Noblesville's dream season ends in Elite 8

Following their Regional semifinal win in convincing fashion over McCutcheon, Noblesville had plenty of time to head back to their hotel and let it sink in that they would be playing for a Regional Championship later that night and also get a rematch with Homestead.

Between sessions, the players and coaches planned to just completely relax and get their minds back by taking naps and kicking back before they reconvened for dinner and a walk through session.

The #6 Millers were on a mission to take that next step in their season goals process, but in their way stood a tall test in defeating the highly-touted Homestead Spartans. #3 Homestead had just two losses coming into Regional. Those were at the hands of 4A #2 Columbus North and Elizabethtown, who is currently the #1-ranked team in Kentucky, where there's no class basketball.

This team grew to believe that it was their time. They had the community of Noblesville believing that they can achieve great things. By far, they Millers had the biggest and best crowd of all four schools in the Kokomo Regional.

They arrived at Kokomo's historic Memorial Gym around 7 p.m. for their championship bout. You could see their emotions were held back because they were completely focused on exactly what they were there to do.

The tall order of defeating probably the best shooting team around the state of Indiana completely engulfed the minds of the Millers. It was going to be a daunting task, but it was time to faced the music and get focused.

Homestead 83, Noblesville 66 - (Regional Championship - Memorial Gym, Kokomo)
Millers        18     17     13     18     -     66
Spartans     23     13     23     24     -     83

Homestead won the opening tip and quickly got out to a 2-0 lead, thanks to Josie Fisher jetting to the bucket for the first points of the night. It became a back and forth affair for the majority of the first half.

Making just six 3's all season coming into Regional play, Katelyn O'Reilly (at left) thought she would catch Homestead off guard. Alexis Shannon caught a pass from Becca Bergman as she flashed toward the free throw line. Shannon saw a wide open KO on the right wing and dished. O'Reilly gave the Millers their first lead at 3-2.

Savannah Buck answered right back on the other end with a three for Homestead for a 5-3 lead.

Bergman saw it as her turn to flip the lead next. Kayleigh Herron (at right)
found Bergman open for a three and her senior backcourt mate put NHS back on top 6-5.

Grace German drew a foul at Homestead's end, tying the game at 6-6 with the first and giving the Spartans the lead again at 7-6 on her second free throw make.

Kayleigh gave the Millers the lead once again on a three, as O'Reilly found her for a nice inside-out and a 9-7 Noblesville edge.

Quickly back to Homestead's end, Savannah Buck made the last past in the sequence and sophomore Karissa McLaughlin swished a three at the top for a 10-9 Spartan lead.

The senior Herron took it upon herself the next offensive possession to drive to the basket for a layup and her fifth point of the 1st and the sixth and final lead change at 11-10. Another Noblesville score put them up 13-10, giving them a confidence boost.

McLaughlin got fouled for an and-1 opportunity and she tied it at 13-13.

The Spartans and Millers each converted seven field goals, but the real kicker of the first was that Homestead shot 6-for-11 from 3-point land and only 1-of-5 on 2's. Through one period the two had battled it out for a 23-18 Homestead lead.

Something had to give for Noblesville defensively in the second quarter to fend off the stellar outside shooting of Homestead. The Millers tightened up their D and kept themselves in the game by penetrating the paint in the 2nd period with 7 of their 8 made field goals coming of the high-percentage variety. Despite going 0-for-4 from outside the arc in the second, Noblesville was 4-for-10 in the first half and went to the locker room at halftime trailing by just one, 36-35.

Noblesville tried slowing the game down, defensively, to a tempo that would ultimately give them an edge. Cori Cain, Kayleigh Herron and Becca Bergman each drained a trey in the 3rd, along with KO and Erin Wood each adding two, but that only fueled Homestead at both ends of the floor.

Homestead would have nothing to do with that. Junior forward Lindley Kistler put up 10 of her 20 points in the third to help spark the Spartans. They were able to make 7-of-13 shots in the 3rd, including 4-for-8 on 3-pointers to climb back out in front by double-digits, 59-48.

The Millers shot 3-of-5 on three-point attempts in the third, but when they were out-rebounded 10-5, they were distanced by the made 3's by Homestead.


Keck and her staff were able to regroup the troops at the break before the 4th. The discrepancy of 8-3 in fouls called against was a big factor in the final period that helped Homestead control the tempo tremendously. It seemed like Homestead's offense gave the Millers a lot of frustration, but they weren't going to go away quietly.

Thanks to the combined speedy scoring attack of Bergman and Shannon, Noblesville went on a 10-5 run to start the 4th, cutting the 11-point deficit to six at 64-58 with 4:40 remaining in the game, forcing Rod Parker to burn a timeout.

The two were responsible for 14 of the Millers' 18 in the final frame, but that wasn't enough to stave off everything that Parker's high-powered offense brought at them.

Josie Fisher is Homestead's lone senior that starts and sees a significant amount of playing time and she wanted to make sure the Millers weren't able to get any closer than the six points they were when Bergman's pair of 3's narrowed it to that 64-58 score. Fishers scored 10 of her 17 points in the latter part of the 4th to help put away the Millers, ending Noblesville's dream season in the Elite 8 with an 83-66 final score.

The Spartans were led in scoring by their leading scorer Karissa McLaughlin with 23 points and six rebounds on 6-14 shooting and 8-of-9 at the free throw line. Lindley Kistler had 20 points and 10 boards, including six made field goals and 4-of-6 from downtown. Fishers netted 17 points on four shots made and 9-for-11 at the charity stripe.

Also scoring for Homestead were Savannah Buck with 11, while Madisen Parker and Grace German each pitched in with 6 apiece.

Homestead (25-2) plays in the 4A North Semi-State Saturday (today) against the Merrillville Pirates (21-7) at 3:30 at Crown Point. The 4A South Semi-State will be played at Richmond and pits two one-loss teams together. Columbus North (26-1) meets up with Lawrence North (27-1) at 3:00.

Noblesville (23-4) saw its dream season come to and end and not in a fashion they thought it would by any means. The Millers put three into double-figures with Becca Bergman leading the way with 17 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists and a pair of steals. Becca was named Hamilton County TV's Player of the Game in this Regional Championship game.

The junior tandem of Katelyn O'Reilly (six boards, 4 assists, 2 steals) and Alexis Shannon (3 assists, 2 steals) scored 15 and 10, respectively.

Kayleigh Herron scored 9 points on four field goals, including a pair of 3's. Emily Kiser had 6 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists. Erin Wood had 4 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists. Cori Cain had 3 points and 3 assists and Brooke Herron also had 2.

