by
Richie Hall
Sports Editor
Hamilton County Reporter
Friday may have been all about the best deals in the shopping malls, but there was also an important basketball game to be played between two Class 4A powerhouses.
The top-ranked Carmel girls traveled to No. 4 Hamilton Southeastern for a rare Friday afternoon contest. After a tight first half, the Greyhounds turned up their pressure defense (again) in the third quarter, and that turned out to be the difference in a 58-44 victory. Carmel is still unbeaten for the season at 8-0.
“This is a tough game to play,” said Greyhounds coach Tod Windlan. “You’re talking about Thanksgiving, and the next day you’re playing on Black Friday at 2:30 in the afternoon. It’s more of a mental state of mind getting ready to play the game than anything.”
Both teams struggled with their shooting in the first quarter before getting it together by the period’s end. After trading baskets (and the lead) for the first part, Carmel made the first run of the game midway through the quarter: Amy Dilk hit a 3-pointer, and Tomi Taiwo followed that with a traditional three-point play.
That put the ‘Hounds up 11-6, but the Royals answered with a 7-0 run that carried into the second quarter. Sydney Parrish and Amaya Hamilton made first-period jumpers, then Molly Walton sank a 3-pointer that got HSE up 13-11.
Carmel led 17-16 midway through the period, then scored six unanswered points to lead 23-16. Four of those points came from back-to-back layins by Jasmine McWilliams – who was just getting started. The Royals cut the Greyhounds lead slightly by halftime, which saw Carmel ahead 26-23.
The ‘Hounds opened the second half by running off 11 straight points, zooming ahead 37-23 before HSE called timeout with 4:39 left in the quarter. Taiwo began the run with (what else?) a 3-pointer, and closed it with a layin. Reagan Hune added a couple of layins as well.
“Our JV kids are really aggressive kids, so our practices have been really good,” said Windlan. “It wears people down.”
Later on in the quarter, Carmel used another 8-0 run to take its largest lead of the game, 47-28. McWilliams again chipped in consecutive baskets, the second one off a Taiwo steal.
“I thought she was outstanding and I thought our guards were really good,” said Windlan of McWilliams. The sophomore wound up with a double-double, scoring 12 points and pulling 11 rebounds.
“She’s more confident in what she’s doing,” said Windlan. “She just keeps getting better each day for us. I thought Reagan Hune and Molly Gillig were outstanding guarding Parrish tonight.”
Carmel led 51-36 midway through the fourth quarter. Southeastern made one last run at that point, scoring eight straight points to get within 51-44 at the 2:46 mark. Tayah Irvin helped out with a 3-pointer.
But the ‘Hounds ended the comeback hopes by scoring the game’s last seven points. McWilliams made all four of her foul shots during the final 1:34 of the game.
Taiwo led Carmel’s scoring with 20 points, including three 3-pointers. She also had six rebounds and six steals. Dilk finished with 15 points, seven assists and six rebounds. McWilliams had four steals, while Gillig dished out four assists.
Walton led Southeastern’s scoring with 11 points, with Parrish scoring nine and Irvin adding eight. Walton also reached double-double status by grabbing 10 rebounds, while Amaya Hamilton had five rebounds.
“Molly Walton gave us about everything she could,” said Huppenthal. “Her fight the whole game was what you want to see in a kid and you wish it would be contagious to other kids. Tayah Irvin the same thing. I thought Tayah’s fight throughout the whole game was good. You wish some other kids would go ahead and see that, and you wish it would be contagious to them. But it just wasn’t today.”
Carmel is back in action on Tuesday when it plays a Metropolitan Conference game at Lawrence North. The Royals, now 6-2 for the season, host Noblesville on Wednesday in a Hoosier Crossroads Conference game.