IHSAA girls basketball What we learned: It's Mudsock week, plus a freshman keys big wins

Christmas is just around the corner, which means we're about halfway through the Indiana high school girls basketball season.

Here's what we learned from the past week.

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Buckle up, kids. It's Mudsock week.

They may not both be ranked as highly as they were last year, but there's ample intrigue surrounding Saturday's Mudsock rivalry game between Hamilton Southeastern (10-1) and Fishers (8-3).

The Royals are amidst an eight-day break following a closer-than-it-looks 72-59 win over Avon. The Tigers concluded the week with a 79-65 drubbing of Noblesville, wherein Talia Harris (24 points, six assists), Joirdyn Smith (16 points, four assists), Allison Scheu (12 points) and Kate Thomas (11 points) all contributed to Fishers' highest point total since 2020-21. They host Pendleton Heights on Monday (trap-game alert).

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HSE has one of the best players in the state with junior IU commit Maya Makalusky, plus a pair of rising sophomores in Kennedy Holman and Kayla Stidham (I was also impressed with how well their role players performed against Noblesville).

Fishers has those four listed above, as well as 6-0 wing Nevaeh Dickman, who should give the hosts an advantage inside.

The Royals are 14-12 vs. the Tigers over the past 20 years, but have lost seven straight in the series.

McKenzie Koch lifts Eastern Hancock to two statement wins

The freshman led the Royals to a pair of impressive wins last week. She dropped 21 on 8-of-14 shooting with four steals in a one-point overtime win vs. North Decatur, then put together another 21-point effort in a 56-53 win over Cathedral. She's averaging nearly 20 points, three steals and three assists through 10 games.

Those are two big-time wins for Eastern Hancock (10-0), which has a three-headed monster atop its lineup with the 5-8 Koch and seniors Sammie Bolding and Ruby White.

Next up: at Lapel (10-1) on Tuesday.

Multi-sport athletes continue to deliver for Bishop Chatard

Addison Duncan carried Chatard's offense for stretches of their 45-42 win over Heritage Christian, drilling three 3-pointers as part of a team-high 14-point performance. But the 5-8 senior guard/forward is better established as the team's defensive stopper, according to coach Dan Wagner. She routinely draws the opponent's top player(s) and did an admirable job splitting time between HC's Mya Davis and Joslyn Marshall on Friday. She's a physical, high-energy player, Wagner said. "We're so pleased to have her. She's just an amazing player."

It has helped, Wagner continued, that Duncan also plays soccer, which has equipped her for the physicality of the game (she took some hits against the Eagles) and aiding her floor vision.

"They're completely different endurances, but reading the field in soccer really helps me read the court in basketball," Duncan said. "And always making that extra pass. It's always going to be there and we always say we want a great shot, not just a good shot."

Multi-sport athletes have been a staple of Chatard's back-to-back regional championship runs, with nearly all their key players also involved with a fall and/or spring sport.

Sophomore Olivia Berzai, the Trojans' current leading scorer (11 ppg, 2.4 apg, 2.3 spg), also plays soccer; while junior Anna Caskey, their top rebounder, is a Division I softball commit (Belmont). Caskey, a 6-0 junior, is averaging a double-double per game (10 points, 11 rebounds) and was logging similar numbers before suffering a season-ending wrist injury midway through last season.

"She's a force in there," Wagner said of Caskey. "We have to make some layups, but other than that, she's been great."

Chatard (4-3) is coming off back-to-back wins for the first time this season, with games upcoming against Northwestern, University and Covenant Christian ahead of a post-Christmas tournament at Twin Lakes.

Heritage Christian 'learning each other'

Jessaca Stults had seven days between her first day as Heritage Christian coach and the team's scrimmage on Oct. 31. The rookie head coach had been hired on as an assistant over the summer, but was quickly promoted when Cassie Wiseman was named head coach at Taylor in late September.