All-Regional 1st Team

Karissa McLaughlin (Homestead): 36 pts, 11 reb, 3 ast and 4 stl. 11-27 FG, 4-12 3's, 10-11 FT

Lindley Kistler (Homestead): 35 pts, 17 reb, 3 blks. 10-19 FG, 5-8 3's, 10-15 FT

Josie Fisher (Homestead): 31 pts, 6 reb, 11 ast, 3 stl. 11-16 FG, 9-11 FT

Becca Bergman (Noblesville): 26 pts, 7 reb, 8 ast, 4 stl. 9-19 FG, 8-14 3's

Deja Wimby (Fort Wayne Snider): 26 pts, 6 reb, 3 ast, 4 stl. 8-29 FG, 2-6 3's, 8-10 FT

Alexis Shannon (Noblesville): 24 pts, 7 reb, 7 ast, 2 stl. 12-26 FG

Katelyn O'Reilly (Noblesville): 23 pts, 12 reb, 6 ast, 4 stl. 9-15 FG, 4-4 FT

All-Regional 2nd Team

Emily Kiser (Noblesville): 15 pts, 10 reb, 2 ast, 2 blks. 6-11 FG

Kayleigh Herron (Noblesville): 14 pts, 2 reb , 2 ast, 2 stl. 5-10 FG, 3-7 3's

Kyla Covington (Fort Wayne Snider): 10 pts, 14 reb. 4-8 FG

Kerstyn Lowery (McCutcheon): 12 pts, 2 reb, 5 ast, 3 stl. 9-12 FT

Erin Wood (Noblesville): 7 pts, 9 reb, 3 ast, 2 blks. 

Check out the blog again soon, as I'll recap the 4-year careers of seniors Becca Bergman, Erin Wood, Cori Cain, Kayleigh Herron and Audrey DeFoe. 

Also, I'll give my insight to what Donna Keck and her staff will have coming back for next season. 

Until then...

GO MILLERS!

(*all photos are credited to Kent Graham. You can view his complete gallery at kentgraham.photoshelter.com)

Millers grab Regional Semifinal win over McCutcheon

It's somewhat hard to put into the right words when something ends nowhere near close to they way it ultimately should have. The feeling of deflated is how I felt following Saturday night's Kokomo Regional Championship loss to the Homestead Spartans.

The Noblesville Millers met some of the goals that were on their list. The first was winning the Hoosier Crossroads Conference outright. In conjunction with winning the HCC, beating Hamilton Southeastern, which they hadn't done as a program in 17 straight games since 2002. The 3rd goal was to win Class 4A Sectional 8, which is always deemed as one of the toughest sectionals in the state, no matter the sport.

The Millers were dreaming with their eyes wide open. They advanced onto the Kokomo Regional where they would face a very familiar opponent in former HCC foe McCutcheon. Without even batting an eye, they beat the Mavericks and Noblesville had a date in the Regional Championship that night against destiny, the Homestead Spartans.

Noblesville 64, McCutcheon 40 - (Regional Semifinal - Memorial Gym, Kokomo)
Mavericks     7     10     13     10     -     40
Millers         16     17     19     12     -     64


They didn't want to assume victory over former Hoosier Crossroads Conference opponent McCutcheon, but Noblesville came in as pretty heavy favorites and weren't going to let anyone get in their way of a semifinal win. It was a size and speed mismatch, but the Mavericks were still going to put up a pretty good fight and force the Millers to work a little for their berth in the championship game.

It was close in the early going, but that didn't last long. Alexis Shannon (right) busted out with six in the 1st, along with 3-point makes from Becca Bergman and Cori Cain and two points each from Emily Kiser and Erin Wood and Noblesville had more than doubled-up the McCutcheon Mavericks 16-7.

Much of the same came from the Millers offensively in the second, as they would keep the Mavericks at as much of a distance that they would once again be doubled-up at halftime, 33-17. Forcing turnovers, having a balanced attack on offense and overall exhausting McCutcheon in the first half was exactly what Donna Keck and her staff
had in mind.

The lineup was mixed up in the third to throw off McCutcheon even more. Six more from Shannon equaled her out to a game-high 14 points. Bergman and Brooke Herron each knocked down a trey, while Cain, Wood, Kiser and Katelyn O'Reilly made up for the rest in the period to get the Millers to an even more comfortable lead at 52-30 through three.

The plan worked like a charm. Keck would have her starters on the bench for the remainder of the game at the start of the 4th. Resting them as much as possible for the anticipated championship rematch with Homestead.

McCutcheon left their starters in for a good portion of the 4th, but coach Knoy gave in eventually and emptied his bench. Noblesville's reserves showed why they're the best bench in the state by still outscoring the Mavericks 12-10 in the final frame to help the Millers win going away, 64-40.

The Mavericks were led in scoring by senior guard Kerstyn Lowery with 12 points, going 9-of-12 at the free throw line and one 3-point make. Becca Spitalniak had 7 and Claire Weideman 6. McCutcheon finishes their season at 18-9 and Champions of 4A Sectional 7 at McCutcheon.

Noblesville (23-3) moves on to play Homestead for the Kokomo Regional Championship. The Millers were led by Alexis Shannon's game-high 14 points on seven field goals. Becca Bergman nailed three 3's for her 9 and Emily Kiser also netted 9. Katelyn O'Reilly muscled her way to 8 and 5 boards.

Kayleigh Herron and Cori Cain each scored 5 and Rachel Shipman showed that she's a spark off of the Miller bench, swishing a three and a pair of free throws for five, while assuming the point guard role in the 4th.

Erin Wood (3), Brooke Herron (3), Audrey DeFoe (2) and Haley Conway (1) were responsible for the remaining Noblesville points.

Keck's Millers met up with Homestead previously on January 2nd in the first round of the Greenfield-Central Holiday Tournament. After the Millers had 13 days off and the Spartans had played 4 games during that span, Homestead found ways to run away from Noblesville that day, 58-44.

(*all photos are credited to Kent Graham. Check out his complete photo gallery at kentgraham.photoshelter.com!)

#5 Millers exhaust #9 Fishers, win 1st sectional since 1996

The Noblesville Millers checked off another goal on their list of things to accomplish during this 2014-15 girls basketball season. The first thing checked off was a combination task. They wanted to beat Hamilton Southeastern, which no Miller team had done in 17 consecutive tries since 2002, and win the Hoosier Crossroads Conference outright.

This group achieved those on the same night two weeks ago on Saturday, January 31 at The Mill.

Goal #2 was met on Saturday night at Hamilton Southeastern in the Class 4A Sectional 8 Championship game against HCC rival Fishers.

It wouldn't be easy by any means, but there would be no stopping this amazing group that represents Noblesville in many great ways.

The last time a sectional championship was won by the girls basketball program at Noblesville was 1996... Hard to believe, but we were in the second to last year of single-class basketball at that time.

Times are changing and Keck's Millers are making a statement, because they've got some unfinished business to take care of. They've already started with a sectional championship win. I can't wait to see this Saturday's Kokomo Regional unravel at historic Memorial Gym.

#5 Noblesville 55, #9 Fishers 41 - (Sat. Feb. 14 - Sectional 8 Championship at HSE)
Millers     15     8     14     18     -     55
Tigers      11    10      9     11     -     41

Noblesville controlled the opening tip, but the two went back and forth in the first and the intensity kept getting higher.

Adrianna Murphy got Fishers on the board first with a jumper. The Millers would tie it up almost immediately with a pair of Kayleigh Herron free throws. It sure lived up to its billing and Noblesville took a 15-11 lead into the 2nd quarter.

