By CRAIG ADKINS
For The Reporter
NOBLESVILLE – The Saturday, Nov. 29 girls basketball contest between Noblesville and Mt. Vernon was originally slated to be an evening game. But, with the anticipated snowfall in the area, the Millers’ athletic staff made the decision to move the game up to early afternoon.
Despite shooting 29 percent overall from the floor, Noblesville figured out ways to stave off the Marauders for a 41-39 home win.
Sophomore Maia Blower got things going with a right wing three. Zoey Wood tied it 3-3. The Millers closed out the first with five from C.C. Quigley and a baseline jumper from Ally Hutchinson for a 10-7 lead.
It was another tight quarter in the second. A Quigley bucket from Blower made it a five-point advantage at 12-7, but Delani Williams knocked down a three from the right for 12-10.
Hutchinson made two straight buckets, the latter pushing it to 16-10, forcing Mt. Vernon to call a 30 second timeout. Out of the timeout, Taylor Greulich drained a three. Blower sank a pair of free throws for an 18-13 margin, but Wood made another three to cut it to 18-16.
Noblesville scored the final three points to end the half on a free throw from Aleah Magee and Quigley layup to lead 21-16.
“They did some things that we hadn’t really honestly had a chance to work on against our 1-3-1 and 3-2,” said Noblesville head coach Donna Buckley. “They overloaded the side and that’s not something we’ve had a chance to talk about with this young group.”
Mt. Vernon started the third on a 5-0 run from Delani Williams’ three and a long two-pointer just inside the three-point arc to tie it 21-21.
A Hutchinson jumper and a three by Norah Vetor gave the Millers a five-point lead again at 26-21.
Mt. Vernon just wouldn’t go away. Wood made two free throws and Gabby Thomas made two consecutive threes from the right corner. Hutchinson scored five to keep the Marauders at bay, 31-29.
Reserve Kendra Ash made 1-of 2 free throws in the final second of the third, trimming it to 31-30.
“They just outhustled and outrebounded us,” Buckley added. “That gave them extra chances and that was something we didn’t do a very good job matching that for a lot of the game. They’re a tough, physical group. They’re Julie Shelton in her image. You’re going to be tough and do things the right way.”
Ash nailed a three from the left side to start the fourth and gave the Marauders their first lead since the first quarter.
Quigley made a pair of free throws in two straight trips to the line to match Mt. Vernon’s baskets by Greulich and Kat Simmons. Quigley took a bounce pass from Magee to tie it 37-37. From that point, it was a slight edge to Noblesville.
Quigley made 3-of 4 from the foul stripe to go up 40-37.
With 2:09 left, Thomas made two foul shots and the Marauders trailed 40-39.
The next couple of minutes were full of turnovers, miscues on both ends of the floor and both teams burning timeouts to see who was going to win this chess match.
“We’re young. We played young at times and got sped up, got flustered,” added Buckley. “Those are things that are fixable and we talked about that at the end. It was the quietest locker room I’ve ever been in. Their expectations of themselves and what they know they’re capable of.”
Mt. Vernon fouled Hutchinson, who missed the first and made the second free throw with 0.6 seconds for the final score of 41-39.
“I like that they’re kind of mad at themselves,” Buckley said. “Come Monday, we’ll fix some things. It’s good when young kids aren’t satisfied just to win.”
Zoey Wood led the way with 10 points and 13 rebounds. Gabby Thomas also had 10, Delani Williams eight.
Quigley had a game-high 18 points, five rebounds and four blocks. C.C. was also 8-for-9 at the free throw line. Hutchinson had 14 and eight rebounds.
Noblesville (4-2, 1-1 HCC) next visits Hamilton Southeastern (5-1, 2-0 HCC) on Dec. 3.
