Insider: Recognizing best of the best from Saturday's regional championships

Hank and Danny Riego recapped Saturday's regionals on a live edition of The Scorers Table.

BEDFORD — Sectional week provided a number of surprises. Saturday's regionals weren't quite as unpredictable — unless, of course, you took our picks on The Scorers Table to heart, because basically nothing that happened in Class 4A was properly predicted by us — but there were some noteworthy results, a couple milestones and some individual performances worth spotlighting.

Instead of going full What We Learned, we're going to ascribe some superlatives.

More: Semistate pairings, schedule set

IHSAA girls basketball regionals: Who's advancing to semistate?

Notice an individual or a team that I'm missing? Let me know! And I'll get them added — or at least give them a shoutout on Twitter. DMs are open as is my inbox: BHaenchen@gannett.com.

LET'S GET TO IT!

Best Game: Noblesville 43, Fort Wayne Snider 40

The Millers have had some crazy state tournament wins over the past three years, but Saturday may have taken the cake. Down five with basically no momentum whatsoever entering the fourth, they came roaring back with a Reagan Wilson 3-pointer tying the score at 36, then Meredith Tippner and CC Quigley paired up on a 4-0 run to give NHS a two-point lead.

Both teams missed on multiple opportunities over the final minutes, including an empty trip to the line for Noblesville (off a stolen inbound) that allowed Purdue commit Jordyn Poole to make it a one-point game with about eight seconds remaining.

But Tippner, the junior standout who just last week said she wanted to "be the person there" in big-game situations, sank two free throws to push the margin to 3, then helped the defense secure one final stop to punch their ticket to semistate.

Tippner scored a game-high 19 points and 10 rebounds, dished out three assists, put down a block and picked up two steals. Wilson added nine points and Quigley had eight, plus five rebounds.

Stat of the Night: Tippner at state

Quick note before we get to that, Tippner was shooting 50% at the line with only perfect outing (Jan. 16 vs. Harrison, 4-for-4). She's 10-for-12 (83%) over her past four games.

OK, now for the real stat…

Tippner is 27-2 in IHSAA postseason games between basketball and soccer (h/t to my The Scorers Table cohost Danny Riego for that nugget).

Most Overtimes: Brownstown Central 55, South Spencer 50 (2OT)

I only have a series of score updates to work with on this one, but wowzers, what a game in Charlestown.

South Spencer led by a point after one, Brownstown Central led by a point after two, then the teams were deadlocked at 27 entering the fourth. South Spencer trailed 39-37 with 30.9 seconds left, but managed to tie and force overtime at 41-all. Brownstown forced a 45-all tie in the final seconds of the first overtime period, then managed to pull away over the final minute for a 55-50 win.

Breakout Performer: Kennedy Urban, Franklin

The Grizzly Cubs senior was 6-for-35 from 3 entering the state tournament. She hit critical triples against Columbus North and Whiteland during sectionals, then nearly matched her regular-season total with four 3s and 14 points in a rout of Evansville North.

Best Finish: Valparaiso 47, Northridge 46

The day's final contest was a doozy with senior Becca Gerdt nailing the go-ahead layup with 8.2 seconds left to lift Valpo to a wild win over Northridge. The Vikings never trailed by more than seven, but only led for a total of 24 seconds.

A pulse-pounding win and a really special moment for Gerdt, who tore her ACL and meniscus in Dec. 2022. She finished with 15 points, per the broadcast. Sophomore Lilli Barnes also logged 15 points, plus nine rebounds.

Biggest Surprise: Lake Central 54, Washington 38

"Biggest" is used loosely here…same with "surprise"

LC coach Joe Huppenthal talked after the Hall of Fame Classic about the importance of playing such a difficult schedule, reflecting specifically on a tougher-than-expected stretch that took the Indians to Bedford North Lawrence for the Limestone Classic, back home for Christmas, then out to New Castle for the season's most prestigious in-season event. That was a lot, but even after the 1-1 finish at the HOF, his players spoke about how much they enjoyed the experience and how it would benefit them in the long run.