Not too far into the second, Katelyn O'Reilly (left) had a slight ankle injury. The ankle was initially tweaked last week. KO was helped off the court by Assistant coaches Tria Yoder and Megan Bastin (at left). Bastin is also the athletic trainer for the team and she took O'Reilly into the hallway to see how tender it was and if she would be able to get back on the floor the rest of the game. It would have taken much more than that to keep the physical junior forward off of the floor the rest of the evening.

Minutes later, her ankle was taped up tight and she was ready to get back out on the floor.

The score was tied 13-13 and Murphy showed her range by nailing a three from the top of the key for a 16-13 Fishers lead.

Testing her ankle right away, O'Reilly was fouled, making 1-2 at the line to give the Millers a 19-18.

Murphy was at it again the next trip down for the Tigers, knocking down another trey and Fishers was back in from 21-19.

Brooke Herron weaved through a few defenders and found herself to the bucket for two and tied the game again 21-21. Noblesville was able to score another two before half and the Millers went to the locker room with a halftime lead of 23-21.

Both teams came out gunning in the third, as was expected. On what most thought was a traveling violation, Fishers junior Kara Gerka made the basket and her free throw for a 27-27 tie.

It wasn't tied for long. Cori Cain (above) caught a Bergman pass and swished a three from the left wing to get Noblesville a 30-27 lead that they wouldn't give back.

Whether it was the exhausting backcourt defensive pressure from Bergman (defending at left), Cain and the Herrons, or that Erin Wood, Emily Kiser, KO and Alexis Shannon didn't allow much to happen in the paint for Fishers, the Millers simply frustrated the Tigers to no end.

Keck and her Millers led 37-30 through three, but they knew that Fishers would throw everything else they had in them in the 4th.

There are times when we don't know when she'll kick it into high gear, but on Saturday night, Alexis Shannon (right) picked the right time.

With the help of fellow junior O'Reilly grabbing a few rebounds, she and Bergman combined for three assists and weren't afraid to toss long balls down the court to a sprinting Shannon. She scored 14 of the Millers' 18 points in the 4th, as they hit the gas pedal to speed past their conference rival for their first sectional championship in 19 years, 55-41.

It's something this group has worked extremely hard to achieve and it has finally become a reality. They are the 2015 Class 4A Sectional 8 Champions!

Fishers (20-6) finishes as sectional runner-up. They were led in scoring by Adrianna Murphy's game-high 26 points and 7 rebounds. Kara Gerka quietly managed 10 and 5 boards. Hannah Kroehler (3) and Brooke Sugg (2) also scored for the Tigers.

Noblesville (22-3) was led in scoring by Alexis Shannon's (left) team-high 24, along with 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals. Shannon was successful on eight field goals made and an 8-for-8 effort at the charity stripe. Those numbers and her 4th quarter surge helped earn her Hamilton County TV's Player of the Game award.

Becca Bergman joined her in double-figures with 12, grabbing four rebounds, 5 assists and a pair of steals. Cori Cain had 6 on a 3-pointer and 3-of-4 at the free throw line. O'Reilly (5) didn't find herself scoring her usual amount, but she snagged 7 rebounds, had 5 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocked shots.

Kayleigh Herron, Erin Wood, Brooke Herron and Emily Kiser each added 2 to do their part in the Millers' scoring attack.

Noblesville (22-3) advances to Saturday's Regional at Kokomo and will take on former Hoosier Crossroads Conference rival McCutcheon (18-8) at 10 a.m. at Memorial Gym. The second game at 12 p.m. will pit Fort Wayne Snider (21-4) vs. the Homestead Sectional championship match-up of Homestead (22-2) and Jay County (20-5), which got postponed until Monday at 7 p.m. due to the combination of a winter weather travel advisory and a lot of snow accumulation in the Fort Wayne area.

Coverage of the Millers in their quest for a Regional championship can be heard on hctv1.com, starting at 9:45 Saturday morning live with the pregame show from Kokomo with myself and Perry Williams on Hamilton County TV (audio only)!

Until Saturday...

GO MILLERS!

Voice of the Millers,

Craig Adkins

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

Noblesville ousts North Central, advances to sectional championship

Friday night's semifinal didn't have near the same build-up that the December 6th meeting at North Central did. The Panthers were playing with just three guards rotating off of their bench, which would just spell trouble from the opening tip...and it did.

The Millers were able to get back to doing what they do best, but it wasn't pretty at time. Sharing the wealth and not caring who distributes or scores, that's what makes this Noblesville Miller team run like a well-oiled machine.

The jitters were still out on the floor in the first few minutes of the game, for both teams really. Noblesville hadn't played since Tuesday night's win over Carmel and North Central drew the bye game, so they haven't played since last Friday's road win at Lawrence Central to close out their regular season.

4A #5 Noblesville 68, North Central 39 - (Fri. Feb. 13 at Hamilton Southeastern)
Panthers     6     7     8     18     -     39
Millers        9    19   18    22     -     68

Point production from the start of the game didn't come from where it normally does for Noblesville and that kind of threw off North Central's defense a little bit. The Panthers were thinking that the bulk of the Miller scoring would come from Alexis Shannon, Katelyn O'Reilly and Becca Bergman (at right).

Yes, that trio who are Noblesville's top 3 scorers did combine for one-third (23) of their points. That's not what was the focal point offensively in a game like this.

Bench points were an astounding 36-9 advantage for the Millers and that's what drove Noblesville throughout the game.

How deep your bench can go, is a great measure of how deep your team can go in the state tournament.

The Millers had a 9-6 lead after the first quarter, but it was obvious that it wouldn't take long for Noblesville to pull themselves away from North Central.

A pair of Bergman 3's and another from Brooke Herron and the Millers had busted this game open, outscoring the Panthers 19-7 in the second to lead at half 28-13.

The third was all about widening the lead enough at the end of the quarter to rest all of the starters for the 4th. That plan worked as Noblesville was up by more than North Central had scored at that point, 46-21.

Erin Wood (left) found her touch on the offensive end in the 3rd, dropping in three of her four field goals, while also grabbing four boards in the frame. Brooke Herron added to her point total with six more in the third. Katelyn O'Reilly scored four of her eight as well.

Head coach Donna Keck kept her bench on the floor for the remainder of the game. A couple shifted in and out to get every player a chance to play.

Audrey DeFoe (below) found her way to 8 points on three field goals and 2-for-2 at the foul line, earning herself Hamilton County TV's Co-Player of the Game with fellow senior Kayleigh Herron. Herron (right) displayed her physicality at the start of each half by grabbing four rebounds and dishing out 5 assists on the night.

North Central kept their starters on the floor for most of the 4th, until Dee Ann Ramey gave way to subbing in her bench players in the final minutes.

Even with the Millers' bench on the floor for the entire 4th, the Panthers were still outscored by Noblesville 22-18, en route to a 68-39 sectional semifinal victory and a berth in the sectional championship.

