The expectations of the 2015-16 Noblesville Millers girls basketball team is no different than it was last season. Yes, an outstanding group of five seniors have graduated. But, now it's time for the younger members of the past few years to step up and show what they've got!
Two of last season's starters will be back. Senior 5'10 guard Alexis Shannon brings back her great scoring and slashing abilities and with her she'll have Indiana Junior All-State 1st Team teammate 6'0 forward Katelyn O'Reilly, who is just a complete physical presence in the middle. Senior teammates 5'5 guard Rachel Shipman and 6'0 center Haley Conway look to help provide senior leadership and depth to what will be a young Miller bench.
Sophomore Emily Kiser has now grown to 6'2 and slid right into a starting role that was Erin Wood's for the past four years. Junior point guard Brooke Herron enters her third year at the varsity level and will be looked upon to help run the point, along with Shipman and 5'3 junior Sam Salmon. 5'7 sophomore Olivia Morales will look to add defensive depth.
A trio of freshman will grace the varsity squad with their presence the winter as 5'6 Mallory Johnson, 5'6 Maddie Knight and 5'6 Kaylin Mertens will all see time off of the bench. It looked as there would be a fourth member of the freshman class that would see varsity playing time this year, but during off-season workouts, Madison Whetro suffered a season-ending ACL injury that would put her varsity playing days on hold and unfortunately won't allow her to play with this group.
It will also be a transition for all of us to changing the name of our head coach. Donna Keck became Donna Buckley on July 4th in South Carolina in front of close friends and family (and part of the coaching staff) and we couldn't be happier for her and her husband Chris! Congratulations to her and Chris and we all wish them many years of happiness!
How the schedule looks...
Noblesville has one of the toughest schedules in the state again this season, which will only fuel their fire to succeed past what last year's squad did and make their own mark in the storied history of Noblesville Millers girls basketball.
The Millers open up on Thursday, November 5th on the road and will face an extremely tough test from the start against 4A #3 Lawrence North, who advanced all the way to the 4A south semi-state championship game, losing to eventual state champion Columbus North.
Two days later in the Millers' home opener, they'll face another rough opponent in Fort Wayne Snider, who also made it to the 4A Kokomo Regional, but was ousted by eventual Regional champ and state runner-up Homestead in the second game of the day.
Indianapolis Arsenal Tech pays another visit to The Mill on Tuesday, November 10th and the week finishes up on the road with Noblesville heading to visit their neighbors to the north in the 3A Hamilton Heights Huskies, who are now coached by first-year head coach Omega Tandy.
The third week features a few key match-ups. A road trip directly west on SR 32 will be another great game between the Lebanon Tigers' Kristen Spolyar and the Millers on Tuesday, November 17th. Their first weekend back-to-back Friday/Saturday features a home game to open up Hoosier Crossroads Conference play against Brownsburg and their new head coach Debbie Guckenberger. Coach Buckley and her staff will load up the troops and head north to Warsaw on Saturday, November 21st for an evening tilt with the Tigers of the Northern Lakes Conference.
Thanksgiving week serves up a home game on Tuesday, November 24 with the 4A #8 Carmel Greyhounds, as the Millers look to extend their winning streak in the series to three games. As per usual, Noblesville and Avon will tangle in a midday affair on Saturday, November 28 on the Orioles' home court.
December looks to get the pot stirring even more for the Millers. at trip to HCC rival Hamilton Southeastern starts the last month of the year on the calendar with a middle of the week trip to HSE on Wednesday, December 2nd, where Noblesville won their 1st sectional championship in 19 seasons on the Royals' home floor.
A home date on Saturday afternoon December 5th will give the Millers their third games against an opponent from the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference when North Central comes to The Mill.
The schedule gets a little thick in the middle of December. Two home games in a row will bring the Fishers Tigers to Noblesville for an HCC battle. They will be without the services of senior guard/forward Kara Gerka, as she suffered a torn ACL during the off-season. December 15th will bring Shannon Cleckley and the Anderson Indians to The Mill in Cleckley's first season coaching the Indians with the departure of Chad Cook.
Westfield and first-year head coach Ginny Smith will host the Millers on Saturday, December 19th for an early afternoon game on the Shamrocks' home court. Former head coach Shane Sumpter has switched over to be the head coach of the boys team at Westfield.
The Millers finish up the month of December by playing in the Whitewater Valley Classic at Franklin County High School in southeast Indiana on December 22 and 23. That 2-day tournament at Franklin County has an 8-team field that, along with Noblesville, includes Beech Grove, Bloomington South, Danville, Franklin County, Bishop Chatard, Jennings County and South Dearborn. Noblesville will get the chance to play four games in a two-day span.
For the first time in quite a few years, Noblesville is getting the opportunity to play in the City Securities Hall of Fame Classic in New Castle on December 29. The Millers play in the 10:00 game against 3A #3 Benton Central and 3A #4 Lebanon meets up with the state's leading scorer Jackie Young and 3A #1Princeton at 11:45. The losers of the two morning games play again in the 6:00 consolation game and the winners take center stage for the championship at 7:45 that night.
Noblesville starts off the 2016 calendar on Wednesday, January 6 by heading back to Memorial Gym, but this time to face the Kokomo Wildcats. On Saturday of that week, the Mount Vernon (Fortville) Marauders head west on SR 38 to face the Millers in the afternoon.
On Friday, January 15, the Millers take their show to Boone county to play at 6:00 in the first game of a girls/boys doubleheader at Zionsville.
Two of the final three regular season games for Buckley's Millers will be on their home floor. 3A #2 Heritage Christian, who has now moved up to Class 3A as a result of the success factor from winning at the 2A level, visits The Mill on Thursday, January 21 and the Martinsville Artesians come to Noblesville on the evening of Saturday, January 23rd.
The regular season concludes with a trip to Pendleton Heights to face the Arabians and first-year head coach Chad Cook, formerly of Anderson High School.
The Class 4A Sectional 8 tournament will be hosted this year by the Westfield Shamrocks during the first full week in February.
Along with being the PA voice of Noblesville Miller girls basketball, now in my 8th season, I am also the play-by-play voice for Hometown Television Web Network/Hamilton County Television. We would like to welcome you to view our girls and boys broadcasts throughout the basketball season. I'd also like to thank you for reading my blog now and in the past!
You can follow me on Twitter at @MillerVoiceNDCB and also Hamilton County TV at @HCTelevision
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