that in that first half, making them take quick threes and rebounding, so they didn’t get second and third opportunities,” stated Noblesville head coach Donna Buckley.
“They’re the number one, number two team in the state for a reason. They’re strong, athletic and physical. For us to try to replicate what we were going to see tonight is tough,” said Hamilton Heights head coach Keegan Cherry of Noblesville.
Being able to rebound and play solid defensively were two complimentary factors that pushed Noblesville to victory. The Millers outrebounded the Huskies 38-15.
Wilson and Quigley each scored six in the first to double up Heights through one, 15-6.
Each offensive possession, Noblesville kept finding ways to put points on the board. The lead kept growing in the second. Tippner had four, Wilson another five and Quigley five as the three paced the Millers to a 29-10 halftime lead.
“She’s really good,” Buckley said of Quigley. “She honestly reminds me of a young Emily Kiser. She’s got similar traits to her and she’s going to be all kinds of special, if she continues to figure out how good she can be,” Buckley continued.
Quigley is rapidly figuring out her role. After scoring 11 and grabbing nine boards in the season and HCC opener last Saturday at Avon, C.C. seems more than ready to live up to the expectations. The 6’2 sophomore forward was able to muscle herself to 15 points and six rebounds against the Huskies.
The lead kept getting bigger in the third. Two consecutive times down the floor, Ava Shoemaker drilled three-pointers that made it 45-23. That forced Heights to call yet another timeout to stop the momentum with 2:26 in the third.
Wilson found her stroke from the outside to guide the offense, but it would be the little things that Meredith Tippner was able to do that made everything happen just as it should. She was surely a stat sheet stuffer, scoring seven, grabbing 13 rebounds, dishing out six assists and also had six steals, keeping Heights in uncomfortable situations all night.
“She almost had a quadruple-double,” said Buckley of Tippner. “She was everywhere. She’s that kid. She was all over this game and was phenomenal. Had huge moments, including a kick out to Reagan for three when they were kind of making a little comeback,” continued Buckley on Tippner.
“She is definitely one of the best players in the state and we are really thankful that we have her on our team, for sure,” said Buckley.
Noblesville had simply overwhelmed Hamilton Heights throughout the night, leading 50-28 through three. Wilson (three) and Shoemaker (two) combined for five three-pointers made in the third quarter.
There were spots in the second half that could have been the start of a comeback, but the Millers had other things in mind.
“Our kids just love defense. I think that’s one thing that makes this group so special is that our superstars want to play defense,” Buckley said of her team’s defensive approach. “A lot of people don’t want to do both ends of the floor, but our kids want to do that.” Buckley continued on the Millers’ defense.
The Millers kept the Huskies at a good distance in the fourth, securing their second win in as many games, 55-38.
“I was proud that our girls fought. We were able to screen that zone a little bit,” continued Cherry on his team’s ability to play physically with Noblesville.
“To be honest, we’re not made to turn teams over and score. We like to dictate tempo and pace. Noblesville is probably the opposite of that,” stated Cherry.
The two showed that they are ranked in their particular classes for reasons. A game like this helps Heights tremendously as it moves through.
“I thought we got better in the second half,” said Cherry. “We’ll get better because of this game. This is what makes you better in preparation for the tournament.
Hamilton Heights (3-1) takes its first loss of the season. They get right back at it at home tonight, hosting Jay County (1-0).
The Huskies were led by senior all-state candidate Camryn Runner, who had a game-high 26 points. The University of Evansville commit shot 6-for-11 from outside-the-arc and 8-of-16 overall.
Noblesville (2-0) will also play this evening, taking a trip to 10th-ranked Lawrence North (0-1).
Reagan Wilson shot 6-of-10 from downtown, good for 22 points. Quigley had 15 and Ava Shoemaker 11 and six rebounds.
NOBLESVILLE 55, HAMILTON HEIGHTS 38
Heights FG FT TP PF
Ella Hickok 1 0-0 3 4
Katie Brown 0 0-0 0 0
Camryn Runner 8 4-4 26 3
Kassidy Schakel 0 0-0 0 2
Hadleigh Cherry 4 0-0 9 3
Kennedy Cherry 0 0-0 0 3
Totals 13 4-4 38 15
Heights 3-pointers (8) Runner 6, Hickok, H. Cherry.
Heights rebounds (15) H. Cherry 5, Hickok 2, Runner 2, K. Cherry 2, Brown 1, team 3.
Noblesville FG FT TP PF
Ava Shoemaker 4 0-0 11 1
Reagan Wilson 7 2-2 22 1
Meredith Tippner 2 3-6 7 4
Kate Rollins 0 0-0 0 3
C.C. Quigley 4 7-7 15 1
Ally Hutchinson 0 0-0 0 0
Devyn Johnson 0 0-0 0 0
Brinkley Cooper 0 0-0 0 0
Bri Gray 0 0-0 0 0
Totals 17 12-15 55 10
Noblesville 3-pointers (9) Wilson 6, Shoemaker 3.
Noblesville rebounds (38) Tippner 13, Shoemaker 6, Quigley 6, Wilson 5, Rollins 3, Grayson 2, Hutchinson 1, team 2.
Score by Quarters
Hamilton Heights 6 7 15 10 – 38
Noblesville 15 14 21 5 – 55