There a nights on the basketball court when everything just goes right. Tuesday, January 20 turned out to, in fact, be that kind of night for the fifth-ranked Noblesville Miller girls basketball team.
When your shots are hitting all night long, there's no stopping you as a team. That's what fueled Noblesville as they completely dominated Western Boone with a 68-point blowout, 106-38.
In a series that Noblesville came in with a 5-2 advantage, it was to be somewhat of a decent battle, despite Western Boone having just one senior to their roster.
This was where the experience and depth of head coach Donna Keck's Millers came into play throughout Tuesday night's tilt with the Stars.
4A #5 Noblesville 106, Western Boone 38 - (Tuesday, Jan. 20 at The Mill, Noblesville)
Stars 12 4 13 9 - 38
Millers 35 17 29 25 - 106
From the tip-off, Katelyn O'Reilly had that presence about her that nothing would get in her way. Scoring half of her game-high 26 points in the first quarter, KO (13) and Kayleigh Herron (8) combined to push Western Boone away early and the Millers weren't messing around with a 35-12 lead after one.
Their defense tightened up even more in the second.
Western Boone was well-aware of the Millers' normal full court pressure, so they were prepared for it. Noblesville took their visitors by surprise, somewhat, picking the Stars up defensively in the half court. Regardless of how the Millers were set up defensively, Western Boone couldn't get anything done offensively, resulting in a 17-4 second and Noblesville went to the locker room at half with a very convincing 52-16 advantage.
There wasn't a whole lot that Western Boone head coach Rich Schelsky and his staff could conjure up. The Millers were, plain and simple, on a mission to continue making the statement they have been all season so far.
They have unfinished business and last February's first round sectional loss to Fishers still sticks in their minds very vividly.
Thanks in huge part to 10 assists across the board in the third, Noblesville piled on 29 more points to jump out to the most comfortable lead they've had all season at 81-29.
At this point in the game, Coach Keck and staff fully "called off the dogs" and played the 4th the same way they ended the third...with the bench on the floor.
With what has to be the best 2nd five in the state of Indiana, they were let loose to see exactly what they're capable of in a full quarter and it was nothing short of what their coaches expected.
Already with one trey in the second right before halftime, Rachel Shipman had no idea what she would be doing in the 4th. Shipman got in a zone late in the 4th quarter and they kept feeding her the basketball. The 5'5 junior guard just about went "around the world" with three-pointers. A sharp-shooting left, she found herself open on four different possessions, swishing all four attempts. While doing so, she tied a single-game record of five 3-pointers made. She now holds this record with four other individuals in Noblesville girls basketball history.
Another hot streak in the fourth was from freshman Emily Kiser. The 6'2 forward scored all 9 of her points in the 4th, including an over and under play, lifting the ball up and off of the glass while getting fouled.
Two free throws from junior Haley Conway got the Millers to points 100 and 101, igniting the home faithful. Shipman's fifth and final 3-pointer of the night made it 104 to break their own school record. The final Noblesville points were on a driving floater from Sam Salmon for the final score of 106-38, establishing a new Noblesville girls basketball record for most points in a single-game.
Western Boone (10-7) managed to get two into double-figures, with Callie Gubera (13) and Rachel Ramey (12) making up most of the Stars' 38 points.
Noblesville (16-1) was paced with a balanced scoring attack by the junior tandem of Katelyn O'Reilly (26) and Alexis Shannon (21), who by themselves were able to score seven more than Western Boone as a team. O'Reilly also wound up with 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals and 3 blocks to fill out her stat line pretty nicely.
Rachel Shipman had a career-high 15 points on those school-record 5 three-pointers and Kayleigh Herron was the fourth Miller in double-digits with 12 points on 5 field goals. Kiser grabbed 8 boards to go with her 9 points, while also dishing out 3 assists and blocking 3 shots.
Bergman (3), Brooke Herron (5), Cori Cain (2), Erin Wood (4), Audrey DeFoe (3) and Sam Salmon (2) made up for the rest of Noblesville's 106-point output.
The Millers get back in action next Monday, January 26 as they'll host the Kokomo Wildkats (11-6), who play Muncie Central (11-5) on Saturday afternoon.
Don't forget to come out and see the Millers at home for three games next week. Along with hosting Kokomo on Monday, Pendleton Heights (12-6) comes to The Mill on Wednesday the 28th and on Saturday the 31st, Noblesville has a chance to win the Hoosier Crossroads Conference championship outright when Hamilton Southeastern (13-4) visits.
GO MILLERS!
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