Westfield’s MaKayla Hatcher scored nine points for the Shamrocks during their season-opening win over North Central on Tuesday. (Richie Hall)
By RICHIE HALL
WESTFIELD – The Westfield girls basketball class of 2026 is now in charge.
This year’s Shamrock seniors have been waiting their turn to become the leaders of the team, and after Westfield won its season opener Tuesday over North Central 48-44 at CSI Gymnasium, all indications are they will be a strong group of leaders.
Parker
“We have a lot of seniors who have been with us for four years, but we had a lot of seniors last year,” said fourth-year Rocks coach Kelsey Steele. “A lot of our seniors weren’t able to get the minutes last year that we would’ve hoped.
“And that’s okay. They’ve been in our program for four years. They know what we expect and they’re able to do what we want them to do.”
Seniors coming back include MaKayla Hatcher, who averaged 7.6 points per game as a junior, and Audra Parker, who averaged 3.7 points per contest. They scored the first Westfield points of the season: Parker was good on a three-point play, then Hatcher made a layin.
Every point counted in the back-and-forth first quarter, which finished with Westfield leading 15-13. Six different players scored points for the Shamrocks, including 3-pointers from senior Olivia Murray and freshman Lillian Clark.
“Lil’s going to be a really good player here,” said Steele. “She can really shoot the basketball and she works as hard as anyone I’ve seen.”
North Central took the lead twice early in the second quarter, but a Parker triple put Westfield ahead 20-18. Panthers junior McKenzi Rutland tied the game with a jumper, but junior Gracie Czubik and Hatcher each made layins. Westfield led 24-20 and would not trail again.
Junior Ellie Wheeler and Clark both nailed 3s, then two more Parker free throws finished the half. Westfield led 32-24 at the break.
“We knocked down some big shots in the second quarter on the perimeter,” said Steele.
While the Rocks led for the entirety of the second half, North Central kept it close, never allowing Westfield’s lead to extend beyond eight points. Junior Arianna Harrington scored 11 points in the first half and added six more in the second half, including two free throws to cut the Shamrocks’ lead to 36-32 at the end of three. North Central outscored Westfield 8-4 in the third.
Parker hit a triple in that quarter for the Shamrocks’ only basket, and she opened the fourth quarter with another 3, her third of the game. Both teams were matching each other basket for basket during that period.
Westfield led 43-40 with two minutes left. By then the Rocks were in the bonus and the free-throw shooting carried them to victory. Freshman Avery Taylor made two foul shots to put Westfield up 45-40, then Wheeler went 3-of-4 in the final minute to finish the game.
“I felt like we were tougher than what we normally were in the first game of the year,” said Steele. “So I felt like we were in a good position.”
Parker finished the game with 17 points, with Hatcher scoring nine points.
Westfield’s next game is Saturday at Pendleton Heights.
