Being labeled as probably the best matchup in the state of Indiana on Friday night, it was bound to attract all sorts of basketball fans from around the area and the whole state for that matter.
The Noblesville Girls Basketball Club made their presence known in the bleachers behind the north basket with signs and a nice full section donning the black and gold of their mentors on the court.
Getting so much attention in a highly touted game, it attracted attention of one of the other undefeated teams in the state. Center Grove JV head coach Kara Sobucki, a former co-worker of mine, was in attendance scouting Noblesville, but in a conference like the HCC, obviously Fishers had her attention also. #4 Center Grove (8-0) travels down to #1 Bedford North Lawrence (9-0) this afternoon for a big early afternoon showdown of two of the state's top teams.
Back to Noblesville-Fishers. Friday night, it was as it always is with these two Hoosier Crossroads Conference schools. In recent years, each school has hosted a silent auction in the lobby to the gym that includes different gift cards to local restaurants, tickets to Indianapolis Colts and Butler men's basketball games and many other great items to bid on. All of the proceeds go directly toward the research of cancer in hopes to someday soon find a cure for the dreaded disease.
Coaches vs. Cancer gives the teams and communities to come together for a cause so great that has affected all of us in some sort of way. It feels great to even put in a bid or toss money in the purple buckets that were passed around. Noblesville's varsity and jv sported pink uniforms with black letters and numbers to do their part.
4A #5 Noblesville 45, 4A #11 Fishers 33 (Friday, Dec. 12 at Fishers)
Millers 6 7 7 25 - 45
Tigers 11 4 7 11 - 33
From the opening tip, Fishers had the mindset that they were going to completely take Noblesville out of its normal fluid, high-scoring offense. And that's exactly what happened for 24 minutes.
They may have one of the quickest guards with Adrianna Murphy at point, but sometimes some things just around in the cards, even if you're the home team on the scoreboard.
Murphy, Kara Gerka and Brooke Sugg came into the game combining for an average of 39.7 of the Tigers' 51.6 points per game. They knew it would be up to them to take down the Noblesville Millers with their extremely potent offense that puts up 81.4 a contest and gives up just 51.6.
The Tigers' game plan worked and had Noblesville on its heels for quite a while on Friday night, but as the game kept moving, it had the feel that the Millers would work their magic once again.
Fishers got their point across quick in the first, with Murphy (5) and Gerka (4) putting up a majority of their 11 to take an 11-6 lead into the second.
A trey by Becca Bergman woke the offense up and at halftime the Millers trailed just 15-13 and outscored the Tigers 7-4 in the 2nd.
Alexis Shannon slowly, but surely took the game over on the offensive end, netting seven of her 23 in the third. Noblesville spent a lot of time diving on the floor for loose balls in the second half and it paid off.
Noblesville fought back to trail by two after three, 22-20, but the big factor was that it was obvious that the Millers were starting to wear out the Tigers.
Just as last Saturday at North Central, something happened mentally and a switch was literally flipped.
The Millers started fast in the fourth and before we knew it, Alexis Shannon was fast down the court for a layup, tying the game at 22. The junior guard converted the shot and was fouled and made the free throw for the old-fashioned 3-point play a 23-22 lead, Noblesville's first of the game.
The lead was extended to 25-22 and Fishers cut it to 25-24 and took the lead back on a Kara Gerka bucket, 26-25.
Brooke Herron swished a three from the right wing for a 28-26 Miller lead and things got shifted into high gear.
Fishers tied it up at 28-28 with an easy two off the glass from Hannah Kroehler.
A steal by Bergman and up the court went Alexis Shannon for a basket and a 30-28 lead that the Millers would never give back. That started 8 points in a row from the speedy guard, as she scored 13 of her game-high 23 points to help Noblesville burst past Fishers in the 4th for a 45-33 road victory.
The loss for Fishers drops them to 7-2 on the season and 2-1 in Hoosier Crossroads Conference play. The Tigers were led in scoring by a pair of starters with Kara Gerka and Adrianna Murphy both winding up with 11. Hannah Kroehler (6) and Brooke Sugg (5) were the others contributing for Fishers.
Noblesville (9-0, 3-0 HCC) continues its winning ways with its leading scorer, Alexis Shannon pacing them with 23 points and 4 rebounds, while hitting 7 of 16 from the floor and sinking 9 of her 11 attempts at the charity stripe.
Fishers was able to take 2nd leading scorer Katelyn O'Reilly out of her style of game a little bit. She wasn't able to dominate the paint like she usually does and was charged with 4 personal fouls, but still managed to get 8 points and 5 rebounds.
Becca Bergman, Brooke Herron, Cori Cain and Kayleigh Herron put together the remaining 14 points for the Millers.
The Tigers didn't get the foul calls they had hoped for and were only 7-for-11 at the foul line, while Noblesville was 19-of-23 (82.6%) and 10-for-11 in the 4th quarter to help seal the victory. Anytime that you can make eight more free throws that your opponent attempts, that usually results in a win, as it did Friday night for the Millers.
Next up for Noblesville (9-0) is a road trip north to Anderson (1-8) on Tuesday night December 16, where they'll face the Indians. Anderson also played last night, losing to Richmond 66-59.
Tuesday night's game at Anderson, played at the old Madison Heights High School gym, will be available live on HamiltonCountyTV.com. Craig Adkins (myself) will have the play-by-play, along with color analyst Perry Williams.
Until Tuesday...
GO MILLERS!
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