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Recap: Boy's Basketball Vs. HSE and Pike
By: Megan Wagner and Ava Pilcher
The Zionsville Eagles Boys Basketball team took down Hamilton Southeastern with a 3 point buzzer beater by Riley Bertram. The final score of the game was 73-72 after going into overtime.
On Friday January 20th, the Eagles improved to a 10-3 record and 3-0 conference record. Starting for the Eagles were Will Alcock, Riley Bertram, Nathan Childress, Isaiah Thompson, and Dominic Genco. Top scorers included Isaiah Thompson, sophomore, with 23 points and Riley Bertram, junior, with 22 points. Nathan Childress, sophomore, contributed with 4 points which included an authoritative dunk in the first quarter. This left the score at the end of the first quarter with a slight Eagle advantage of 17-16. Mark Stemme, junior, went 2 for 2 from the 3-point line
while Will Alcock, junior, added 4 points and 5 rebounds along with 2 free throws. The Eagle’s offense surged throughout the second quarter giving them a halftime lead of 40-31 highlighted by 7/10 shooting from deep.
Both teams came out energized to start the second half in what ensued to be an incredibly hard fought game. Leaning on improved team defense and stellar offensive play by senior Zach Gunn, HSE was able to close the gap to 4 after 3 quarters (47-51). Although the Eagles lost the quarter, Nathan Childress played well contributing 5 rebounds (4 defensive, 1 offensive) and a steal. The Eagles went into a nail-biting 4th quarter as the Royals eventually caught up, and the two teams traded baskets down the stretch. HSE eventually went up by 1 with 9 seconds remaining in regulation. Guard Isaiah Thompson started with the ball and made his way up the court as the clock winded down. He came off a screen and raced to the rim getting fouled on a layup attempt that sent both him and HSE’s Zach Gunn crashing to the floor. The crowd went deathly quiet as Thompson put the first free throw long, but let out a sigh of relief as he calmly hit the second one. The Royals last second shot fell well short ending regulation at 64-64.
The Eagle’s nest was buzzing with energy as the ball tipped off to start overtime. The score remained within a single possession in the entirety of the final minutes. Jack Davidson of HSE answered Isaiah Thompson’s pull up seconds later with a deep 3 to put the Royals up 72-70 with 10 seconds left. The crowd was in shock as the ball was knocked out of bounds with 3 seconds remaining. Zionsville was given one final chance to remain undefeated in conference play. The ball was inbounded to senior guard Tyler Leedy who gave it up to Riley Bertram.
He proceeded to sink a double-clutch 3 point shot to win the game as the horn sounded.
It was a defining win over a conference rival ranked 6th in state polls, making it a great night to be an Eagles fan.
Following the Eagle’s victory over Hamilton Southeastern, Zionsville took on the 10th ranked Pike Red Devils at home on Tuesday, January 24th. Unable to pull out the win, the Eagles battled to put up 59 points against Red Devil’s 67.
Starting for your Eagles were Isaiah Thompson, Riley Bertram, Will Alcock, Dominic Genco,and Nathan Childress. After an aggressive first quarter of the game, the Pike Red Devils lead by 1 point, leaving the score 12-11. Starting the second quarter, the Eagles saw some great team efforts giving them the advantage of heading into the second half and grabbing the lead by 2 points. Into the third quarter, the Eagles kept the score in close contact until they fell to the Red Devils by the end of 3. As the fourth quarter started and finished, Zionsville was unable to recover finishing the game trailing by 8 points. Leading the Eagles in rebounds was junior, Will Alcock. Alcock had 8 total rebounds, 6 of them defensively. Zionsville’s offense was lead by sophomore, Isaiah Thompson with 25 points and senior, Dominic Genco, adding 18 to the final score.
Summary: Girl's Basketball Season
By: Lauren Andersen
The Lady Eagles basketball team is closing in on the end of a very successful season. So far they’ve beaten every competitor but one, and will go on to Sectionals on January 21st. From the first game against Guerin Catholic, the Eagles have been winning decisively; they started the season with a winning margin of 69 points over their opponent. After that, the games were characterized mainly by largely-margined wins, and one narrow loss against Carmel, whom the Lady Eagles could potentially face again in regionals. Coach Maguire is leading the team to their last game against Brownsburg before Sectionals.
Senior Rachel Mclimore currently has the best average of points per game, scoring about 21 points every time she hits the court. Mclimore also has the best record of steals. In addition, she is leading in assists, averaging 3.9 per game. Mclimore’s assist record is closely followed by sophomore Maddie Nolan, with an average of 3.4 assists per game. Katie Isenbarger, a junior, holds the greatest average number of rebounds awarded per game. Isenbarger gets 3.2 defensive rebounds and 2.3 offensive rebounds, with a total average of 5.4 rebounds per game. Players Katie Isenbarger and Delaney Richason, a sophomore, are tied for average blocks per game.
As a whole, the team works well together, and plays hard. They play as a team, using speed, and each other, to quickly rack up points. We wish the Lady Eagles best of luck against their final regular season opponent Brownsburg, and into the postseason.
Recap: Boys Basketball Vs. Westfield and Webo
By: Ava Pilcher and Megan Wagner
The Zionsville Boys Basketball team started their first two home games off with wins over Westfield and Western Boone.
On Friday December 2nd, the Eagles went up against their conference rival, the Westfield Shamrocks, for their home opener. Starting off the game, the Zionsville Eagles saw some aggressive play defensively by junior, Riley Bertram. Bertram contributed to this team win with 9 total rebounds and 6 assists. A competitive first quarter left the score at 9-10 with the Eagles showing great offensive efforts by sophomore Isaiah Thompson and senior Dominic Genco. In the second quarter, the Eagles displayed strong endurance and tenacity by almost doubling their offensive total and allowing the Shamrocks only 7 points in the second quarter. At half, the Eagles led 29-16 over Westfield.
In the third quarter, the Eagles shut down the Shamrocks in the first couple minutes of the second half resulting in a timeout by Westfield. Zionsville stayed in the lead throughout the third quarter allowing less than a handful of baskets by the opponent. At the end of three, the score was 43-25 Zionsville. The Eagles carried their lead into the fourth quarter and finished with a strong 57-34 win. The leading scorers for Zionsville were Isaiah Thompson with 16 points, Dominic Genco with 13, and Tyler Leedy adding 9. A big factor in the win was the great ball movement around the perimeter and the effort to work the ball inside.
Your Eagles were back in action December 3rd against non-conference and county opponent, the Western Boone Stars. Missing two usual starters due to injury, Isaiah Thompson and Dominic Genco, the Eagles did not disappoint. The Eagles built a huge lead of 23-7 in the first quarter which allowed some new faces to get some time in this varsity game, including sophomore Nathan Childress, who finished with 13 points. At the half, the Eagles had a comfortable 19 point advantage, 42-13, with significant contributions from sophomores Hogan Orbaugh and Jake Ritter.
Executing an excellent 2-3 zone defense, the Eagles locked down their opponent in the second half. Junior Will Alcock added 6 rebounds to his stats, while Tyler Leedy and Seamus O’Neal also were impressive on defense. Similar to the win over Westfield, ball movement and getting all players involved in this game was a key factor in the win. Also important to the win was getting key minutes from the underclassmen as head coach Shaun Busick switched up the lineup multiple times. Tyler Leedy ended up with 6 steals and 5 rebounds as Zionsville routs the Webo Stars 67-38.