DANVILLE — In a week loaded with big-time matchups, the best (at least in terms of suspense, drama, etc.) was saved for Saturday's Hendricks County final between Class 4A Plainfield and 3A's Danville — a double-overtime thriller with two plays at the buzzer headlined by the play of a rapidly rising freshman standout. What more could you ask for?!

Here's what we learned from the past week in high school girls basketball.

'She's a real playmaker.' Hannah Menser's strong freshman year continues with county title

Heartbreak in Danville

Man, that was a pretty gut-wrenching way for Danville to go down Saturday night.

Emma Ancelet — the star of Friday's semifinal win vs. Tri-West (11 points, 11 assists, seven rebounds and three steals) — went 1-for-2 at the line, leaving Plainfield with a one-point lead with 7.9 seconds left in regulation. The junior quickly (like, 0.8 seconds quickly) fouled on the inbound to send the Quakers to the line. They hit 1-of-2. Ancelet drives the length of the court, swerves through a few defenders and nails the game-tying layup with just a couple seconds left.

That was the highlight in what was another banger of a performance by Ancelet, who finished with 17 points (teammate Addison Davis logged 18). The 5-5 point guard has been dynamite all season for the Warriors, averaging around 14 points, six rebounds, seven assists and four steals through her first 18 games.

"She's grown by leaps and bounds," coach Kaley May said of Ancelet. "She knows she has to step up for the team and be our leader on both ends of the floor. She's such a hard worker and such a high-IQ player. You feel comfortable when the ball's in her hands and so is the rest of our team."

Ancelet nearly ended it in the first OT, setting up a teammate for a wide-open layup in the final seconds that would've broken a 55-all tie. But the shot wouldn't fall and Danville ultimately lost in overtime.

Tough, tough way to go down.

"There were a lot of emotions" as the Warriors went in for that layup, Plainfield sophomore Berkeley Williams laughed. "Mad, sad, angry, then above all happy. We knew from the beginning we could win this game, but it was going to be a fight to the end. That's what we saw and we gritted it out."

As for May's message to her team: "I just told them how proud of them I was," she said.

"We fought tooth and nail the entire game," May continued. "Plainfield has so many weapons in every spot, so I was just proud of our grit on the defensive end and rebounding. We stepped up in big moments to make plays we needed to. … We showed a lot of growth with how we handled ourselves in some of those bigger pressure moments."

Danville (15-3) has a couple more big tests left: vs. freshman standout Lillie Graves and 4A's McCutcheon on Jan. 16; vs. perennial 2A power Triton Central on Jan. 23.

Berkeley Williams shines for Plainfield

The Quakers — specifically the emergence of freshman Hannah Menser and the significance of that win for senior Payton Benge and her dad, coach Curt Benge — were the focal point of Saturday's story, but I'd be remiss if I didn't shout out Williams. The 5-6 sophomore has maintained her scoring output from last season (around 14 ppg), but has done so at a much more efficient clip (45% from the field).

Williams scored 18 in Friday's semifinal vs. Brownsburg, then tallied 19 in the championship game vs. Danville.

"There's an expectation to win (among the younger players), no matter the situation," Curt Benge said. "We were in a similar game with Brownsburg in the second game of the year, so I think having done that and believing you can win is a big deal. It's a big deal and this group obviously does. … They blended right away."

Peeking ahead: The Avon sectional is headlined by the Hendricks Country trio of Avon, Brownsburg and Plainfield, and though Avon has beaten the Quakers and Bulldogs this season, I think Plainfield has a slight (very slight) edge as the sectional favorite*.

*-This opinion is subject to change and I fully acknowledge the possibility of recency bias. But the county champs looked a lot better Saturday night than back in November against Avon. The continued maturation of Williams and Menser has been key.

More: Avon's Aniah Smith 'makes the hard things look so easy.' And she's just getting started.

Camryn Runner secures an important win for Hamilton Heights

The Evansville commit has one of the smoothest shots you'll see, and she was on fire Saturday afternoon vs. Westfield, pouring in 31 points to lift the 3A Huskies to a 45-39 win over the Shamrocks.

"Her ability to get the basket has really improved and that's going to help her at the next level," coach Keegan Cherry said. "She's not a one-trick pony. She obviously can catch-and-shoot and make it at a high level, but now she's putting it on the floor. She has moves getting to the basket, she can go both ways — she's a really tough guard."

