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)