during the game. Also pictured are Carmel’s Kate Clarke, HSE’s Malea Jackson and
Carmel’s Bridget Dunn. (Reporter Photos by Kent Graham)
by
Richie Hall
Sports Editor
Hamilton County Reporter
Defense wins championships, and Hamilton Southeastern’s defense brought it a long, long awaited girls basketball sectional championship on Saturday night.
The Class 4A No. 1 Royals won their first sectional since 2007 (and fourth overall) by beating Carmel 47-34 in front of a large and screaming crowd at the Southeastern gym.
With the victory, the Royals earned a trip to play in the Kokomo regional next Saturday.
It’s worth the wait of one more week for a process that began last summer.
“We started back in June,” said Southeastern coach Chris Huppenthal. “I told our kids, we weren’t going to win a sectional championship in February, we were going to win it starting right now. And from Day 1 in June, when we got together in the summer, these kids had a goal to focus. And we told our kids in the locker room before we came out that we had a passion and we had a commitment to come out here to play with some fire, to play with some enthusiasm. That’s what our kids did. Played with a lot of energy.”
That energy and passion began spilling out with under two minutes left in the game,
when the Royals players realized that they were going to win.
“It just means everything,” said senior Malea Jackson. “This is what we’ve been working towards since the end of last season. This is our one goal that we’ve been going for. It’s just a great feeling, I can’t even put it into words. We’ve become such a family and to win this together, it’s just the best feeling in the world.”
Carmel was the three-time defending sectional champion coming into the game, so the Greyhounds weren’t going down without a fight. They kept it close with the Royals in the first quarter, which ended with a layin by senior Reagan Hune and Carmel leading 10-8. Junior Sydney Parrish scored six of HSE’s points.
Southeastern started the second period with an 8-0 run, and it would never trail
again. Jackson hit a 3-pointer, then senior Amaya Hamilton added five more points, a
layin and a 3. Senior Macy Berglund ended the run with a pair of free throws, but that
was followed by another Royals run: Junior Jackie Maulucci made a 3-pointer and a free
throw, and Jackson threw in another 3 to put Southeastern up 23-12.
Baskets by sophomore Bridget Dunn and Hune cut the Royals’ lead to 23-16 by halftime. The third quarter was a defensive affair, with Southeastern scoring five points and Carmel four. Jackson hit a 3 and Parrish made a jumper, while Berglund hit two free throws and Hune made a layin.
“That’s the only thing we work on in practice: Defense, defense, defense. Defense wins championships. We get offense based on the defense,” said Jackson.
A putback by Hamilton began the fourth quarter, and that pushed the Royals’ lead to
30-20. Carmel made one last stand, with Dunn draining a 3 and Hune scoring again,
cutting the HSE lead to 30-25. But Southeastern made yet another 7-0 run to jump
ahead 37-25; Parrish added another five points.
Two more Hune baskets got Carmel within 37-29, but the Royals would finish the game out from the free throw line, going 10 of 12 from the line in the final two and a half minutes.
Parrish scored 16 points, with Jackson adding 13, including three 3-pointers. Parrish had a fine defensive game with nine rebounds and two blocked shots. Hamilton had five rebounds. Tayah Irvin had another solid defensive game.
Hune scored 14 points for Carmel, which finished its season 14-11. Hune and Mackenzie Wood both pulled four rebounds.
“They played so hard,” said Greyhounds coach Erin Trimpe. “We had a game plan and in the first half, we really fought defensively. We executed it. But Hamilton Southeastern, they’re so good. They’re so solid in their sets and what they’re running. They didn’t panic when we got a couple stops. You have to give them a lot of credit for the way they handled themselves tonight.”
The Royals will play the winner of the DeKalb sectional in the first semi-final at Kokomo next Saturday morning. The DeKalb championship will be decided on Monday between Fort Wayne Northrop and Fort Wayne Carroll. Homestead and Zionsville will play in the second semi-final, each team having won their respective sectional on Saturday.
Southeastern is 23-1 for the season, the most wins for the Royals since 2007.
