IHSAA girls basketball What We Learned: No. 1 goes down, Gianna Morelli returns, more

Here's what we learned from the penultimate week of the girls high school basketball regular season.

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Everyone shined in Center Grove's win over Hamilton Southeastern

A few thoughts from Center Grove's 74-58 win over Hamilton Southeastern on Saturday…

■ That is why the Trojans are a legitimate Class 4A title contender. They're experienced (start three seniors and two juniors) with a very balanced scoring attack (all five starters finished in double figures Saturday) and are so sound within their defense. IU commit Maya Makalusky scored 32 points for HSE, but she was held to just two field goal attempts in the first quarter and really had to work for her scoring opportunities as the game progressed. Center Grove didn't do anything special or deviate from its standard gameplan, it just kept rotating players against her and limited her touches inside (Makalusky still nailed a few long 3s, including one at the 3rd quarter buzzer).

■ CG forced a lot of turnovers, picking off passes and turning them into chances the other way (Aubrie Booker was the catalyst early, jumping passes and running the floor).

■ Rachel Wirts had a great game. The Villanova commit established herself inside, owning the boards and converting opportunities around the basket. The connection between her and Booker — another of the night's top-3 stars — was really fun to watch, and Wirts blocked a shot at the start of the fourth that led to an Ava Grant 3-point play on the other end (pushed margin to 13).

■ Speaking of Grant: A Center Grove player cited the 5-9 junior as one to watch earlier this season. She wasn't kidding. Grant has really shined, averaging over 12 points and three assists in her first season running point. She and Lilly Bischoff (team-high 18 points) did a great job getting to the basket and finishing through contact against HSE.

■ HSE went 1-2 through a really tough week against three totally different styles of play: Lost at Lawrence North, rallied to beat Zionsville, lost to Center Grove. In all three games the Royals fell behind early before mounting a furious second-half charge. Keeping Kennedy Holman out of foul trouble and getting scoring support for Makalusky will be critical to HSE's sectional success.

Guerin relearning its offense following Morelli's return

Guerin Catholic (9-12) was nine games in and growing accustomed to running its offense through freshman Gianna Morelli when the 6-3 center broke her ankle on Dec. 2. A brutal development for both Morelli, who was averaging a team-high 12 points and nine rebounds, and the Golden Eagles, who'd snapped a five-game losing streak with three straight wins.

"It was disappointing to say the least," coach Danielle Cardinal said.

Fortunately, Morelli did not not suffer any ligament damage and was cleared after missing about a month-and-a-half. She resumed practicing two weeks ago (four practices total), then played in her first games last week — Tuesday at Sheridan and Friday at Brebeuf — with one tune-up remaining before sectionals (Friday vs. Lafayette Central Catholic).

Morelli is still getting back into game shape and is on budgeted minutes, but Cardinal has been pleased with her progress at practice and thought she looked "pretty darn good" against the Braves.

"Our goal is for her to feel comfortable and not feel like we're running her into the ground so that by sectional we can run her into the ground. (laughs)"

For her part, Morelli acknowledged it's been frustrating trying to get back to where she was pre-injury, but Friday marked the first time she's felt back to herself.

"I felt really good," said Morelli, who was drawing high-Division I interest entering high school. "There was no pain and it just felt good. I was able to move well and stuff like that."

With its rising standout back, Guerin is focused on cultivating chemistry and getting everyone comfortable within the offense. 6-0 freshman post Emery Cardinal stepped up in Morelli's absence, Danielle Cardinal said, so they're adjusting to that two-post setup on offense.

"It's a little different than the way it was because (Morelli) was the only post when we started," Danielle said. "So now they've got to figure out how to do this together. I think they can be really, really awesome, (but) they're both freshmen. They're young kids. They're trying to figure it out and learn. We play a lot of young kids, which is great for our future, it just makes for some growing pains right now."

Brebeuf eyes state tournament run

Not unlike the volleyball team, the Brebeuf basketball team doesn't have nearly the same height as it has in years past with no one on the roster listed over 5-9.

I was curious to see how that would influence things Friday night and honestly, it wasn't really a factor at all.