North Central (9-13) was led in scoring by Kyra Taylor, who was the lone Panther in double-digits with 11. Alexis Johnson and Ajanae' Thomas each added 6. Ajah Stallings had 5, Taylor Ramey 4, Auboni Hart 3 and Andrea Robertson 2.

Noblesville (21-3) had Becca Bergman and Brooke Herron (below right) tying for team-high honors at 10 points apiece. Erin Wood had a solid night with 9 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 4 blocked shots. Katelyn O'Reilly pitched in nicely with 8 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocks.

Audrey DeFoe was clutch off the bench in the 4th with 8 points. Emily Kiser was also solid with 7 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocks for the game.

Alexis Shannon (5), Cori Cain (3), Rachel Shipman (3), Haley Conway (3) and Sam Salmon accounted for the rest of the Millers' scoring.

Saturday night's 4A Sectional 8 Hamilton Southeastern championship game will feature the Noblesville Millers (21-3) vs. the Fishers Tigers (20-5).

Fishers edged Hamilton Southeastern 36-35 on a controversial no-call to end the second semifinal on Friday night.

The Millers got a come from behind, 45-33 road win at Fishers in the regular season HCC meeting between the two on December 12.

Noblesville is seeking its first sectional championship in the class-era and first since 1996. This is also the Millers' first sectional championship appearance in the Donna Keck era. Fishers is looking to repeat after winning the 2014 sectional championship at North Central.

Coverage for tomorrow night's sectional championship tilt will start with the pregame show Hamilton County TV (hctv1.com) at 7:15 with Perry Williams and myself (Craig Adkins) on the call, tip-off at 7:30!

GO MILLERS!

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

Millers get gut-check, beat Carmel to open sectional play

Revenge was the biggest thing on the minds of the Carmel Greyhounds coming into Tuesday night's battle with Noblesville in the opening game of 4A Sectional 8 at Hamilton Southeastern. It was very apparent from their demeanor as they took the court.

Back on November 25th, these two met in the regular season at Carmel and the Millers were able to run up and down the court that much better than the host Greyhounds on that night to the tune of a 102-85 win. Since that game, head coach Tod Windlan posted signs all over the Carmel locker room that read, "102-85" to motivate his team throughout the rest of the regular season. They got their wish and on February 1st, the IHSAA's blind state tournament draw matched the two up again.

If it were legal to bet on high school sports, someone in Las Vegas would have been smart to bet that the score of this sectional match-up wouldn't be anywhere near the total of 187 in their November meeting.

#5 Noblesville 60, #19 Carmel 55 - (Tues. Feb. 10 at Hamilton Southeastern Sectional)
Millers              8     19     16     17     -     60
Greyhounds    16    17       7     15     -     55

From the opening tip, it looked like Carmel was fully engaged to get their revenge on their county rival Noblesville. It took a couple minutes for each team to get the jitters of being the first game out of the way.

Production from guards Amy Dilk (6), Amanda Shaw (4), two each from Abby Abel and Andi Kwasniewski off the bench, along with 6-of-8 from the foul line, helped keep the Millers at a slight distance and they Greyhounds had a 16-8 lead through one.

Katelyn O'Reilly's night started off with a bang, muscling her way to the basket for all eight of the Millers' first quarter points.

She and Alexis Shannon each put six on the board, along with an open three from Becca Bergman and rebound put-back by the birthday girl Emily Kiser in the 2nd and Noblesville had outscored the Carmel 19-17, but still trailed by six at the half.

Emily Kmec found herself open in the quarter for 10 points, including a pair of 3's from the corner that erupted the Greyhound fans and another five from freshman guard Dilk and they did their jobs offensively to give Carmel a 33-27 halftime lead.

Enter Alexis Shannon's driving baskets back into the equation. The junior standout managed another six in the 3rd, helping the Millers cut Carmel's lead to one at 37-36.

After a defensive stop at the other end, the Millers were poised to take the lead on their next possession. And they did.

It's a darn good thing that Noblesville's tall players have learned to play well around each other. Late in the 3rd, Emily Kiser grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back up. The shot was missed and rebounded by Erin Wood. Her close range shot was missed and Kiser pulled the board down. This time, third time's the charm with 2:16 left on the 3rd quarter clock, Kiser's layup was good. The Millers had taken their first lead of the game at 38-37.

Carmel called a full timeout with 2:08 left in the third. If they hadn't, that would have allowed the Millers to speed up their D even more.

Out of the timeout, they Greyhounds had drawn up a play and it worked. Senior guard Abby Abel nailed a three from the left wing for a 40-38 Carmel lead.

Don't worry, that wouldn't last long.

Next time down the floor, Cori Cain dished to Becca Bergman and once again, Noblesville was back in front 41-40. The Millers scored once more to lead 43-40 after three.

Early in the 4th, Amanda Shaw tied it at 43-43 and that just added fuel to the fire for Noblesville.

Bergman had seven in the 4th, Wood added another couple baskets to her total and Cori Cain sank a pair of free throws down the stretch to ice the Greyhounds and solidify Noblesville's 60-55 first-round sectional victory.

The win was Noblesville's first sectional victory in two years, since they defeated Zionsville (61-42) at Westfield. It also got the Millers their 20th W on the season, which hasn't been done in quite some time in Noblesville lore.

Carmel finishes its season at 17-8 and put forth a valiant effort to upend the Millers. The Greyhounds were led in scoring by Emily Kmec, Amy Dilk, Amanda Shaw and Abby Abel, who all managed 13 points for all but 3 of Carmel's points.

Noblesville (20-3) managed to get three into double-figures. Katelyn O'Reilly had another double-double with 18 points and 14 rebounds to go along with 2 blocked shots. Becca "Stats" Bergman might have scored 15 points, but her 7 rebounds, 8 assists, 4 steals, and not to mention her blocked shot during the Millers' 3rd quarter comeback, made her the catalyst and a thorn in the side of Carmel from the tip to the final buzzer.

Alexis Shannon dropped in 14 points and 5 rebounds. Erin Wood had another solid game on the glass with 6 points in the second half and 11 rebounds. Emily Kiser chipped in nicely on her birthday with 5 points and 6 rebounds and a pair of steals as the Millers took over the game later in the 3rd. Cori Cain also had 2 points.

The Millers continue their quest to reach Goal #2 on Friday night when they'll face the North Central Panthers (9-12) at 6:00.

If you can't be at Hamilton Southeastern live for the semifinal, join Perry Williams and myself at 5:50 for pregame coverage on Hamilton County TV (hctv1.com) and the call of the game at 6:00

GO MILLERS!

40th Annual IHSAA Girls Basketball State Tournament - Sectional Predictions

It's hard to believe where the time has gone this basketball season, but this week starts the 40th Annual IHSAA Girls Basketball State Tournament in the state of Indiana. There are 335 sectional games, 108 that will take place tonight, Tuesday, February 10. Just a little less that 1/3 of all sectional games will occur on the same night.

At 64 sites in four different classes, tonight starts the journey that will end at Banker's Life Fieldhouse in downtown Indianapolis with the crowning of four state champions.

