Westfield’s Audra Parker (right) gets hold of a rebound during the Shamrocks’ game with Hamilton Heights on Friday, Jan. 9. (Richie Hall)
By RICHARD TORRES
For The Reporter
WESTFIELD – The Westfield Shamrocks are right where they want to be.
With three games left on their regular-season schedule, including consecutive Hoosier Crossroads Conference matchups, the Class 4A Rocks enter the stretch run in control of their own fate.
A perfect 5-0 in the HCC, Westfield (16-5) is tied for first place with 4A No. 7 Hamilton Southeastern (15-3, 5-0). On Friday, Jan. 9, they host the Royals before traveling to 4A No. 17 Brownsburg (9-7, 2-2) on Jan. 23.
“We’ve got two tough ones coming up, but I’m proud of our girls for putting us in this position right now. To give ourselves a chance,” Westfield coach Kelsey Steele said. “That’s all you can ask for up to this point.”
The past three seasons, the Rocks were out of the HCC conversation with back-to-back three-win showings and a two-win finish in 2022-23 for no higher than a fifth-place finish in the standings.
However, the program continues to progress upward, and now, the Rocks are on the verge of possibly matching their second place (5-2 HCC) or championship (6-1 HCC) seasons of 2021-22 and 2020-21, respectively.
“It’s not finished yet,” Steele emphasized. “That’s the big thing that we keep telling them. We’re not there yet. We haven’t arrived yet.”
Much like the team’s win totals the past three seasons (12, 13, 16), the Rocks are building, particularly around six key veterans and the freshman duo of Lillian Clark (14.9 points per game) and Gabby Bassett (10.2 ppg).
Westfield has five seniors on the roster, and a junior Ellie Wheeler (7.3 ppg, 2.2 apg) at point guard, which provides the Rocks with depth and chemistry.
“We have leadership mixed in with our youth, and our kids have really welcomed them,” Steele said. “They want the ball in their hands. They want them to take shots, and that’s what we want to be about here. We want unselfish basketball, and we want to share the ball.”
The Rocks thrive on defense, allowing just 47.3 ppg, but offensively they are shooting 40 percent as a team (33 percent from 3-point) and are averaging 53.1 points scored per contest.
“We want to get a lot of shots up in practice, but we obviously spend a lot of time on defense, too,” Steele said. “That’s important to us. That’s a cornerstone.”
Mettle is another.
MaKayla Hatcher (8.1 ppg, 4.1 rpg), a 5-foot-8 senior, along with 6-0 senior Audra Parker (7.0 ppg, 3.5 rpg) showcased theirs during Westfield’s 61-39 win over 3A Hamilton Heights last Friday.
Both played roles in attempting to slow down Hamilton Heights Riley Suarez, a 6-1 freshman, who was averaging 24.0 ppg. Suarez finished with 19 points.
Parker also had 14 points, and Wheeler added nine to compliment Clark’s game-high 22 and Bassett’s 10.
“We just tell our kids to shoot with confidence, if they spend time in the gym getting shots up, and Lillian Clark spends a lot of time in the gym getting shots up,” Steele said. “Lillian Clark is a hard worker, so every time she touches, we tell her to shoot with confidence.”
The team’s increasing self-assurance comes from preparation and several hard-fought HCC wins to date.
The Rocks won 59-57 in overtime at Franklin Central on Nov. 29. They opened conference play with a 48-40 win against Fishers on Nov. 21 and won on the road at Zionsville, 51-46, on Dec. 12.
Westfield’s 65-54 overtime win at Avon on Dec. 16, followed by a 46-32 victory at home against Noblesville on Dec. 20 has them knocking on the HCC door.
“Now, we’ve got to do our prep work, and we’ve got to prepare for two of the other best teams in the conference because we’ve done a good job up until this point,” Steele said. “HSE is incredibly talented, but I think we have some toughness to us. We’ve shown that when our kids are locked in. When they’re focused, we can compete with just about anybody that we play against. I’m excited about that matchup.”