"We knew we were going to be shorter coming into this year. We just have to play bigger," junior Ella Miller said. "We have Jailen (Bowling) down there and Savannah (Schafer). They're not the tallest posts, but we're definitely honing in on our defense this year and that's part of the reason we aren't worried about it."

Bowling, a freshman, was really impressive against Guerin, knocking down shots from the outside and maintaining a disruptive presence defensively — deflecting passes and blocking a few shots. She entered the night averaging around 10 points, second to only sophomore Robyn Pate.

"There have been a few ups and a few downs, but my teammates have been supportive and there for me when I need it," Bowling said. "Having that support has really helped."

Miller said Bowling was "a little timid" at the beginning of the season, but she's played with a lot more confidence since winter break. "She hasn't peaked yet — we're waiting on that for sectionals and the state tournament — but it's definitely been a high-climb."

Speaking of sectionals, the Braves (15-6) are in the conversation as a potential challenger to Bishop Chatard's three-year reign in Sectional 27. That's a big step for Brebeuf (15-6), which has cleared double-digit wins only twice since its 2006-07 state championship run (23-6).

"There's more emphasis on how far we can go this season," Ella Miller said. "I don't remember in the last few years emphasizing the state tournament as much as (we) emphasized singular wins. Now it's like, winning is nice, but we're ultimately preparing for the end of January."

Brebeuf hosts Chatard on Friday.

Indiana Deaf wins Clerc Classic XII championship

Indiana Deaf was in Maryland over MLK weekend, competing against teams from around the country in the Clerc Classic.

The Orioles (13-7) won the event with wins over teams from New York, Maryland and Texas. Sophia Wascher, who was voted tournament MVP, notched a double-double in the championship game, tallying 18 points and 14 rebounds, while Olivia Wascher added 12 points. Tiana Starayev had eight points, seven rebounds and six assists and Leokadia Saunders logged three of the team's four steals.

Olivia Wascher and Starayev were both named all-tournament.

Indiana Deaf resumed in-state competition last week, knocking off Irvington Prep and Anderson Prep.

Sophia Wascher scored 28 points against APA and is seven away from 1,000 for her career.

Franklin Central scores statement win over Plainfield

The Flashes ran their win streak to eight games Tuesday, rallying for a 41-36 triumph over Plainfield.

It was a grinder of a game, but Franklin Central — which plays three freshmen — looked a lot different (in a good way) Tuesday vs. Plainfield than it did at the beginning of the year vs. Center Grove. It was most notable on the offense where, save for a few turnovers, they looked a lot more comfortable. Lily Graves (11 points) had some big shots, including a 3-pointer to stifle a late Quakers charge, Riley Huotari scored nine points and went 4-for-4 at the line and 6-2 freshman Payton DuVall stuffed the stat sheet with eight points, six rebounds, two assists, a steal and a block.

Plainfield felt like a swing game for the Flashes (11-8), who lost to Noblesville on Saturday and will close out the regular season at Southport (Tuesday) and vs. Fishers (Friday). Another split this week and they'll have won nine of their last 11 entering sectionals.

Odds-and-ends

■ After ending up on the wrong side of a buzzer beater vs. Fishers, Brownsburg paid it forward a week later vs. Westfield with Purdue commit Avery Gordon nailing a put-back as time expired to secure a 59-57 overtime victory. Gordon, who cleared 1,000 career points earlier in the week, finished with 41 points.

■ Another buzzer-beater: Mooresville's Rachel Harshman beat the horn to force overtime against Plainfield on Friday. The Pios won, 53-47.

■ Jaylah Lampley broke Lawrence Central's all-time scoring record during Tuesday's win at North Central. The junior standout has 1,147 points and counting.

■ Another school record fell last week with Faith Christian sophomore Maya Layton breaking her own single-game scoring record (46 points) to clear 1,0000 career points in a 73-65 win over Demotte Christian.

■ Lapel coach Zach Newby recorded his 100th career win Saturday at University. The Bulldogs erased a 12-point deficit with a 21-1 run.

Follow Brian Haenchen on Twitter at @Brian_Haenchen.

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