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

DANVILLE — It's typical player development stuff, but Hannah Menser has had to learn to control her emotions. The Plainfield freshman struggled with that area of the game at the beginning of the year, senior teammate Payton Benge observed, but she's settling in and finding her way as a first-year varsity starter.

Menser is learning as she goes and applying those lessons in real time.

It all came together Saturday in the team's most-critical moments to date, with the 5-8 guard scoring a game-high 27 points to lift Plainfield to a 62-57 double-overtime victory against Danville in the Hendricks County championship game.

Not only did Menser deliver on the road with a county championship on the line, she did so with the team's other top players — Benge and sophomore Berkeley Williams — both having fouled out.

Though certainly a demonstration of her growth, these types of performances aren't necessarily anything new for Menser, who entered Saturday night averaging over 15 points (48% shooter) and three steals over 13 games.

She's been a perfect fit, Williams observed, giving the Quakers the additional knockdown shooter they needed coming into the season. "She's a real playmaker."

"It's been great to finally play with them," said Menser, who'd been training with many of her current teammates as a middle schooler. "The environment here is just so great. It's a lot different competition-wise from what I'm used to, but playing with these girls just makes it easier."

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Menser was relatively quiet through the first three quarters, netting four points through the first two before hitting a pair of 3s in the third. And then she took off. Menser scored seven of Plainfield's first eight points in the fourth quarter to swing a 37-35 deficit to a six-point advantage, then converted 7-of-8 free throws to help extend the game and eventually put it away in the extra sessions.

Reaching both overtime and double overtime required a bit of divine intervention for Plainfield — Emma Ancelet sank the game-tying layup at the end of regulation, then Danville missed an open layup that would've won it in the final seconds of overtime — but the Quakers were able to claw ahead, before their freshman iced the win.

"She knows she can hit those shots," said Williams, who logged 19 points (and was also very good Saturday). "She's a rather quiet person, but it usually works to her advantage. … She has a mindset. She wants to win and she knows how (and when) to take control."

"All she could talk about was the free throw she missed (at the end of regulation)," coach Curt Benge laughed. "Like, 'Look, you're going to make mistakes.' She played really well. She's very, very talented."

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It's been an especially memorable weekend for Curt and his daughter, Payton, with Saturday's county championship-clinching victory preceded by a win over rival Brownsburg. The Quakers had lost six straight to the Bulldogs entering the season, but ended that streak with a double-overtime win at the beginning of the season before ending their five-year reign as county champions Friday night.

Payton wasn't at her best in the first half, Curt noted, but she got the team jump-started in the second half, playing with high-energy on the defensive end and accounting for five of her nine points in the third quarter. "She responded in the second half and that's what ultimately got us in position to have a chance."

As everyone was ushered off the Danville floor, Curt and Payton shared a moment at midcourt, with the longtime head coach embracing his youngest daughter and telling him how proud of her he is.

"It's a big deal," Curt said of Payton's first county championship. "Some of these other kids were able to win championships coming up through middle school, but Payton wasn't. She worked her tail-end off to go from being an also-ran coming off the bench to a star player as a junior and senior. To see her hard work pay off is what's important to me, both as a coach and her dad."

Follow Brian Haenchen on Twitter at @Brian_Haenchen.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IHSAA girls basketball: Hannah Menser stars in Hendricks County thriller