A couple months later and Lake Central was out there celebrating another state tournament upset of South Bend Washington, this one in the regional championship by a score of 54-38.

More: Turnovers doom South Bend Washington in regional loss to Lake Central

The Indians, who registered 15 steals, held Washington scoreless through the first quarter, led by as many as 15 early in the third, then grabbed a 48-32 lead late in the fourth en route to an easy win.

Ayla Krygier had 14 points and five rebounds for LC, Riley Milausnic notched 15 points, eight steals, three assists and three rebounds, Vanessa Wimberly added nine points and Aniyah Bishop tallied eight.

No, this year's Panthers outfit was not as stacked as previous iterations (last year, specifically), but it was still the favorite heading into Saturday.

That said, Lake Central shan't be sneaking up on anyone next weekend. Prepare for craziness at LaPorte.

Best Comeback: Plainfield 48, Pike 43

Flipping to the south half of 4A for this one. Sophomore Berkeley Williams went into complete takeover mode in the second half, leading the Quakers back from a 25-16 halftime deficit with 15 of her team-high 18 points coming between the third and fourth quarters.

Tough way for Pike to go out, but man, they have a really bright future. The young upstarts picked off Roncalli and Franklin Central in sectional, then controlled the opening stages of Saturday's regional championship game.

Plainfield rallies to regional title: 'For as young as we are, our kids don’t get rattled.'

As I wrote last week, this feels like the start of a postseason rivalry between these programs, both of whom return most of their key players for next season.

Grittiest Performance: Bishop Chatard 64, Indian Creek 60

'We almost lost our head.' Bishop Chatard gets gritty, beats Indian Creek for regional

Most Impressive Win: Center Grove 48, Bedford North Lawrence 27

Brand this as most impressive stat, part II: BNL's 27 points were its fewest of the season and, per Justin Sokeland, its second-lowest in the state tournament -- ever (205 games). That's a testament to that Center Grove defense, which also limited senior Alabama commit Chloe Spreen to just nine points on 4-of-17 shooting.

The Trojans have been the most consistently excellent team I've seen this season, and they demonstrated as much in their dismantling of the Stars on the road.

'Let's go get it.' Center Grove's defense, balance key girls hoops regional win over BNL.

Most Dominating Performance: Franklin 69, Evansville North 30

It was 17-1 by the time Evansville North scored its first basket.

The lead was hovering around 30 by halftime.

Any questions pertaining to Franklin's status among the state's best following a rather lackluster run through sectionals were answered in no uncertain terms.

Franklin wins by 39: 'We look forward to things like this, celebrating.'

Gutsiest Performer: Callie Johnson, NorthWood

Best Combined Performance: Danville's Addison Davis and Emma Ancelet

Davis: 20 points, five rebounds, three assists and a steal.

Ancelet: 19 points, 10 assists, eight rebounds and four steals.

Total: 39 points, 13 rebounds, 13 assists, five steals.

Final score: Danville 57, Speedway 23.

Best One-on-One Matchup: Jalyn Davidson (North Central (Farmersburg)) vs. Kenzie Fulks (Bethesda Christian)

What a game at Greencastle. The senior Fulks scored 30 points, including 20 in the first half to single-handedly out-score North Central, 20-19, but Davidson, a junior, dominated the fourth quarter, accounting for 15 of her 25 points over the final eight minutes to lead her side to a 55-50 win and their first regional championship in program history.

Most Overlooked (...until now): Linton-Stockton

This may be the result of geography, but the Miners share a sectional with the Nos. 1-2 rated teams in 2A (South Knox and North Knox) and a classification with the likes of Eastern Hancock, Lapel, Carroll (Flora) and Bishop Luers, among others. They're a really good team, but with so many other powerhouses at the peak of their power this season, it's felt like Linton-Stockton kinda gets lost in the shuffle.

