#4 Noblesville outlasts Westfield, improves to 11-0

It was anticipated to be an all-out dogfight between two HCC rivals and it surely lived up to its billing. Noblesville and Westfield girls basketball in recent years has been a knock down, drag out physical battle until the clock hits all zeros.

On Saturday afternoon, Noblesville had one thing in mind. BEAT WESTFIELD. That's something that the Millers haven't done since 2009. Westfield has had Noblesville's number in the past five seasons, winning eight in a row in the series to take a 17-14 lead over the Millers in the count. The Shamrocks have won the previous eight meetings by an average of 8 points.

The Millers were on their home floor and weren't worried about the fact that they've lost eight in a row to Westfield. Who knows, they might have been thinking that. Taking this season one game at a time and concentrating on that opponent has been a key to this group getting to where it is as a team. They're well aware that they'll face Homestead (83.8 ppg) in their first game of the Greenfield-Central Holiday Tournament on January 2nd, but that wasn't something to worry about until after Westfield was put to bed.

4A #4 Noblesville 68, Westfield 55 - (Sat. Dec. 20 at The Mill, Noblesville)
Shamrocks     10     11     15     19     -     55
Millers            12     15     19     22     -     68

Just as Noblesville was focused on beating Westfield and nothing else, the visiting Shamrocks were upset-minded from the opening tip.

Abby Reeder started Westfield off on the right foot with a three, but was matched on the other end of the court. Becca Bergman tossed the ball into the paint for Erin Wood, but being doubled as soon as the pass got to her, Wood dished it back out to Bergman and she canned a trey to get the Millers going and

tie it 3-3.

Back and forth would go the first with Keck's squad taking control toward the final minutes of the quarter. Thanks to a steal and coast-to-coast layup from Kayleigh Herron, an Erin Wood jumper and a 2nd Bergman three, Noblesville clung to a 12-10 edge through one.

The Millers started to pull away a little a the beginning of the second, but the Shamrocks kept themselves at a pretty close distance with Noblesville up two possessions 27-21 at the half.

Something must have happened in the Westfield locker room. They came out on a mission. Allison Van Dyke swished a three to get the Shamrock fans going to trail just 27-26. The next trip up the floor, Annaliese Drudge got fouled and made both free throws for a 28-27 lead change for Westfield.

Bergman had that look on her face that she was determined and nailed her fourth three of the day for a 30-28 Miller advantage.

Kayleigh Herron assisted on an Erin Wood bucket for a 34-32 lead, but Westfield would tie it up again at 34-34 on two Drudge free throws, only adding fuel to the fire for Noblesville.

Wood stole an inside pass and launched an outlet pass to Cori Cain for a driving layup all alone for a 36-34 score that the Millers wouldn't let go of.

From that point in the third, Brooke Herron took over for a couple possessions. The sophomore sparkplug off the bench found herself open for two 3's in a row and just like that, the Millers were up 42-34 with 1:42 left in the 3rd, forcing head coach Shane Sumpter to call a timeout for Westfield to cool down Noblesville.

Noblesville extended their lead to their largest at 44-34 when Bergman took one of her four steals back the other way for a layup. The younger Herron (Brooke) made a pair of free throws to close out the third with 8 of the Millers' final 10 of the quarter and lead 46-36.

Despite picking up 3 fouls in the first half and her fourth in the middle of the third, Katelyn O'Reilly took a seat until the 4th. Then, the 4th quarter became The O'Reilly show. The Millers' 5'11 power forward scored 9 of her 13 points in the 4th in helping her teammates fend off Westfield and push the Shamrocks away for a 68-55 victory in the Hoosier Crossroads Conference.

Westfield (6-4, 1-2 HCC) was led in scoring by Allison Van Dyke and her game-high 20 points on five field goals and 9-of-11 at the free throw line. Maddy Grennes also reached double-figures with 11, while Haliegh Reinoehl (9), Annaliese Drudge (7) and Abby Reeder (4) made up the rest of the Shamrocks' scoring.

The Shamrocks will get a little time off before they're back to it. They hit the road on January 2nd to face Franklin Central (9-2) and host 4A #9 Lake Central (11-1) on January 3rd.

Noblesville (11-0, 4-0 HCC) had three finish in double-digits and were led by Becca Bergman's 16 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 steals. Katelyn O'Reilly got her 6th double-double of the season with 13 points and 12 rebounds and Alexis Shannon added 13 points and 4 steals. Aside from being whistled for four fouls by early in the 4th, Erin Wood had 6 points and 7 rebounds.

Brooke Herron had all 8 of her points in the final two minutes of the third. Kayleigh Herron (5), Cori Cain (5) and Emily Kiser (2) made up for the remaining 12 points.

The Millers get a little bit of a break from game action, but will be practicing hard as they'll face 4A #3 Homestead, who is 9-0 before playing at Carmel tonight (Monday).

Hamilton County TV will be live in Greenfield for the Greenfield-Central Holiday Tournament on January 2nd, as the Millers will tangle with the highly-touted Spartans at around 3:15 p.m. Myself (Craig Adkins) and Perry Williams will have the call for all three Noblesville games at Greenfield-Central.

Until then...

GO MILLERS!

(*all photos courtesy of Kent Graham at kentgraham.photoshelter.com)