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!)