Last season's State Champions:
1A: Oregon-Davis 69, Vincennes Rivet 64
2A: Heritage Christian 64, Fort Wayne Canterbury 61
3A: Western 38, Evansville Mater Dei 35
4A: Bedford North Lawrence 51, Penn 41 

*64 championship game predictions listed below, not all 335 sectional games

CLASS 4A

NORTH

Sectional 1 at Lowell

Lake Central over East Chicago Central

Sectional 2 at Michigan City

Merrillville over Michigan City

Sectional 3 at Plymouth

Penn over Mishawaka

Sectional 4 at Goshen

Northridge over Elkhart Memorial

Sectional 5 at Carroll (Allen)

Fort Wayne Snider over East Noble

Sectional 6 at Homestead

Homestead over Jay County

Sectional 7 at McCutcheon

McCutcheon over Marion

Sectional 8 at Hamilton Southeastern

Noblesville over Fishers

SOUTH

Sectional 9 at Mount Vernon (Fortville)

Mount Vernon (Fortville) over Pendleton Heights

Sectional 10 at Lawrence North

Lawrence North over Indianapolis Roncalli

Sectional 11 at Ben Davis

Pike over Perry Meridian

Sectional 12 at Plainfield

Mooresville over Brownsburg

Sectional 13 at Greenwood

Center Grove over Greenwood

Sectional 14 at Shelbyville

Columbus North over Bloomington South

Sectional 15 at Jeffersonville

Bedford North Lawrence over Jennings County

Sectional 16 at Evansville Central

Evansville Central over Evansville North

CLASS 3A

NORTH

Sectional 17 at Griffith

Lighthouse CPA over Griffith

Sectional 18 at New Prairie

Kankakee Valley over Hanover Central

Sectional 19 at Jimtown

South Bend St. Joe's over Rochester

Sectional 20 at West Lafayette

Benton Central over Peru

Sectional 21 at Wawasee

Northwood over Whitko

Sectional 22 at New Haven

Fort Wayne Concordia over Fort Wayne Luers

Sectional 23 at Norwell

Columbia City over Norwell

Sectional 24 at Blackford

Muncie Central over Blackford

SOUTH

Sectional 25 at Lebanon

Lebanon over Western Boone

Sectional 26 at Brebeuf Jesuit

Indianapolis Bishop Chatard over Guerin Catholic

Sectional 27 at Greencastle

Danville over Indian Creek

Sectional 28 at Brown County

Northview over West Vigo

Sectional 29 at South Dearborn

Greensburg over Batesville

Sectional 30 at Scottsburg

Charlestown over Brownstown Central

Sectional 31 at Jasper

Vincennes Lincoln over Mitchell

Sectional 32 at Mount Vernon (Posey)

Princeton over Evansville Mater Dei

CLASS 2A

NORTH

Sectional 33 at Boone Grove

Hammond Noll over Boone Grove

Sectional 34 at North Newton

Delphi over Rensselaer Central

Sectional 35 at Central Noble

Westview over Bremen

Sectional 36 at Woodlan

Fort Wayne Canterbury over South Adams

Sectional 37 at Manchester

Wabash over Southwood

Sectional 38 at Fountain Central

Fountain Central over Riverton Parke

Sectional 39 at Taylor

Sheridan over Alexandria

Sectional 40 at Shenandoah

Shenandoah over Frankton

SOUTH

Sectional 41 at Cambridge City Lincoln

Hagerstown over Knightstown

Sectional 42 at Heritage Christian

Heritage Christian over Park Tudor

Sectional 43 at Indianapolis Crispus Attucks

Triton Central over Indianapolis Cardinal Ritter

Sectional 44 at South Putnam

Covenant Christian over South Putnam

Sectional 45 at Switzerland County

Switzerland County over Southwestern (Hanover)

Sectional 46 at Paoli

Providence over Henryville

Sectional 47 at North Knox

North Knox over Eastern Greene

Sectional 48 at Forest Park

Perry Central over Forest Park

CLASS 1A

NORTH

Sectional 49 at Morgan Township

Kouts over Covenant Christian (DeMotte)

Sectional 50 at Tri-County

West Central over North White

Sectional 51 at Oregon-Davis

Oregon-Davis over Triton

Sectional 52 at Lakewood Park Christian

Fort Wayne Blackhawk over Elkhart Christian

Sectional 53 at North Vermillion

Lafayette Central Catholic over Covington

Sectional 54 at Rossville

Carroll (Flora) over Tri-Central

Sectional 55 at Southern Wells

Southern Wells over Monroe Central

Sectional 56 at Tri

Randolph Southern over Union City

SOUTH

Sectional 57 at Bloomfield

White River Valley over Clay City

Sectional 58 at University

Indianapolis Tindley over Indiana Deaf

Sectional 59 at Morristown

Morristown over Greenwood Christian

Sectional 60 at Jac-Cen-Del

Jac-Cen-Del over Oldenbury Academy

Sectional 61 at West Washington

Springs Valley over Orleans

Sectional 62 at South Central (Elizabeth)

Borden over Christian Academy

Sectional 63 at North Daviess

Barr-Reeve over Vincennes Rivet

Sectional 64 at Tecumseh

Wood Memorial over Northeast Dubois

4A Sectional 8 at Hamilton Southeastern - Preview

As it is every year in pretty much every sport, this particular sectional tends to be one of, if not the, toughest sectional fields in the entire state of Indiana. When you have five Hoosier Crossroads Conference teams, along with two Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference teams, the level of competition gets increasingly better and makes it so much more difficult to advance.

Noblesville is looked at as the so-called favorite in this loaded group. But let's be honest, there really is no clear-cut favorite. Yes, the Millers are 6-0 against this year's sectional field, but struggled in their final two regular season games last week, at 2A #1 Heritage Christian (66-52) on Tuesday and their home finale on Thursday vs. 4A #2 Lawrence North (61-40).

Winning the Hoosier Crossroads Conference championship this season for the first time since the 2001-02 season, the Millers have spent a good portion of the season ranked in the #5 slot in Class 4A, but started the season unranked in both the IBCA and 4A polls. The Millers are 4A #5, Fishers finished the regular season at #9 and Carmel #14 in the 4A poll. In the final IBCA poll, Noblesville is #7, Fishers #16, Carmel #19 and Hamilton Southeastern is #20.

Hamilton Southeastern, Fishers and Westfield finished at a three-way tie in the HCC this season, all with 4-2 league records. Zionsville went winless in the HCC at 0-6. Carmel wound up at 5-2 in the MIC, in a three-way tie for 2nd, while North Central was 4th with a 2-5 mark.

