ARCADIA – The Hamilton Heights Huskies hosted the Frankton Eagles on Tuesday night. In what would be a wild game all-around the Huskies ended falling in overtime to the Eagles by a final score of 64-56. 

Both teams battled back and forth in the first quarter, but the Huskies were able to hold a 14-11 lead after one. Then in the second quarter, the Husky offense led by Junior Gus Etchison started to catch fire. A 22-12 quarter saw Hamilton Heights take a 36-23 lead at the half. In the second half, the Huskies offense just went cold as they combined to score just 20 points the next two quarters and in overtime (nine in the third, six in the fourth, and five in OT). 

Ashlynn Shade, Noblesville’s super freshman who leads the Lady Millers with a 20.3 scoring average and placed third in Hoosier Crossroads Conference scoring, will get her first taste of intense tournament pressure in tonight’s semifinal round of Sectional 8 at Westfield High School.

And there’s a pretty good chance that she’ll likely handle her part of the challenge quite well.

This is a new season. Noblesville’s 10-12 record, worst in the field, means very little.

Time to hit on all cylinders and produce a cohesive team effort. 

That’s what really matters at tourney time.

Each surviving team has at least one go-to player when times are tough.

Shade will likely need to be that player once again for the Lady Millers.

Royals able to take down Lady Hounds in opening round of sectionals

WESTFIELD – The Class 4A Sectional 8 tournament is always regarded as one of the toughest sectionals in the state.  Tuesday night marked the opening round of the girls’ basketball sectionals and fans were treated to a great matchup in the opening round as the Lady Royals of Hamilton Southeastern took on the Lady Greyhounds of Carmel at Westfield High School. One team’s great season had to come to an end and unfortunately for Carmel they were ousted by the Lady Royals by a final score of 51-44. 

The Lady Hounds came out in the first quarter and were able to hold a slim one-point lead over the Royals after one by a score of 11-10. The next two quarters would see the Royals start to pull away as they outscored Carmel 17-9 in the second and 15-14 in the third to take a 42-34 lead into the final quarter of play. Needing to put together a great quarter on both sides of the ball, the Lady Hounds just couldn’t build any momentum against the always tough Lady Royals. 

Sydney Parrish led all scorers with points in the win and also grabbed eight rebounds for the Lady Royals. 

The loss for the Greyhounds ends their season with a record of 15-8. The win for the Lady Royals is just the first step in attempting to defend their Class 4A State title from a year ago as their record improves to 21-2.  Their next game will be on Friday night in the sectional semi-finals as they take on HCC opponent Noblesville (10-12) at 7:30 

The Royals and Millers met back on Dec. 4 and the Lady Royals were able to come away with 51-32 win. 

No matter the outcome of Sectional 8 this week, here’s a couple of strong possibilities for the near future in Indiana high school girls basketball:

Whichever team advances from Westfield will likely need to get past both Class 4A No. 1 Northwestern (23-0) and then No. 4 Homestead (22-1) to reach the semi-state round.

No easy task . . . indeed!

Northwestern, the two-time defending 3A state champion, was forced to move up a level under the IHSAA Tournament Success Factor.

And the Lady Tigers have yet to face a stern test in 4A. Their closest game so far was a 61-58 encounter against Maine West (Ill.).

Their closest game against an Indiana Team was a 65-51 conquest of North Central.

Yeah, they are that good! Ask anyone!

Rocks fall to Cougars in OT

GREEENFIELD – The Westfield boys’ basketball team was back in action on Saturday night as they traveled to take on the Greenfield Central Cougars. Overtime was needed to decide a winner in this one unfortunately for the Rocks, the overtime period did not go their way as they fell 55-51. 

In the first quarter the Rocks came out and took a 16-7 lead. They were able to add one more point on to their lead at halftime as they led the Cougars 26-16. Then the Cougars made some adjustments at halftime and were able to rally back in the third, outscoring the Rocks 19-7 to turn a ten point deficit into a two point lead heading into the final quarter. 

