Homestead knocks McCutcheon girls basketball from IHSAA Regionals
MARION — For every phenom that's existed in sports and basketball has come the bouldering fall of adversity.
McCutcheon freshman Lillie Graves faced that antagonist directly.
Against a Homestead team loaded with Division I talent, McCutcheon struggled to match their output, including that of sophomore point guard Myah Epps — who was recently offered by Purdue — and fellow sophomore 3-point masters in guards Gabriella Helstrom and Whitney Ankenbruck.
Homestead attacked and went 12-for-12 from the free-throw line in the second half and forced Graves into taking contested shots to end McCutcheon's season at the IHSAA Class 4A Regional Championship 51-34.
Epps scored 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds on 5-of-12 shooting, Ankenbruck added 12 points and Helsom added eight points for Homestead (22-4).
Despite a stifling defensive effort in the first half by McCutcheon (21-5) and holding Homestead to 29.2% shooting, the 14-year-old leading scorer Graves struggled to create space and dealt with the swarm of blue and white agitators who doubled and triple teamed her.
Graves was forced into six turnovers.
Sophomore guard Braelyn Williams scored nine points, and reliable sophomore forward Aubrey Miller added eight points and six rebounds.
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"As coach (Knoy) was saying, they hit a bunch of open shots that we weren't hitting," Williams said. "The game could've gone either way — it wasn't a game we were hitting shots, but these are things we can 100% fix. We'll be in it next year."
Graves was held to 15 points on 3-for-22 shooting from the floor. She had plenty of open looks, they just didn't fall.
"We gave it all we had, and that was the hardest we played all season," Graves said. "I'm so proud of our work ethic."
Bad games and hostile crowds are part of the equation for Graves and by extension McCutcheon, which is attempting to climb up the ladder of Indiana basketball elites.
The Mavericks traveled 74 miles — the longest distance of any IHSAA Class 4A team in the Marion Regional — to the purple and peach neutral courts of storied Bill Green Arena. And Homestead let McCutcheon know there are degrees to competing for an IHSAA State Championship.
McCutcheon mustered just 11 baskets and were forced into 18 turnovers.
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"They hit three and four in a row, and we missed three and four in a row," Knoy said. "My dad Ron always said that basketball is an easy game when the ball goes in the basket. They didn't go in the basket for Lillie or any of us tonight."
McCutcheon returns 13 underclassmen next year, including Graves, Miller and Williams after winning the IHSAA Sectional Championship. The new mission is to return to Marion and win Regionals.
Ethan Hanson is the sports reporter for the Journal & Courier in Lafayette. He can be reached at ehanson@gannett.com, on Twitter at EthanAHansonand Instagram at ethan_a_hanson.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Homestead knocks McCutcheon girls basketball from IHSAA Regionals