Below is a look at the blind draw:

4A Sectional 8 at Hamilton Southeastern
Game 1	Tue.	Noblesville [19-3] vs. Carmel [17-7] - 7:00
Game 2	Wed.	Zionsville [4-15] vs. Fishers [18-5] - 6:00
Game 3	Wed.	Westfield [16-6] vs. Hamilton Southeastern [15-6] - 7:30
Semifinal 1	Fri.	North Central (Indianapolis) [9-12] vs. Winner Game 1 - 6:00
Semifinal 2	Fri.	Winner Game 2 vs. Winner Game 3 - 7:30
Championship	Sat.	Semifinal #1 vs. Semifinal #2 - 7:30

Game 1: Noblesville (19-3) vs. Carmel (17-7), Tues. Feb. 10:

The odds of this 1st round match-up mirroring their high-scoring regular season game at Carmel two days before Thanksgiving is pretty unlikely. That night, Noblesville busted out the big guns offensively, as they outran the host Greyhounds on the scoreboard, breaking the century mark for their second time in just the sixth game of the season, 102-85.

Noblesville started off the season 11-0 and then after 13 days without playing a game, suffered their first loss of the season to 4A #3 Homestead in the 1st round of the Greenfield-Central Tournament, 58-44. After that defeat, the Millers rattled off another solid winning streak of eight games. Their final two regular season games last week were their toughest competition all season long, dropping both to Heritage Christian and Lawrence North, two of the most talented teams in the state.

Carmel started this 2014 portion of their regular season with a 7-5 mark, which is decent for Tod Windlan in his 1st season at the helm of the Greyhounds. Since the new year started, Carmel is 10-2 and is playing some great basketball. Trying to up the ante on the schedule, the Greyhounds played in a holiday shootout at Bedford North Lawrence. In their second game, Carmel kept their ground, but lost a close one to 4A #1 Bedford North Lawrence, 44-40. Having not lost a game since January 9 to Center Grove, Windlan's team has a 7-game winning streak heading into sectional play.

Game 2: Zionsville (4-15) vs. Fishers (18-5), Wed. Feb. 11:

These two met in the regular season just a couple days before Thanksgiving. Fishers won at Zionsville in that match-up, 56-28. It might be a pretty safe bet that the Tigers could very well just about double-up the Eagles again in their sectional meeting Wednesday night.

Zionsville has had a rough season, to say the least. Starting out 0-8, they were finally able to get their first two wins before Christmas, winning at Hamilton Heights (54-50) and on their home floor against Guerin Catholic (54-32). The inexperience of the Eagles became glaringly obvious with a four-game losing streak before a home win over Frankfort (55-42) and a three-game skid before winning the regular season finale over Indianapolis Northwest (67-46), Zionsville's highest output of the season.

Fishers are one of the hotter teams coming into sectional play. Starting off the season 8-1 by early December, the Tigers came back down to reality with two losses in a row at home to Noblesville (45-33) and at Hamilton Southeastern (45-40). The second half of their season has been highlighted with key wins at Center Grove (61-60) and at home vs. Pike (63-55). Fishers also dropped tough games at Carmel (55-43) and a home game to 4A #2 Lawrence North (47-43). Head coach Michael Gaines has the Tigers rolling since December 26 with 11 wins and only two losses to finish the regular season at 18-5.

Game 3: Westfield (16-6) vs. Hamilton Southeastern (15-6), Wed. Feb. 11:

On January 16, these two met in regular season play in the HCC. In a low-scoring affair at Hamilton Southeastern, Westfield held on for a 38-37 road victory. The Shamrocks will look to spoil things again, but the Royals will be hosting and looking for a victory at home.

Westfield has the longest winning streak of any of the 7 teams in the sectional field at Hamilton Southeastern. The Shamrocks have rolled off 9 consecutive wins and 10 of their last 11 on their was to their current 16-6 record heading into the state tournament.

Hamilton Southeastern hasn't had the best run as of late, losing four of six to close out the regular season. Chris Huppenthal's squad started off the season with an outstanding 10-1 record, but with some slight injuries, the Royals had a blowout loss at home to #2 Lawrence North (59-32), along with road losses at Pike (60-58) and Noblesville (68-57) before ending their slate with home win over Ben Davis (57-39).

Semifinal #1: Noblesville/Carmel winner vs. North Central (9-12), Fri. Feb. 13:

It's tough enough to draw the bye game in the sectional. Some see it as having that much more preparation and practice for your next opponent. Others, like last year's Noblesville team see it as way too much time off after the last regular season game. The Millers weren't happy drawing the bye last year for sectionals, because that extra time off came back to haunt them as they were whipped by eventual sectional champion Fishers, 58-43.

North Central has a lot of youth and some experience to their team this season. Head coach Dee Ann Ramey and company have endured quite a lot with a grueling MIC schedule and a tough non-conference slate.

The Panthers didn't fare the best against either potential semifinal possibilities. Keeping Noblesville in-check for the most part, the led the Millers at half by 2 and trailed them by one after three before Noblesville pulled away for a 17-point, 72-55 win. Carmel also handled NC well, taking down the Panthers 45-29.

Semifinal #2: Zionsville/Fishers winner vs. Westfield/Hamilton SE winner, Fri. Feb. 13:

More than likely, Fishers will easily find themselves in the semifinals. Zionsville just really doesn't have the personnel and offensive firepower to compete with Fishers, unless they were to pull off the biggest upset of the sectionals throughout the state.

It will be an extremely tough battle with Westfield and Southeastern to get to this semifinal match-up with Fishers. This one for sure will be worth the price of admission on Friday night.

If Westfield meets Tigers in this game, the Shamrocks will be looking to avenge their loss in the second game of the season at Fishers, 45-42. If Southeastern knocks off Westfield, the Royals will look to go 2-0 over their neighbors for the first time since 2006-07, the first year the schools were split.

Championship: Semifinal #1 winner vs. Semifinal #2 winner, Sat. Feb. 14:

From what it looks like the two semifinals should pan out, most are seeing the championship to be Noblesville vs. Fishers.

It's plain and simple, if this is the match-up that we see. These two met one time this season back on December 12th at Fishers.

Fishers slowed the tempo down to their style and Noblesville wasn't able to break the game open in the first half, like they had been used to. The Millers came into that game with an 8-0 record and the Tigers were 7-1. Trailing 11-6 after one and 15-13 at halftime, Noblesville was methodically finding their way back into their usual groove. It was a 7-7 third quarter to cut the deficit to 22-20 through 3. Noblesville took over in the 4th, outscoring Fishers 25-11 to pull away by a dozen, 45-33.


Broadcast schedule for Sectional 8 on HamiltonCountyTV.com (hctv1.com):

Tuesday: Noblesville vs. Carmel - 6:50 pregame, 7:00 tip-off

Wednesday: Zionsville vs. Fishers - 5:50 pregame, 6:00 tip-off
                      Westfield vs. Hamilton SE, to follow

Friday: Semifinal #1 - 5:50 pregame, 6:00 tip-off
              Semifianl #2, to follow

Saturday: Championship game - 7:15 pregame, 7:30 tip-off

#3 Lawrence North stymies #5 Millers in regular season finale

In the final home game for Becca Bergman, Erin Wood, Kayleigh Herron (left), Cori Cain and Audrey DeFoe, there were high hopes an upset of the highly-touted Wildcats and most importantly, to end the regular season on a high note heading into Tuesday's 1st round 4A Sectional 8 match-up at Hamilton Southeastern vs. the Carmel Greyhounds.

