FISHERS – Hamilton Southeastern girls basketball coach Brian Satterfield compares the Class 4A Sectional 8 tournament to a semistate. Noblesville’s Donna Buckley sees Sectional 8 — arguably the state’s toughest — as a true test of any program’s mettle.

During Friday night's semifinals at HSE, both coaches deployed the equalizer to survive and advance.

No. 6 HSE leaned on Indiana commit Maya Makalusky and Kayla Stidham for a combined 32 points and 16 rebounds, but defense proved the deciding factor, as the Royals (21-3) eliminated Hoosier Crossroads Conference rival Zionsville, 61-48.

No. 13 Noblesville (15-8) followed a similar game plan, netting a game-high 27 points from Meredith Tippner and 16 from senior Reagan Wilson, as the Millers’ stymied defending sectional champion Fishers (17-7) early to avenge last season’s tournament heartbreak and progress into Saturday's championship final with a 56-42 victory.

“This would be a great semistate. That’s what I keep telling people,” Satterfield said. “The quality of teams that we have here. You play on any given night, and any one of the teams can beat each other. Tonight, it happened to be our night and it gives us the opportunity to play (in the final.).”

In the first half, the Royals’ offense was a necessity.

Down 11-5 in the first quarter, the Eagles (16-7) charged back to tie the score 16-all by the second and buried six 3-pointers in the first half while shooting a perfect 10-for-10 from the foul line.

Senior Allie Caldwell, who finished with a game-high 25 points for the Eagles, hit a trio of 3-pointers in the first half, including one to bring Zionsville within three points, 16-13, before senior Emma Haan sank another to deadlock the game. Haan had 14 points.

During the regular season, HSE rallied back to beat Zionsville, 76-72, clinching an outright HCC title with a 7-0 league record.

Up 35-30 by halftime in the rematch, the Royals clamped down in the second half, out-scoring the Eagles 26-18 to counter Zionsville’s 16 of 17 free-throw shooting for the game.

“It was how are we going to defend it a little bit differently than we did the first time? I thought in the first half we did a pretty good job of it, but later we were really trying to get out there and really attack any time their two leading scorers were coming off a ball screen or whatever the case may be,” Satterfield said.

Haan was limited to four second-half points, and Caldwell added 12 more to her total, but with all five HSE starters contributing seven points or more overall, the Eagles struggled to close the gap.

“I know we’re playing for both of our seniors, and we don’t want them to go home early. All of us just want it. Everyone grinds every day, and everyone wants it,” Stidham said. “This sectional is so tough. Everyone is amazing. Every team. Everyone has someone.”

The Royals had more than someone. They had five clutch contributors.

Sophomore Kennedy Holman and senior Zoe Lawless each finished with nine points apiece. Lawless shot a flawless 3-for-3 from the floor and was 2 of 2 from 3-point range. Junior Addison Van Hoesen had seven points. Stidham hauled in 10 rebounds for a double-double.

The Royals pulled ahead 38-32 in the third quarter behind Lawless’ third 3-pointer, and her final bucket off an assist from Holman increased the lead, 46-38, in the fourth quarter before HSE iced the game from the foul line.

HSE went 13 of 15 from the free-throw line in the fourth, including 12 of 14 down the stretch, while the Eagles were 4 of 5 in the quarter and shot 0-for-7 from long range in the second half.

“That’s what I love about the girls. We kept making a little bit of an adjustment here and there, and they kept buying in and doing that and were able to get things done tonight,” Satterfield said. “The energy we had defensively really helped us score things tonight.”

The Millers had a score to settle with the 2023 state runner-up Tigers, who had won four straight against their HCC rivals, including a 67-64 overtime win during last year’s sectional semifinals.

Fishers won the regular-season meeting, 79-65, on Dec. 8, but the Millers’ in-practice preparation against their “highlighter squad” had the 2022 state champions ready to end the trend.

“Defense is our identity. Defense is who we are. We win games because of our defense,” Wilson. “We have an awesome boys practice squad that comes in and gets us ready, so being able to play defense against them makes it so much easier to come out here and play defense.”

The “highlighters,” a group of Millers’ student-athletes led by the football program’s all-time leading rusher, Logan Shoffner, scrimmage the girls basketball team routinely and cheered on from the stands as Noblesville ran out to a 15-0 lead against Fishers.

The Millers reached their largest lead, 20-4, late in the first quarter, turning pressure defense into transition baskets.

“We know this is the toughest sectional we can be in, and we know you have to come out strong against all of these teams. We have great players and great teams here that are going to be successful once out of sectional,” Tippner said. “A slow start has hurt us this season, so we made sure it was a priority to come out strong and we put our foot down.”

The Tigers fell behind 20-6 before cutting the deficit to 26-21 by halftime behind a 15-6 run. An 8-0 Fishers’ swing late in the third quarter made it a one-possession game, 39-38, by the fourth. A Katelyn Thomas layup tied the game 41-all with 6 minutes, 20 second remaining.

Senior Talia Harris posted a team-high 17 points on 8 of 18 shooting and had a team-best six rebounds. Smith finished with nine points with a pair of threes. Thomas and Nevaeh Dickman each had six points.

A Tippner post-up bucket broke the stalemate, 43-41, with 6:02 left, but Wilson’s 3-pointer with 4:11 on the clock and a layup off a Tippner assist provided the spacing, 50-42.

Fishers was outscored 17-4 in the fourth and was held scoreless in the final 5:20.

“Credit to them. They just came out and they were ready to go, and we turned it over and they made us pay for those turnovers,” Fishers head coach Lauren Votaw said. “I thought our kids finally settled down, and we were able to get some stuff going, but just too little too late.”

Tippner shot 12 of 18 from the field, went 2-for-2 from the foul line, had three steals, three assists and seven rebounds.

“At the beginning of this season we were figuring out who we are, and the record didn’t speak to how much we knew we were able to grow by the end of the season,” Tippner said. “Coach kept saying, ‘We’re coming in hot.’ We started the season rough, and I think that adversity created who we are now and prepared us for moments like when Fishers made their runs. We didn’t panic because we knew what we had gone through this year.”

Sophomore C.C. Quigley had nine points and six rebounds for the Millers. Wilson shot 6-of-6 from the foul line with all of them falling through in the last 1:30 to put the game away. Wilson posted 13 points in the second half to follow up Tippner’s 19-point first half.

“The whole season. We still think back to that (sectional) game last year. It kills me, so coming out here tonight, we knew we couldn’t let the same thing happen twice,” Wilson said. “When we play together, have fun and do what we’re supposed to do, we’re unbeatable.”

Tonight’s championship final will decide the final HCC word.

HSE enters the final 9-0 against conference teams this season and is chasing its first sectional since winning the title at home in 2019 en rout to a 4A state title. The last time HSE faced Noblesville in the sectional, the Royals lost, 57-48, in 2021.

Noblesville’s recent sectional title was the first step to its state-championship season in 2022.

“We just knew our kids had to learn how to compete every single night, or we’re not going to get out of the sectional,” Buckley said. “Those two (Tippner and Wilson) are winners, and that boys practice squad is awesome. They helped us win this game tonight. In practice, you better bring it, or you’re going to turn it over with those boys.”

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IHSAA girls basketball: Noblesville, HSE advance to sectional final