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!
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