Girls basketball regionals are Saturday. What to know about the Central Indiana teams

Hello again, everybody! We have made it through sectionals and are onto Saturday's one-round regional.

Here's what to know about each of Central Indiana's sectional champions.

More:Camryn Runner's older sisters influenced her game. And like them, she knows how to win

More:Predicting 2023 Indiana All-Stars roster. (It's not easy.)

More:Sectional champ Purdue Poly making most of postseason debut: 'It's been a dream come true'

Class 4A

Homestead (19-5) vs. Fishers (22-3), 4 p.m. at Marion

Neither Fishers nor Homestead were the favorites entering sectionals, but both advanced with some highly dramatic finishes along the way.

The Tigers may not jump off the page statistically, but they're an extremely deep and well-balanced outfit, with the attention paid to seniors Hailey and Olivia Smith creating opportunities for fellow guards Talia Harris, Alycia Triplett and Joirdyn Smith, as well as forward Kate Thomas, who found herself left alone for easy baskets on multiple occasions last week. Fishers' goal is to limit opponents to 50 points or less, and it has done so in three of its past four games.

Sectional wrap:Computer gave Fishers a 10% chance. And that's all it needed.

Homestead graduated 2022 IndyStar Miss Basketball Ayanna Patterson, but returned a strong core with seniors Evie Bottoms, Molly Stock and Ali Stephens. They along with junior Emma Reust and freshman Myah Epps led the relatively young group to a fifth straight sectional crown. Of note: Homestead hit 12 3-pointers (six different players) in the sectional championship vs. Huntington North.

Lawrence North (17-9) vs. Brownsburg (16-9), 1 p.m. at Decatur Central

This game features an intriguing individual matchup with 6-1 Lawrence North sophomore Jamaya Thomas vs. 6-6 Brownsburg sophomore Avery Gordon in the post. Gordon scored 22 against LN in December, but Thomas is coming off a strong performance vs. Warren Central (13 points, five rebounds).

Thomas is part of a strong sophomore class (Kya Hurt and Victoria Guyse) for the Wildcats, who have received steady contributions from upperclassmen Monica Williams, Laniya Early and Kamara Mills, and been further bolstered by Ellysa Morris off the bench. They learned to win during the regular season, then applied those lessons in the sectional championship against Warren Central.

More:Avery Gordon embracing the physicality, owning the post: 'She just wants to get better.'

Brownsburg's growth is best seen in its players' understanding of the game (particularly when operating against the press). The Bulldogs have their two standouts — Gordon and senior point guard Kailyn Terrell — but they're atop a deep lineup. Megan Eaker is a calming presence on the floor and the vocal leader on defense. She helps ease pressure on Terrell, as does Emma Hendricks, who is among the team leaders in points, assists and rebounds.

Ben Davis (17-9) vs. Mount Vernon (19-6), 4 p.m. at Decatur Central

It's a rematch from last year's regional tournament, but Mt. Vernon arrives with basically an entirely new supporting cast behind senior Khloe Patterson and junior Ellery Minch. It took time for juniors Easton Wampler and Kaitlyn Laffey, and sophomore Kanyonrae Kenny, to adjust to playing such significant minutes at the varsity level, but they've settled in and proven capable of contributing. (Last week's sectional semifinal vs. Pendleton Heights provided valuable experience.)

The challenge Saturday will be minimizing turnovers and second-chance opportunities against the Giants, who average 13 steals and 19 offensive rebounds per game. Senior Cristen Carter leads the team in points and rebounds (over seven offensive boards per game) and ranks second in steals.

Both teams lean heavily on their starters.

Center Grove (21-4) vs. Franklin (18-5), 4 p.m. at Bedford North Lawrence

This will be the 25th postseason meeting between the Trojans and Grizzly Cubs, but the first to take place outside of sectionals.

These teams are mirror images of one another in terms of personnel and depth, but they bring contrasting styles. Franklin wants to push tempo. Lauren Klem spearheads a defense that looks to get the opponent sped up and out of rhythm, while Kyndell Jochim, alongside Brooklyn York, Erica Buening and Scarlett Kimbrell, lead an offense that has assists on 72% of its field goals and averages 10 offensive rebounds per game.

Conversely, Center Grove wants to force its opponent into the half court where its defense is absolutely suffocating, allowing 34 points per game. The Trojans' offense — which averages 42 shots per game (Franklin averages 49) — is led by junior Audrey Annee, whose move to the 2-guard helped the other pieces fall into place. Lilly and Savanna Bischoff, Aubrie Booker, Ella Hobson, Rachel Wirts and Ali Wiesmann are all capable shooters.

