As much as #3 Homestead took the wind out of the sails of the #4 Millers in their first game of the day at the Greenfield-Central Tournament, head coach Donna Keck and her great staff of assistants knew they had to figure out the best way to get the girls out of the loss mindset. The only thing that could do that was winning and that's exactly what happened...twice.
One of the toughest feats to accomplish on a team level, in any sport, is to go undefeated during a particular season. In the last 15 seasons, just 7 teams have finished off their seasons unblemished with the state championship trophy in their possession. The longer you go in a season without a loss, the more the pressure mounts up each and every game. That proverbial target on your back keeps getting bigger.
It's not that anyone wanted the Millers to have a loss, especially in a tournament where they would be exposed, but it's a good thing to get a loss at right about the midway point of the regular season.
Their next opponent wouldn't make it easy to get back to winning basketball. East Central came into the Greenfield-Central Tournament with 13 wins under their belt, so they're obviously no slouch.
#4 Noblesville 55, #13 East Central 44 - (Friday at Greenfield-Central Tournament)
Millers 22 8 9 16 - 55
Trojans 14 13 10 7 - 44
With the loss from just a few hours prior still on their mind, the Noblesville Millers felt there was only one thing to do...get back on the winning track.
The determination and poise that the Millers displayed in the first quarter against East Central had the Trojans fully aware that it would be an extremely tough task to hand Noblesville its second loss of the day.
Sparked from the opening tip by Becca Bergman's three treys, along with Brooke Herron (5) and Alexis Shannon (4), Noblesville sprung out to a 22-14 lead by the end of the first.
Allie McCool scored 6 of East Central's 14 in the first, but it was a 13-8 second that helped the Trojans trail the Millers by just three at halftime.
The Trojans also had a slight edge in the third (10-9), led by another 6 from McCool, but that would set off the Millers for the final quarter.
East Central meet 5'11 1/2" junior forward Katelyn O'Reilly. She was a scoring machine in Noblesville putting away the Trojans. O'Reilly outmuscled East Central to 11 of her game-high 19 points in the 4th and helped pave the way to a 55-44 victory for the Millers.
The Trojans were led by McCool's 17 and she was joined in double-figures by Kelsey Tippitt with 11.
Katelyn O'Reilly led all with a game-high 19 on nine field goals. Bergman drilled four 3-pointers en route to her 14 points and also dished out six assists.
#4 Noblesville 80, Floyd Central 38 - (Sat, Jan. 3 at Greenfield-Central Tournament)
Millers 21 23 17 19 - 80
Highlanders 9 12 7 10 - 38
Nothing against Floyd Central's team as a whole, but during pregame warm-ups, it just had a feel that Noblesville was on a mission to get back to winning in the manner they're used to.
Shannon (8), O'Reilly (6), Bergman (5) put the clamps down early on Floyd Central in the first as the Millers made a statement with a 21-9 quarter.
It felt weird to say during the Hamilton County TV broadcast that this was the "5th place game," so after only referring to it one time during the pregame show, I didn't use that term the remainder of the game.
In the 2nd, the only thing that didn't go Noblesville's way was the fact that they struggled from the charity stripe, making just 4-of-12. Rachel Shipman came off the bench and knocked down a pair of 3's in the quarter and had four assists for the game. Other than that, outscoring the Highlanders 23-12 to close out the first half, the Millers carried a lot of momentum into the locker room with a 44-21 lead.
The second half was where reserves got some key minutes on the floor mixed in with starters. Kiser, Brooke Herron, along with Cain, Shipman and Audrey DeFoe, the Millers showed Floyd Central what kind of depth and how dangerous Noblesville can be.
The Millers cruised in the second half to the tune of doubling up the Highlanders 36-17, on their way to a convincing 80-38 whipping of Floyd Central in their third game of the Greenfield-Central Tournament.
Floyd Central (6-8) was led by Brianna Roth with 11 and leading scorer Madison Kaiser was held well below her season average of 20.4 with just 10. The Highlanders get back to action on Thursday, January 8 at Meade County (KY) and on Saturday at New Albany in Hoosier Hills Conference play.
Alexis Shannon led the Millers with a game-high 17 and Katelyn O'Reilly 15, while Becca Bergman joined them in double-digits with 13. Balanced scoring the rest of the way down the box score with Audrey DeFoe and Emily Kiser each scored 7 and all of those coming in the second half. With Shipman's 6 in the 2nd, Brooke Herron had 5, elder sister Kayleigh with 4 and Cori Cain, Haley Conway and Sam Salmon each with 2. Erin Wood grabbed 7 rebounds to lead the Millers.
O'Reilly was Noblesville's leading scorer for the three games with 46, Alexis Shannon had 37 and Becca Bergman 30.
Noblesville (13-1) continues its regular season at home on Wednesday, January 7 as Kokomo (9-4) comes to The Mill. JV starts at 6pm with the varsity to follow.
On Saturday afternoon, they'll hit the road to one of the toughest gym to play in at Mt. Vernon (Fortville) (12-1). JV will start at Noon, with the varsity to follow.
Both games this week vs. Kokomo and at Mt. Vernon (Fortville) will be broadcast live on HamiltonCountyTV.com! Perry Williams will have the call on Wednesday night and he'll join me (Craig Adkins) on Saturday at Mt. Vernon (Fortville).
GO MILLERS!
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