By CRAIG ADKINS
For The Reporter
NOBLESVILLE – Last night’s first Sectional 8 girls basketball semifinal at The Mill in Noblesville was the first of two matchups that featured Hoosier Crossroads Conference teams. The Hamilton Southeastern Royals got down to business quickly and cruised to a 59-40 win over the Zionsville Eagles.
The Royals wasted no time at all. HSE jumped out to an early 5-0 lead from Maya Makalusky three and Addison Van Hoesen basket on a backdoor pass from Makalusky.
Zionsville’s McKenzie Chapman got the Eagles on the board with a three that made it 5-3, but the Royals would run from there to finish the first.
Southeastern went on a 16-4 spurt to end the first quarter. Kennedy Holman started it with a top of the key three. Van Hoesen scored two buckets in a row, followed by a Kayla Stidham triple for a 15-4 lead, forcing Zionsville to burn its second timeout.
Just out of the timeout, Makalusky was fouled in the right corner on a three-point attempt. The senior All-State candidate converted all three at the foul line to make it 18-4.
Senior Abby Brown scored the final two baskets of the first to give the Royals a 22-4 wide margin.
“Fortunately, we already had one game. Anytime you come into this, you say it’s just another game. I thought both teams, like you saw on Tuesday night, played with a little bit of jitters. I think that played into a little bit of what happened tonight,” said Hamilton Southeastern head coach Brian Satterfield.
Zionsville was not able to get any rhythm offensively in the first half and in turn, that dug them a hole that they just couldn’t dig out of.
HSE kept the Eagles at a distance in the second with a 13-9 quarter to take a 35-13 lead in the locker room.
“That was part of the talk tonight before the game. We’ve got to be ready, keep doing what we’re doing, keep being us, but at the same time try and take advantage of some of those nerves. I think defensively what we were doing early on had a lot to do with that,” continued Satterfield.
The Royals’ lead grew more in the third for a 54-35 score with one quarter to play.
Despite Zionsville playing much better in the second half, Hamilton Southeastern came at the Eagles from all angles and was able to keep the large lead en route to the 19-point semifinal win.
“From an offensive standpoint, you’re just trying to move the basketball and try to take advantage of what they give you. Sometimes you can get that after one or two passes. Sometimes it might take 10. The biggest thing is as this season has progressed, we’ve done a great job of trying to figure out when we can attack and when we can’t,” Satterfield said.
Maya Makalusky led all scorers with 23 points on six field goals and 9-for-10 at the free throw stripe. Kennedy Holman and Kayla Stidham each scored nine, while Addison Van Hoesen had eight and Kayla Brinley six.
Hamilton Southeastern (24-0) makes its second consecutive sectional championship game appearance and is in search of their first title since 2019. That was the same season that HSE won the 4A state championship.
The Royals will battle with Westfield (16-8) for the Sectional 8 crown tonight at The Mill in Noblesville. The Shamrocks upset No. 10 Noblesville in the second semifinal, 61-52.
“Tomorrow night (tonight) is going to be another challenge and it’s definitely going to be the toughest challenge that we’ve had and we’ve got to be ready for that,” Satterfield added.
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