Franklin has won six straight over Center Grove, but the Trojans have won 17 straight since dropping a 38-34 decision to the Grizzly Cubs on Nov. 29.

Class 3A

Hamilton Heights (19-5) vs. Norwell (21-3), 4 p.m. at Bellmont

Both the HH and Norwell are coming off dramatic sectional championship wins. Camryn Runner and the Huskies needed overtime to down Yorktown, while Norwell's one-point win over Northwestern came down to the final possession. Camryn Runner is the star — and she had 28 points in the championship game vs. Yorktown — but the Huskies are finding contributions from the supporting cast, too, with Ella Hickcok leading the way vs. Jay County (18 points) and Katie Brown tallying 12. They also rolled out a new defense, a triangle-and-2 to contain Jay County leading scorer Renna Schwieterman.

Indian Creek (25-1) vs. Purdue Poly (22-5), 1 p.m. at Greencastle

Purdue Poly is in its first state tournament appearance in program history, but is led by a pair of seniors (Ajacia Griffith and Lailah Hadley). The Techies have a tall task ahead, both figuratively and literally, against Indian Creek (see: 6-4 junior Indiana commit Faith Wiseman). A fun stat on Indian Creek: It has five players averaging multiple assists per game (Lauren Foster and Abby Fleetwood both over 4 per game), and has had more turnovers than assists only once in its past 15 games.

Cascade (22-2) vs. Bishop Chatard (11-13), 4 p.m. at Greencastle

Chatard conjured up some February magic in sectionals, snapping a five-game losing streak with an overtime win over Guerin, a one-point win over Brebeuf and a double-overtime thriller against sectional favorite Heritage Christian. Each game featured a different leading scorer (Quinn Johnson, Caroline Bell and Anna Thompson) and saw the Trojans average over 10 offensive rebounds per game. Extending their season will require another upset, this one against Cascade, which is on a 10-game win streak and leans heavily on its upperclassmen with three seniors (Sydney Warran, Abby Parsons and Madison Short) and three juniors (Creedance Chittenden, Liviair Campbell and Claire Austin) leading the way in minutes played.

Class 2A

Lapel (19-7) vs. Eastbrook (19-5), 4 p.m. at Lapel

Welcome back to regionals, Lapel! Coming off their first sectional title since 2007 (a regional championship season) and winners of four straight, the Bulldogs have demonstrated a flair for the dramatic. They lost to University by a point, then went to overtime against Wapahani to close out the regular season. The sectional tournament featured wins by six, two and five points. Lapel and Eastbrook are both 7-1 vs. common opponents. The former's loss came to Frankton in November; the latter lost to Blackford in late January.

Eastern Hancock (22-3) vs. University (20-4), 1 p.m. at Southmont

(Insert Spider-Man pointing at Spider-Man meme here). Seriously. These teams bring nearly identical resumes into Saturday's regional final. Coach Shari Doud is in her seventh season at Eastern Hancock, Justin Blanding is in his eighth at University; Eastern Hancock's opponents are 294-283, University's are 301-264; both teams are rated inside the Sagarin top-5 and average around 60 ppg. The main difference (historically speaking, at least): University has won back-to-back regional titles and three since 2019, while the Royals have not reached regionals since 2017.

Class A

Bethesda Christian (12-13) vs. Jac-Cen-Del (15-11), 1 p.m. at Southwestern (Shelbyville)

The four-time defending sectional champion Patriots have won three straight and four of their past five. They breezed through their sectional, out-scoring Indiana Deaf and Indiana Math & Science 121-41. Senior Paige Vawter (10.1 ppg) and junior Sydney Goodin (9 ppg) shoulder the workload through most of the regular season with junior Kenzie Fulks out with injury. Fulks returned late in the year and totaled 54 points on 21-of-40 shooting in sectionals.

Eminence (17-6) vs. Bloomfield (13-14), 4 p.m. at Southwestern (Shelbyville)

This has been a special season for the Eels of Eminence, whose 17 wins are their most since 2006-07 (19-3) and whose sectional title is their first since their regional championship run in 1999. First-year coach Greg Burton's team is 17-2 since starting the season 0-4. Sophomore Sophia Saucerman and junior Natalie Hubbard are both averaging 8-9 rebounds per game.

Follow Brian Haenchen on Twitter at @Brian_Haenchen.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IHSAA girls basketball regionals: Previewing the Central Indiana teams