Lawrence North has set steady as the 2nd-ranked 4A team all season long until a few weeks ago when they swapped spots with Columbus North and are still at a comfortable #3 ranking and #4 overall in the IBCA poll.

This week's losses at 2A #1 Heritage Christian (66-52) and at home against 4A #3 Lawrence North (61-40) should logically only be looked at as two big learning tools and a measuring stick on how Noblesville compares against some of the state's best players. Mainly, it shows what needs to be focused on when the Millers take to the court again next Tuesday against a much improved Carmel.

Yes, as I posted on Twitter (@MillerVoiceNDCB) following Thursday night's game, this has been a "tough pill to swallow." This week's games aren't what we are used to seeing out of this outstanding group of Millers. I sincerely hope that over the next few days of practice prior to the Sectional opener vs. Carmel that we have a total transformation as a team and get back to playing the ways that we're capable of and bring home a Sectional Championship back to The Mill for the first time since 1996!

4A #3 Lawrence North 61, 4A #5 Noblesville 40 - (Thurs. at The Mill, Noblesville)
Wildcats     18     17     16     10     -     61
Millers         8      10     11     11     -     40

The Wildcats stormed out of the gate from the opening tip, just like the starting gun was fired in a sprint race during a track meet. Three quick baskets after a couple Noblesville turnovers and missed shots and before the Millers could blink, it was 6-0 LN. Coach Keck called a :30 timeout to cool down the LN tempo and regroup her troops.

Out of the timeout, Katelyn O'Reilly rattled off six points in a row to tie things at 6-6, thanks to the quick defensive hands of Kayleigh Herron, Becca Bergman and Brooke Herron, along with a solid blocked shot from Emily Kiser.

The Millers managed just one more score in the 1st by Erin Wood (left) off of a nice dish down low from Brooke Herron, because Lamina Cooper proved to the crowd at The Mill why she is a 2015 Indiana Miss Basketball candidate. The 5'8 senior Purdue commit found her way to 10 points in the first. She and fellow Purdue recruit in 6'1 junior Ae'Rianna Harris (6) combined for 16 of Lawrence North's points, along with Northwestern commit, 5'7 senior Jordan Hankins (2) and the Wildcats had a ten point lead through one at 18-8.

Noblesville still couldn't get themselves into a groove in the second. Erin Wood scored a couple more buckets and Becca Bergman, Alexis Shannon and Brooke Herron put together the other six for another low scoring quarter of ten points.

Lawrence North decided that they would test the waters outside the three-point arc...and it worked. Hankins, Amber Morgan and Lauren Dickerson knocked down a trey and the Wildcats had jumped out to a 35-18 halftime lead.

The Millers came out of the halftime locker room with a poised and determined look about them. The only problem was that the Wildcats kept firing on all cylinders at both ends of the court, disallowing Noblesville to get back into their normal style of play.

Constantly running, Jordan Hankins, Ae'Rianna Harris and Lauren Dickerson led the Lawrence North attack in the 3rd with four points apiece to score a majority of the Wildcats' 16 in t
he quarter. That helped keep the Millers at a distance, despite Bergman (5) and O'Reilly (4) accounting for most of Noblesville's output, but LN had lengthened their lead to 51-29.

Amani Ferguson and Hankins both swished a 3-pointer each in the 4th that seemed to be the daggers that head coach Chris Giffin was wanting, so his Wildcats could stave off any run that Noblesville might have in them. The Millers went 5-for-7 at the foul line in the 4th and were only able to convert three field goals.

Keck's squad went down fighting in the fourth until the scoreboard clock read 0:00, dropping their second game in a row for the first time this season, 61-40.

Lawrence North (22-1) was led by Lamina Cooper's game-high 18 points and was joined in double-digits by Ae'Rianna Harris with 12. The rest of LN's scoring was balanced with Hankins and Dickerson each scoring 9, while Morgan (8), Ferguson (3) and Autumn Jones (2) scored the remaining Wildcat points.

Noblesville (19-3) was led by Katelyn O'Reilly's 12 points and 5 rebound effort. She was the lone Miller to reach double-figure, as Becca Bergman wound up with 9 points and 6 assists and Erin Wood finished with 8 points and 8 rebounds, along with 3 steals.

Leading scorer Alexis Shannon was limited well-below her season average (19.9) for the 2nd straight game with 7 points. Brooke Herron and Emily Kiser each added 2 for the Millers.

They'll get back to work in preparation for Sectionals that are next week. Noblesville drew the first game on Tuesday night February 10 at 7 p.m. against Carmel (17-7). The 2015 4A Sectional 8 is being hosted this year by Hamilton Southeastern.

Keep your eyes peeled for a 2015 4A Sectional 8 preview and my predictions for the entire state of Indiana for the 40th Annual IHSAA Girls Basketball State Tournament.

Until then... GO MILLERS! WE ARE TOGETHER!

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

2A #1 Heritage Christian outruns 4A #5 Noblesville

As it was expected to be, the battle between Heritage Christian and Noblesville was exactly that. A battle between two of the top six ranked teams in the entire state of Indiana. It drew a near full house at the Eagles' home gym. It even had enough attention that the Executive Director of the Indiana Basketball, Chris May, was in attendance to see this season's Hall of Fame Classic Champion in Heritage Christian and Noblesville, who hopes to participate in the 2015 classic in New Castle.

Just as in the opening game of the Greenfield-Central Tournament against Homestead, the Millers had jitters from the opening tip. They've been in this atmosphere before, so it's uncertain as to why they came out of the gates they way they did.

The Eagles play an up tempo style game on both ends of the floor and the early goings of the game had the feel that the Millers played to that level, which forced them into numerous turnovers, resulting in a lot of fast break points for Heritage Christian.

These are factors that have to be solved before the Millers head to Sectionals next week vs. Carmel and that starts with their regular season finale and state tournament tuneup against 4A #2 Lawrence North on Thursday.

2A #1 Heritage Christian 66, 4A #5 Noblesville 52 - (Tuesday at Heritage Christian)
Millers     10     19     9     14     -     52
Eagles      13     17    18    18     -     66

Both teams were pretty anxious to get this game tipped off and it was obvious that they each took a minute to get a feel for each other.

The first quarter had a few ties and a couple lead changes before Heritage Christian had the lead at 13-10 to end the fast-paced opening frame, thanks to six points off the bench from 6'3 junior forward Darby Foresman.

Alexis Shannon helped guide a quick transition offense in the second for the Millers, scoring 10 before half to keep the score close at 30-29, trailing by just one.

Tyasha Harris busted out for the Eagles in the third. Forcing turnovers and scoring seven of Heritage Christian's 18 points in the quarter, she became a complete headache for Noblesville, as they had no answer for Harris defensively. Foresman added another four to help double up the Millers (18-9) in the third and give the hosts a 10-point lead through three, 48-38.

Noblesville had dug itself a hole that they hadn't seen since their lone loss against Homestead on January 2nd in Greenfield.

The Millers were forced into a frantic mode to close out the game. A couple key, wide open layups from Emily Kiser, Six more points from Shannon and 5-for-5 at the free throw line from Katelyn O'Reilly were all valiant efforts for a comeback.