That's an important win for Hamilton Heights, which wraps up the season with four home games: Western (14-2), winless Tipton, the Hoosier Conference championship game (either 17-0 Rensselaer Central or 17-3 Benton Central) and Heritage Christian (8-7).

Some good, some bad and a brutal stretch upcoming for Westfield

A positive from the Westfield perspective: Playing against a Hamilton Heights offense that's extremely methodical and structured to lull opposing defenses to sleep, the Shamrocks remained active, disrupting passing lanes and making it difficult (for the most part) for the Huskies to chew up large chunks of clock. (Aubrey Crockett's length was problematic at times for HH).

That said, coach Kelsey Steele hoped they'd be able to generate more easy baskets in transition, but they weren't quite able to get it going.

Westfield did find a few of those transition opportunities and generated a number of second-chance tries, but its inability to finish around the basket (and a 1-for-13 mark from 3), proved too much to overcome.

The Shamrocks have seen a variety of different playing styles over the past couple weeks with games against Lawrence North and Bishop Chatard preceding the Hamilton Heights loss — "We've seen a lot of different defenses over the last little bit here," Steele said — and Hamilton Southeastern (Friday), Indian Creek (Saturday), Brownsburg (Jan. 19) and Ben Davis (Jan. 23) over the next two weeks.

With regards to what's ahead, Steele said they're trying to get everyone prepared, while also finding ways to build confidence and keep things fun.

"It's a long season, so we want them to still smile and have fun when they come to practice," she continued. "We'll mix up a few things here and there, but ultimately getting lots of shots up and finding ways for our girls to gain confidence in practice."

Weekly notables

∎ Jennings County (15-3) snapped a 25-game losing streak to Bedford North Lawrence on Wednesday with a 58-41 triumph over its sectional rival (first win in the series since Jan. 19, 2008).

∎ The aforementioned Panthers dropped a 64-57 at Center Grove on Saturday. Senior Juliann Woodard scored 22 points in the loss to move within 25 points of the school's all-time scoring record. Audrey Annee led CG with 17 points. Statement win for the Trojans (17-1), who travel to HSE on Jan. 20.

∎ Lapel won the Madison County championship, knocking off 4A's Pendleton Heights in the semifinals and Alexandria in Saturday's final.

∎ Greenwood won a wild one at Whiteland on Friday. Keyara Johnson hit a 3 to make it a one-point game with 2.5 seconds left, then Charlee Mayo intercepted the inbound pass and was fouled on a 3-point try with less than a second remaining. She drained all three, lifting the Woodmen to a 59-57 victory. Johnson finished with 19 points; Gwen Higdon led Whiteland with 22.

∎ Sophomore Maya Layton became Faith Christian's all-time leading scorer with a 39-point performance vs. Fort Wayne Northrop on Saturday. Her performance was highlighted by a three-quarters court buzzer-beater. Layton has 922 career points.

∎ Zionsville's Emma Haan hit seven 3-pointers to tie the school's single-game record in a 68-48 triumph over Pike. The senior Vermont commit finished with 26 points.

∎ Washington Township's Gracie Little reached 1,000 career points Tuesday vs. Munster.

City Tournament upcoming

No. 1-seed Cathedral (7-9) tops the left side of the bracket and will face the winner of No. 8 Herron (12-4) vs. No. 9 Cardinal Ritter (5-11).

The bottom-left quadrant matches No. 4 Covenant Christian (4-12) vs. No. 13 Washington (3-8) and No. 5 Purdue Poly (6-8) vs. No. 12 Christel House Manual (7-5).

The opposite side of the bracket is headlined by No. 2 Bishop Chatard (10-6). The Trojans will play the winner of No. 7 Attucks (7-8) vs. No. 10 Scecina (4-9).

The bottom-right quadrant features No. 3 Heritage Christian (8-7) vs. No. 14 Providence Cristo Rey (0-6) and No. 6 Tech (6-10) vs. No. 11 Tindley (7-10).

First-round games are scheduled for Monday, followed by the quarterfinals on Tuesday. The four semifinalists advance to Thursday night at Cathedral (6 and 7:30 p.m.), with the championship game scheduled for Friday at 7:30 p.m.

Follow Brian Haenchen on Twitter at @Brian_Haenchen.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana girls basketball: Danville, Plainfield impress in county final