After two huge wins against unfamiliar opponents, it was time for the Lady Hounds to embark on two trips on the road against the Fishers Tigers and the Pike Red Devils. How did it go? What happened? Who stood out? Keep reading to find out.

January 18th at Fishers (52-47 Loss)

Coach Trimpe and the Hounds surely knew that they were in for a treat when they took the trip to Promise Road. They had to find a way to match up against a Tigers squad that has beaten every other team in Sectional 8 (Westfield, Noblesville, Zionsville, and HSE) up until this point. Despite this, the Hounds came out strong, forcing multiple turnovers with their signature trap defense, which in turn set up some excellent offensive opportunities. Kate Clarke, in one of her few starts on the season, lit up the floor from midrange in the first 8 minutes of play, and pushed the Hounds to a 13-9 lead after 1. However, Joirdyn “Jobuckets” Smith started draining 3 after 3, quickly getting the Tigers back in contention during the 2nd Quarter. It was a tale of back-and-forth buckets leading up to the break, where the Hounds led 25-24.

Coming out of halftime, the Hounds had an uncharacteristically slow start, and quickly gave the lead back to the Tigers for the first time since early in the 1st Quarter. Once again, it was Joirdyn Smith who led this barrage of shots for the Tigers, continually finding weak points in the Hounds’ 3-2 zone. At the end of the 3rd quarter, however, it was Kate Clarke who heated up again and brought the game within reach for the Hounds. As for the 4th Quarter, it was once again an aggressive, hard fought game in which the two squads traded shots. The Hounds made some impressive stops throughout the final 8 minutes of the game, but it proved to be not enough as their fate was sealed with a few missed layups in the final few minutes, snapping their 7-game win streak and earning the Tigers yet another ranked win, 52-47.

Fishers Scoring: H. Smith-15, J. Smith-14, O.Smith/Harris-7

Carmel Scoring: Clarke-18, Roper-16, Thomas-8

January 21st at Pike (65-33 Win)

Coming off of that heartbreaker at Fishers, the Hounds took another short trip to 71st Street to take on the Red Devils. Kate Clarke, with a boot on her left ankle after coming out of the Fishers game late in the 3rd, did not suit up for the game, with Freshman Mackenzie Woods taking her place in the starting lineup. However, that did not hamper the red-hot Greyhound offense one bit, as Hannah Lach drained a handful of 3s in the 1st Quarter alone. Jaelynne Murray, an Alabama A&M commit, helped out the Red Devils’ offense quite a bit early, but the Hounds quickly pulled away, taking an 8-point lead into the 2nd Quarter. After those first 8 minutes though, it was all Hounds all the way home. Starting in that 2nd Quarter, the Hounds outscored the Red Devils 19-7 off of a few outstanding efforts in the paint from Emily Roper. Coming out of the break up 20, the Hounds got understandably, a bit lazy, and started to turn the ball over a few too many times. However, when they were able to string together a good possession, the entire squad was absolutely on fire from the perimeter. The Hounds, throughout the 4th Quarter, continued to increase that lead and eventually came up with a huge 65-33 comeback win, off of 67% shooting as a team from 3. (Yep, that is the actual stat)

Carmel Scoring: Lach-20, Roper-11, Shepherd-6

Pike Scoring: Warren-9, Smith-6, Murray/Rucker-5

This Week’s Takeaways:

There has been one piece of great offensive news in the past few games for the Hounds, and that is the fact that Kate Clarke is back. Unlike earlier, when she was on  a minutes restriction, this time she is back in the starting lineup and is shooting lights out. Not to mention, Hannah Lach is heating up at the exact right time, meaning that any team playing the Hounds any time soon MUST defend the perimeter with their life. However, throughout both games this week, it was easy to see that this team was starting to go back to their old ways ball handling-wise. Lots of turnovers in the games against Fishers and Pike. However, this is relatively new for the Hounds, and they still maintained their regular scoring prowess, despite the turnovers. However, if they want a real shot to get out of a stacked Sectional 8, they have to clean that up. 

Defensively, it’s once again defending the 3 ball that is the issue for the Hounds. Joirdyn Smith was probably the main reason that the Hounds lost to Fishers Tuesday night, and the Hounds have to find a way to stop similar shooters in the upcoming games like Katie Bremer and Layla Gold from getting as open as Smith did. They also have to keep that same energy going into the Sectional when playing teams like Noblesville.

The Week Ahead: 

–  Tuesday, January 25th vs Cathedral (14-8)

–  Friday, January 28th vs Ben Davis (12-7)

The Sectional pairings have also been released, and the Hounds struck some luck as they received a bye for the 2nd year in a row, and they will face off Friday, February 4th at 7:30 at Westfield against the winner of the Noblesville/Zionsville Quarterfinal game.