The closest it got down the stretch in the final minute was an eight-point deficit at 60-52. With Heritage Christian being in the bonus for most of the 4th, it made it even tougher for the Millers to climb back into it.

All of that wouldn't be enough to fend off Harris and her teammates. The 5'11 junior guard netted 11 of her game-high 26 points in the 4th as the Eagles pulled away from Noblesville with free throws in the final minutes, 66-52.

Heritage Christian (22-2) was able to get four into double-figures with Tyasha Harris leading the way with a game-high 26 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists and 5 steals. Sydney Hall scored 12 on four field goals, Foresman had 10 on her five makes and Allison Schofield also had 10.

The Eagles drew one of the bye games in the 2A Sectional on their home floor next Friday and will play the winner of Tuesday's first game between Scecina (12-10) and Shortridge (10-9).

Noblesville (19-2) was led in scoring by Alexis Shannon with a team-high 23 points on 9-of-21 from the floor. Katelyn O'Reilly notched another double-double with 13 points and 15 rebounds, including a 7-for-7 effort from the charity stripe. Emily Kiser had another solid game with 8 points and a career-high 10 rebounds.

Cori Cain (4), Kayleigh Herron (2) and Becca Bergman (2) scored the remaining Miller points.

The Millers finish the regular season portion of their schedule at home on Thursday against 4A #2 Lawrence North (21-1), who upended Franklin Central on Tuesday, 59-43.

Thursday night's game at The Mill vs. LN will also be the final home game in the careers of seniors Cori Cain, Kayleigh Herron, Becca Bergman, Audrey DeFoe and Erin Wood.

Miller fans, come on out to help Fill The Mill! Let's beat Lawrence North and head into next week's 4A Sectional at Hamilton Southeastern vs. Carmel on a high!

GO MILLERS!

Noblesville outduels Hamilton SE, clinches HCC outright

This Saturday night tilt at The Mill lived up to its billing fully and didn't disappoint the home crowd. Noblesville and Hamilton Southeastern's girls were vying for the Hoosier Crossroads Conference championship. Had the Royals relished in playing the role of the spoiler, the two would have split the HCC conference title. Instead, the puzzle piece fit like it should. Noblesville out-dueled their conference rivals and found themselves on top of the standings all by themselves following a 68-57 win on their home court.

The Millers were on a mission that they've been gunning for all year since last season. This group has wanted the conference title and now it's theirs. It wasn't easy, to say the least, but they knew that from the beginning of their quest.

Noblesville head coach Donna Keck and her staff knew what it was going to take to finally get over the hump and beat Chris Huppenthal and the Hamilton Southeastern Royals. The Royals had previously beaten the Millers in 17 consecutive games, dating back to December 7, 2001 (75-56) at Noblesville.

4A #5 Noblesville 68, #14 Hamilton SE 57 - (Sat. Jan. 31 at The Mill, Noblesville)
Royals      13     11     19     14     -      57
Millers     21     17     18     12     -      68

Determined might be the best word to describe the Millers from the opening tip. Scoring early and often, Noblesville took quick command of the game and played up for the home crowd.

Becca Bergman (below right) led the attack in the first with three treys, as she swished each of them coming off of perfectly set screens from teammates.

Getting four from Katelyn O'Reilly, the Millers also got a key bucket each from Kayleigh Herron, Alexis Shannon, Brooke Herron and Emily Kiser to post a 21-13 score at the end of one.

Noblesville distanced itself a little more in the second with O'Reilly, once again, muscling herself to six points and the Millers were up 38-24 at half.

All of the pieces were out on the floor and to start the second half and it was just a matter of them all falling in the right places.

The Royals started the third quarter like they were going to sport a come back. Leave it to an x-factor for Noblesville to become an extremely clutch player when needed.

Freshman Emily Kiser (left) found herself all alone underneath the basket on three different occasions when Hamilton Southeastern overloaded their defense to the left side, leaving her open for a layups to account for six crucial field goals that would surely turn and keep the momentum on Noblesville's side.

The combination of Noblesville's defensive pressure got to the Royals in the second half, regardless of their flurry of seven field goals the knocked down in the third (three 3's), but still trailed the Millers 56-43.

Up 13 heading into the final quarter, Noblesville knew exactly what they had to do to defend The Mill.

O'Reilly (below right) nailed the second of her two 3-pointers made, also made one in the third to help spark the Millers.

Hamilton Southeastern's main object defensively was to keep Alexis Shannon from scoring like she's normally used to doing. But, they failed to figure out a way to prevent others from exploding offensively for Noblesville.

Bergman and O'Reilly each put up 20 points, combining for seven 2's and seven 3's, five of those treys from Bergman, tying Rachel Shipman, along with four others, for the single-game school record for three-point field goals made.

The Royals may have outscored the Millers 33-30 in the second half, but being down 14 at half didn't help the visitors' cause at all. This is where Noblesville out-dueled Hamilton Southeastern. Playing a full 32 minutes is what these games boil down to and that's how the Millers sealed the deal on their way to a 68-57 victory and the outright championship in the Hoosier Crossroads Conference.

Hamilton Southeastern (14-6, 4-2 HCC) was led in scoring by Bre Lloyd's 19 points and also got
Megan Walton into double-digits with 13. Katie Myers added a pair of 3's for 6 and Madi Taylor was held to 6 on four free throws and a field goal.

The Royals finish their regular season schedule on Thursday, February 5 at home against Ben Davis (11-8).

Noblesville (19-1, 6-0 HCC) was paced by Becca Bergman and Katelyn O'Reilly each scoring 20. Bergman kept her groove up outside the three-point arc for the week, giving her 13 made threes, sinking four in each game against Kokomo and Pendleton Heights. KO also grabbed 12 rebounds and dished out 6 assists.


Emily Kiser fully earned her Hamilton County TV player of the game honor with 10 points, six in a vital part of the 3rd. Alexis Shannon (6), Kayleigh Herron (4), Cori Cain (3), Brooke Herron (3) and Erin Wood (2) made up for the remaining Miller points.

The Millers finish their regular season on Tuesday, February 3 at 2A #1 Heritage Christian (21-2) and at home on Thursday, February 5 against 4A #2 Lawrence North (20-1).

Sunday, the 40th Annual IHSAA Girls State Tournament Pairings were released. Below is how Sectional 8 at Hamilton Southeastern was drawn.

4A Sectional 8 at Hamilton Southeastern:
Tuesday, February 10
Game 1: Noblesville vs. Carmel, 7 p.m.

Wednesday, February 11
Game 2: Zionsville vs. Fishers, 6 p.m.
Game 3: Westfield vs. Hamilton Southeastern, 7:30 p.m.

Friday, February 13
Game 4: North Central vs. Winner Game 1, 6 p.m.
Game 5: Winner Game 2 vs. Winner Game 3, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, February 14
Game 6: Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5

Prior to sectionals, keep your eyes open for a Sectional 8 preview. Until then...

GO MILLERS!

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