Hamilton County Reporter
It was a special night of basketball as Westfield hosted Hamilton Southeastern Friday in a girls-boys Hoosier Crossroads Conference doubleheader.
The Royals swept both games. Southeastern’s girls won a hard-fought opener over the Shamrocks 42-35, then the Royals boys pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat Westfield 65-47.
Friday’s games were the annual PINK games for breast cancer awareness. The
Shamrocks honored those who battled (and are still battling) the disease in between the two games.
“What an emotional night,” said HSE girls coach Chris Huppenthal. “We just won a basketball game, but there are a bunch of people out there who won a battle in their lives.”
While the Royals got on the board first in the girls game after Jackie Maulucci made a jumper, the ‘Rocks zoomed to a 9-2 lead thanks to three straight 3-pointers, two from Alyssa Crockett and one from Olivia Robey. Southeastern finished the quarter on an 11-3 run, with Lauren Morris hitting a 3 and Sydney Parrish making two triples.
Bailee Poore put the Royals up 15-12 to start the second period with a rebound basket. But Ashtin DeCraene tied it up with a 3-pointer, then Ava Henson’s putback gave Westfield the lead again, at 17-15. Lydia Self’s jump shot knotted the game up again, but Westfield finished the half with a rebound basket from Crockett, and Emily Robinson’s 3 gave Westfield a 22-17 lead at the break.
DeCraene got the first points of the third quarter when she made two free throws, putting the ‘Rocks ahead 24-17 at the 6:17 mark. But it was all Southeastern after that, as it outscored Westfield 11-1 over the remainder of the period. Parrish started the run with five straight points, then Makayla Hinshaw tied the game with a layin.
Ryan Viele’s basket gave the Royals a 26-24 lead that they would keep until the
end of the game, and Maulucci made two free throws to give Southeastern a 28-25
advantage at the end of three. Westfield continued to battle in the fourth quarter,
but after Maulucci made a late layin to put HSE up 34-29, the Royals kept their
lead between five and eight points.
Parrish finished the game with 16 points, while Maulucci scored 10 and handed out four assists. Parrish was dealing with illness and did not start the game; Huppenthal said that she had not practiced in two days.
“The things we did in two days of practice really were in preparation if Syd didn’t play,” said Huppenthal. But the Royals came together and got the win. Poore collected eight rebounds, while Self and Parrish both had four.
“We had kids that, as they do all year, they played hard, did a lot of good things.
Makayla Hinshaw defensively, I thought was outstanding. Bailee Poore, I continue to say it: She’s the best 5-foot-4 post player in the country. I don’t know of anybody else that has a 5-foot-4 post player that does how she rebounds the basketball and all the things she does.”
Crockett led Westfield’s scoring with nine points. The Shamrocks out-rebounded the Royals 32-20, with Jessica Castor pulling nine rebounds, and Crockett and Henson both collecting seven.
“I thought our effort was incredible,” said Westfield coach Ginny Smith. “I’m not disappointed with our effort at all. The difference in the basketball game was that
third quarter. They came out, they picked the intensity up defensively and I felt like
we just got kind of tight, got back on our heels, made some careless turnovers, just
some unforced things.”
Southeastern improved to 5-1 in the conference and 17-2 overall, and plays at Lawrence North on Tuesday. Westfield is 3-3 in HCC play and 13-8 overall; the ‘Rocks finish up conference play next Friday at Brownsburg.
BOYS GAME
The Royals never trailed in the boys game, although it took them until the fourth quarter to pull away. Southeastern got off to a 6-0 lead, with Vinny Buccilla scoring five of those points (a layin and a 3-pointer).
The Shamrocks came back to tie the game at 6-6. Benji Welch made two baskets, then Braden Smith tied it up with a layin. But the Royals scored the last five points of the first quarter, with Dalton Retzner converting a three-point play, then Elliot Robinson’s layin gave HSE an 11-6 lead.
Alex Totton made it a 7-0 run, as his putback opened the second quarter. The Royals led 16-9 early in the period, but four straight points from Saaki Vishnumolakala got the ‘Rocks within 16-13.
Southeastern stayed in front, though, and led 21-15 at halftime.
The Royals led 35-26 after three quarters, with John McCall making a pair of baskets midway through the period. DeAndre Rhodes added six points in the final minutes of the quarter. Matthew Penley and Nic DePasquale each had four points in the third to keep the Shamrocks close, 35-26 at the period’s end.
But Southeastern took over in the fourth quarter, making a 20-6 run during the first half of the period to go up 55-32. Rhodes added another seven points, while Majak’s and-1 finished the run with 3:51 left in the game. Westfield made a 7-0 run of their own, including five points from Cam Haffner, but the Royals cruised to the finish line.
“Defensively we were tremendous tonight,” said HSE coach Brian Satterfield. “The past two games I thought we’ve been making great strides there. We were pretty efficient at the defensive end.”
Satterfield said that Westfield is “very efficient with what they do offensively,” so he was happy with how the defense played.
Rhodes led the Royals with 13 points, with Majak scoring 11 and handing out four assists. Kole Hornbuckle had a dominant defensive game, with nine rebounds and two blocked shots. Buccilla collected five rebounds.
DePasquale led Westfield’s scoring with 13 points, with Zach Byrer pulling six rebounds and Smith collecting five.
This was Southeastern’s first HCC win of the season, giving it a 1-2 record.
The Royals are 6-5 overall and host Anderson tonight. The Shamrocks are 2-1 in conference play and 8-2 overall, and play at Lafayette Jefferson tonight.