The Eagles are, understandably, "a little bit behind" 10 games in, but are in a good spot, all things considered, with a .500 record that includes wins over Guerin Catholic and West Lafayette, plus Friday's narrow loss to rival Bishop Chatard.

"We're learning about each other," Stults said. "I started late and it took us a little while to figure each other out. We're starting to get there, we're starting to play better together. We have some stuff to work on, but it matters at the end of the season."

The past couple months have been spent bonding and figuring each other out on the fly, said Stults, who's been balancing those tasks with establishing a lineup and figuring out how to best maximize her team's strengths. It certainly helps that HC returned three starters — Mya Davis, Casey Frost and Joslyn Marshall — but among the departures was Koryn Marshall, who opted not to play this season after averaging over 13 points and five rebounds as a junior.

The Eagles overcame an icy first-half shooting performance and an 11-point third-quarter deficit against Chatard on Friday, with Davis hitting a 3-pointer and a layup to give the visitors some life in the fourth.

"We're just trying to adjust and figure out how our offense runs with those five people," Stults said. "We have a great team, we just need to figure out how we're going to continue to play together so we can win the next couple games."

Westfield outlasts Carmel, falls to Zionsville in OT

This season has involved less teaching and installing new concepts for Westfield coach Kelsey Steele. That's not to say there haven't been teachable moments or adjustments to be made, of course, but the second-year coach has been able to focus more on improving upon those concepts and player development as she continues building relationships with her players.

"They're a fun group. They love each other. It's like a family," Steele said. "That's what's most fun about going to work with them every day. I laugh a lot with them. We smile a lot. We work hard and challenge each other, but ultimately, we're together and that's fun."

The Rocks' 42-41 win over Carmel on Tuesday wasn't exactly the prettiest with the visitors shooting 33% and nearly letting victory slip away in the final seconds — Carmel slipped through for a layup attempt at the buzzer — but there were some positives to be gleaned. Lindsey Van Dyke was a bright spot offensively, logging 13 points on 4-of-7 shooting with a couple 3-pointers, while MaKayla Hatcher tallied nine points and Aubrey Crockett logged seven assists and six boards.

Westfield, which had assists on 11 of 14 baskets and recorded nine offensive rebounds, held a 24-14 halftime lead over Zionsville before falling in overtime, 50-48, on a basket in the final seconds by Emma Haan. The Rocks are 7-2 with games upcoming vs. Avon and Noblesville.

"We want to keep growing," Steele said. "My hope is that we continue to develop and start to peak in January heading into February."

Odds-and-ends

• Herron improved to 6-0 for the first time in program history with a 42-30 win over Mooresville Christian. The Achaeans travel to Speedway on Tuesday.

• Top-ranked Columbia City (9-1) suffered its first loss of the season, dropping a 45-44 decision vs. 3A Norwell. Beware those Knights, by the way. They're 9-2 with those losses coming against Northridge (11-1) and Homestead (7-1). Kennedy Fuelling accounted for nine of her 14 points in the fourth quarter against Columbia City, while senior Makenzie Fuess went for 18.

• Floyd Central (5-4) scored an upset Thursday night, snapping a two-game skid with a 50-45 win over 4A No. 14 Silver Creek.

• Class A No. 2 Lanesville remained undefeated with a 35-33 victory over top-ranked and sectional foe Borden. Hylton Brumley led the Eagles (11-0) with 12 points, while Hadley Crosier and Ava Kerr tallied eight and seven points, respectively. It was the first loss of the year for Borden (8-1), which holds wins over 2A No. 10 Crawford County, 3A's Corydon Central and 3A No. 14 Washington.

• Keep an eye on Rensselaer Central in 3A. The Bombers improved to 12-0 this week with wins over 3A No. 7 Benton Central and Delphi. Add those victories to a resume that already includes 4A Harrison, Benton Central (first of two meetings), West Lafayette and Twin Lakes.

Follow Brian Haenchen on Twitter at @Brian_Haenchen.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana high school girls basketball: What we learned this week