In the final quarter the Rocks found the groove once again and were able to tie up the game at 46-46 with a 13-11 fourth quarter. However the Cougars did just enough in the overtime period with a 9-5 advantage to take home the victory. 

Along with the extra overtime period, there were 49 total fouls called between both teams with five players also fouling out. 

Nic Depasquale led the Rocks with 16 points in the overtime loss. The Rocks record now stands at 10-5 (3-2 HCC) and the team will have the week off before traveling to Kokomo on Saturday to compete against Fishers (13-5) at the legendary Kokomo Memorial Gym as part of Fox Sports annual Basketball Day in Indiana. 

Lady Tigers capture first HCC title since 2008 

INDIANAPOLIS – The Fishers Lady Tigers played their final game of the regular season on Friday night as they traveled to take on Franklin Central. The Tigers defense held Franklin Central to just 34 points as the Lady Tigers picked up a 52-34 win. 

The win for the Lady Tigers secured the Hoosier Crossroads Conference championship. The conference title is the team’s first since 2008. +
Holding a 24-14 lead at halftime, the Lady Tigers saw the lead grow to 41-23 at the end of the third. 

Senior Kaitlyn Feagan led the Tigers with 15 points and fellow Senior Lydia Stullken grabbed 12 rebounds.

The win caps off what was a terrific regular season for the Lady Tigers as the end with a record of 21-1 (7-0 HCC). The team now will prepare for sectional play next week. They will play the winner of the Zionsville/Westfield game on next Friday night at 6 p.m. 

The Noblesville boys’ basketball team hosted county rival Hamilton Southeastern on Friday night. The Royals came into the matchup winners of five straight games and they would make it six in a row as they defeated the Millers by a final score of 53-39. 

The second quarter proved to be the turning point in the game as after the opening period the Millers held a 16-15 lead. However the Royals turned up the defensive pressure in the second and held Noblesville to just three points as they scored 16 of their own to take a 31-19 lead into halftime. 

The second half so both teams play pretty even basketball, but the Millers down by 12 needed to make a run and they just weren’t able to crack the tough Royals defense. 

Kole Hornbuckle led the way for the Royals on offense with a game-high 19 points in the win. Senior Mabor Majak added in 11 points and eight rebounds while Vinny Buccilla scored ten. 

Seniors Courtney James (Fishers) and Kennedy Morgan (Hamilton Southeastern) recently had the opportunity to travel to Taiwan as part of Team USA.

The team competed in the 2020 Women’s International Invitational Tournament. 

Four other countries such as Taiwan, China, Japan and Korea also competed in the tournament. The United States team was made up of 17 players from Indiana and ranged from eight graders all the way to college level players. 

There’s nothing like the drama of a last-second shot in high school basketball.

There’s nothing like the feeling you get when the ball zips through the net.

There’s nothing like that ecstatic feeling and expressing overwhelming joy and excitement . . . or the feeling you have when a loss can feel like a dagger to the heart.

There’s nothing like your reaction whether you are a player on the court or a fan in the stands, on the winning or losing side of the floor. 

You’re either going to walk away happy or sad. Wiping tears from your eyes or pumping your fist in the air while celebrating.

That’s what this time of year is all about: It’s a one-and-done tournament. You’re either all in or all out . . . No second chances.

FISHERS – The Hamilton Southeastern Royals hosted the Pike Red Devils as the team honored their seniors on Tuesday night. In honor of their final home game of their career’s the Lady Royals started all five seniors and the team was able to pick up what turned into a dominating 61-36 win.

Pike was able to keep the game close in the first half as a 16-13 second quarter allowed them to tie up the game at 25-25 heading into halftime. However the Royals were able to quickly crush any hope of an upset as they outscored the Red Devils 36-11 in the second half and 23-2 in the third quarter.

In her final home game of her career Senior Sydney Parrish would record a double-double as she led the way for the Royals with 24 points and ten rebounds. Fellow Senior Lauren Morris ended with ten points.