Miller’s season comes to an end against No. 4 Lady Royals

WESTFIELD – The Noblesville Lady Millers earned a bye in the class 4A Sectional 8 Tournament. With that bye they only needed one win to advance to the sectional championship game on Saturday night at Westfield High School. In order to do that however, they’d need to get past the defending state champion Lady Royals of Hamilton Southeastern. That task proved to be too much for the Lady Millers to handle on the night as they were defeated 59-42 and saw their season come to an end.

The Millers got off to a good start in the first quarter as they got off to a 12-7 lead over the Royals after the first quarter. However the next two quarter would see their five point lead turn into a double-digit deficit as the Millers scored just ten total points in the second and third quarters while the Lady Royals scored 33. In the fourth the Lady Millers found their offensive rhythm once again as they poured in 20 points in the final quarter, but HSE added in 19 of their own to allow them to cruise to a birth in the sectional championship game.

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). 

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. 

Royals send off seniors with dominating win

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.

Lady Miller’s offense erupts for 72 vs Franklin Central

INDIANAPOLIS – The Noblesville girls’ basketball team traveled to Hoosier Crossroads Conference opponent Franklin Central Saturday afternoon. For the third time this season, the Lady Millers offense dropped 70+ points as they were able to cruise to a 75-52 win.

The first quarter set the tone for the entire game as after one quarter of play the Lady Millers held a dominating 19-5 lead. In the second quarter the lead got even bigger as Noblesville poured on 23 more points (15 for Franklin Central) as they took a 42-20 lead into halftime.

In the second half Franklin Central was able to pick up the offense as they scored 32 total points in the second half. However the deficit was just too big to overcome.

Freshman Ashlynn Shade continued to be a force on both sides of the ball for the Lady Millers in the win. Shade led all scorers with 34 points in the win while grabbing ten rebounds. The freshman phenom continued to show her skills on the defensive side of the ball too as she recorded eight steals. Mallory Miller added in 15 points for the Millers.

On a night where the Noblesville boys’ basketball hosted Franklin Central. Something bigger than the game happened during halftime as Noblesville honored the memory of the late Tony Etchison by giving his family his framed No. 20 jersey. Members of the both the Miller and Hamilton Heights communities were in attendance to remember the legacy of Tony.  

On the court the Millers and the Flashes played a tremendous Hoosier Crossroads Conference matchup which saw the Miller prevail in a narrow 53-52 win. 

2020 is really heating up, and last week provided several statistical outbursts throughout the state, as three of our winners surpassed 40 points in a game, one winner grabbed more than 20 rebounds in a game, and another winner shot 82% (14-17) from 3-point range. Even some of our other top nominees put up huge numbers, including one player pouring in 51 points in a game.

Kouts Junior Cole Wireman, Blackford Junior Luke Brown, Northwestern Senior Tayson Parker, Silver Creek Junior Kooper Jacobi, Penn Junior Trinity Clinton, Marion Senior RaShaya Kyle, and Bedford North Lawrence Junior Chloe McKnight were selected as recipients for the week of Jan. 13-Jan. 18 in the recognition program coordinated by the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association.

Wireman is the boys’ recipient in District-1, while Clinton is the girls’ recipient in District-1. Brown and Parker share boys’ honors in District-2, while Kyle is the girls’ honoree in District-2. Jacobi represents the boys in District-3, while McKnight is the girls’ winner in District-3.

The Noblesville Gymnastics team traveled to Bloomington South on Tuesday night for their second competition of the season. With a ton of new members on the team, the Millers placed third at the meet with a team score of 87.15. 

Head Coach for the Lady Millers, Jody Ramey spoke about how the competition showed positives and negatives for her team.