Well, the Miners commanded everyone's attention with last Saturday's upset of North Knox, then kept their season rolling with a 37-30 win over North Decatur.

Down 10 entering the fourth, North Decatur converted back-to-back turnovers into buckets to make it 31-28 with 43 seconds left, but Addisyn McKee stepped to the line and converted a pair of free throws with 12.5 seconds remaining to push Linton-Stockton through to semistate for the third time since 2020.

Bradie Chambers netted 12 points (3-of-4 at the line), Sydney Jerrells scored 11 and McKee added eight for L-S, which finished 8-for-12 at the line. Madi Allen led North Decatur with 12 points (big thanks to The Green County Daily World sports editor Luke Morey for the stats).

The Miners have a quality resume (they beat 4A Ben Davis and hung with both Roncalli and Warren Central), and a pair of super-talented seniors in Jerrells (Morton commit) and Chambers (IU South Bend).

The 2A South semistate will be a blast with Eastern Hancock and Linton-Stockton arriving as the two favorites.

Milestone Tracker: Laniah Wills, Kennedy Fuelling and Camryn Runner

Lapel sophomore Laniah Wills scored 28 points to lead Lapel to a 59-45 win over Eastbrook and clear 1,000 career points. The defending 2A runner-up Dawgs are headed back to semistate.

Another career milestone: Norwell senior Kenedy Fuelling became the all-time leading scorer in program history amidst a 54-44 win over Benton Central.

One more note on the Norwell game: The Knights forced 33 turnovers(!!) in their win. They used a 7-0 run early in the third quarter (two Vanessa Rosswurm 3s) to build a 36-25 advantage.

Last, but certainly not least: Hamilton Heights senior Camryn Runner has passed Sydney Parrish as Hamilton County's all-time leading scorer with 1,936 points and counting. The Evansville commit poured in 22 points in a 55-31 triumph over Woodlan.

Youth is Served: Homestead 51, McCutcheon 34

The Spartans have limited varsity experience with a starting lineup consisting of four sophomores and a junior, and were stuck in a sectional with a really, really good Columbia City team. They picked them off, then headed to Marion on Saturday preparing to contend with a similarly young McCutcheon group led by the state's best freshman Lillie Graves.

Well, Homestead has the state's best sophomore and Myah Epps dazzled in the second half, scoring 13 points to finish with 15 points on 5-of-12 shooting plus seven rebounds. She was brilliant as were fellow sophomores Gabriella Helstrom and Whitney Ankenbruck. Emma Reust, the team's lone senior, played a major role defensively, as well.

Defensively, Homestead limited Graves to 15 points on 3-of-22 shooting with six turnovers.

McCutcheon will be back, but let's talk about Homestead, which advances to semistate for the first time in seven years. It lost to Noblesville during the regular season, but is rated ahead of both Lake Central and Valparaiso in RPI.

As for Epps, Saturday may have marked the beginning of her 2026 Miss Basketball campaign.

More: Homestead knocks McCutcheon girls basketball from IHSAA Regionals

First Timer(s): Lawrence Central 58, Mt. Vernon 30; Sheridan 46, Northeastern 31

Shouts to Lawrence Central, which continued its rather remarkable run with a dominating win over Mt. Vernon to secure their first regional championship in program history.

LC does not boast the same resume as most of the other remaining 4A teams, but it is the most talented with Jaylah and Lola Lampley, Laila Abdurraqib, Mariah Garrett and Aniyah Mckenzie.

Kenzie Garner dropped 27 points to lead Sheridan to a 15-point win over Northeastern and its first-ever regional championship. The Hawks closed on a 15-2 run to advance.

Follow Brian Haenchen on Twitter at @Brian_Haenchen.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IHSAA girls basketball: Recognizing best of the best from regionals