Indiana girls basketball Fab 15: Noblesville rises, debate heats up for state's No. 1

It's the final month of the high school girls basketball regular season and I'm feeling fine, I guess.

Anywhoodles, here's a ranking of the top-15 teams in Central Indiana, starting with a debate over a hypothetical seeding process for a hypothetical tournament.

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1. Zionsville (15-0)

Previous ranking: 1

It's too bad the two remaining undefeated teams in Class 4A don't go head-to-head during the regular season, because there's an interesting debate pertaining to how Zionsville and South Bend Washington would be seeded come selection Sunday.

SBW has the most-talented roster in the state. Hands down. Heck, they're among the best in the country. But Zionsville brings a deeper resume with wins over IBCA No. 4 Fishers, No. 7 Bedford North Lawrence, No. 18 Lawrence Central, Lawrence North, Ben Davis and Brownsburg, plus a chance to add a road win over No. 5 Noblesville and No. 3 Hamilton Southeastern later this month.

The Panthers have quality non-IHSAA wins over West Bloomfield (Mich.) and Bolingbrook (Ill.) with LaPorte La Lumiere still to go. Their best IHSAA wins after Noblesville are No. 13 Lake Central and No. 16 Warsaw.

SBW can pad its resume against Fort Wayne Northrop and at Crown Point before sectionals, but even if Zionsville were to split Noblesville and HSE, I'm not sure you could pick against them for the No. 1 overall seed (with a head-to-head win over Zionsville, plus the toughest schedule in the state, Noblesville would probably enter the discussion, though it lost to HSE and Fishers).

It's all hypothetical because Indiana has stayed with the dumbest of ways to set its brackets, but it's a fun topic to explore and also there are only so many ways to write "Zionsville is still No. 1 in Central Indiana."

2. Fishers (13-2)

PR: 2

The Tigers allowed season-high point totals in back-to-back games: a 51-49 loss at Zionsville and 74-63 setback vs. Fort Wayne Snider. They've talked about that stretch as sort of a wake-up call and, to that end, have allowed 51 points or fewer and shot 45% or better in six of their seven games since. Fishers, which holds sectional wins over Noblesville and HSE, beat Jeffersonville and Carroll (Fort Wayne) to close out 2022, and opens 2023 against Pike and at North Central.

Olivia Smith (concussion) returned after missing the Mudsock game. She put up 10 points, six assists and four steals vs. Jeffersonville, and 14 points and six rebounds against Carroll.

3. Hamilton Southeastern (15-1)

PR: 3

The Royals rebounded from their Mudsock loss with four straight wins, including a 55-51 triumph over Cathedral and out-of-state wins against Springsboro (Ohio) and Henderson County (Ky.). They have an interesting two-game swing ahead with a visit to Warren Central on Thursday, followed by Ben Davis next Tuesday.

A couple notable seniors: Olivia Brown had her second double-digit assists outing of the year with 12 against Carroll. She's averaging around eight assists and four steals through 16 games. Riley Makalusky dropped a season-high 27 points on 12-of-22 shooting against Carroll.

4. Noblesville (13-3)

PR: 5

The Millers are healthy and building momentum with holiday wins over Bedford North Lawrence (two), Lake Central and East Central.

There's not really anything special they're doing. They're just relatively healthy for the first time in a while. Junior Ava Shoemaker's return after missing seven games due to injury was particularly important at last week's Hall of Fame Classic, with Noblesville able to set its lineups and run an eight-girl rotation against East Central and BNL.

Meredith Tippner totaled 68 points, 45 rebounds, 13 assists and 12 steals over her past four games.

5. Indian Creek (16-0)

PR: 4

IC added three more 4A wins to its resume over break, beating Greenfield-Central, Mooresville and Pike at the Lebanon tournament. The Mooresville win was particularly impressive, with sophomore Ayla Lollar stepping up alongside Lauren Foster (19 points) with 12 points on 4-of-9 shooting four rebounds, two assists and two steals. That was also the second game back for Abby Fleetwood, who posted nine points, six rebounds, five steals, two assists and two blocks.

As I finished writing this, I realized Indian Creek out-scored Greenfield-Central 14-0 in the first quarter. Not bad.

Indian Creek hosts Southport on Tuesday before returning to conference play vs. Brown County on Saturday.

6. Ben Davis (11-5)

PR: 5

It appeared Ben Davis had Roncalli beat on Dec. 21 following a go-ahead bucket by Taylor Guess in the final seconds, but a half-court buzzer beater by Josie Origer spoiled the Giants' last game before Christmas (what an awesome shot, though).

Ben Davis responded with a 53-42 win over Cathedral wherein it limited senior star Layla Gold to 16 points and had assists on 13 of 20 made field goals.

The Giants play their next six on the road, beginning with Noblesville on Tuesday.

7. Warren Central (11-4)

PR: 7

It was a pretty uneventful winter break for Warren Central, which will have had just one game between its Dec. 17 win at Lafayette Central Catholic and Thursday's visit from HSE. That game was a 58-45 loss to DuPont Manual (Ky.).

Asiah Baxter had 16 points and 10 rebounds against the Crimsons from down Louisville way.

8. Lawrence Central (13-3)

PR: 8

After beating New Pal, the Bears traveled up to Lake Central, where they tacked four victories onto their win streak, capped off with a 39-38 overtime win over host Lake Central in the championship game.

After playing just five games in November, LC played 11 in December and have seven more crammed into January (five games between Jan. 12-20).

9. Center Grove (12-4)

PR: 10

Thursday's 64-41 win over Jeffersonville broke Center Grove's streak of eight straight games allowing fewer than 40 points and four straight with fewer than 25 points allowed. That's pretty impressive by the Trojans, who averaged 26.4 points against in December (8-0).

Better yet: The offense has been coming along, too. CG is averaging over 58 points over its past seven games (it broke 50 twice through its first nine games) and is now shooting 41% as a team.

The Trojans have three straight on the road upcoming beginning with Carmel and Jennings County on Friday and Saturday, respectively.

10. Lawrence North (11-6)

PR: 9

The Wildcats returned following an 11-day layoff with wins over 2A Winchester and 3A Connersville at an event in Connersville, before dropping a 59-52 decision at Brownsburg. Losers in three of their past five, they'll try to bounce back against Homestead on Saturday, before welcoming Lawrence Central next Thursday in a rematch from the Marion County tournament.

11. Brownsburg (8-7)

PR: NR

The Bulldogs make their Fab 15 debut on the heels of a 2-1 holiday with wins over Franklin and Lawrence North and a loss to Zionsville. Brownsburg — which has also lost to Warren Central, Ben Davis, Mooresville, Noblesville, HSE and BNL — has won three of its past four entering the Hendricks County tournament, with a visit from Fishers looming on Jan. 13.

Avery Gordon, Kailyn Terrell and Emma Hendricks are all averaging around double figures, with the 6-6 Gordon (16.8 ppg) dropping 30 on Franklin and 22 against LN.

12. Cathedral (7-6)

PR: 12

The Irish have lost two straight, but those losses were to HSE (55-51) and Ben Davis (53-42) and they were without second-leading scorer Taylor Lewis in both outings. A 6-1 junior, Lewis is averaging 10 points and eight rebounds per game.

Cathedral has a trio of tests this week — Mooresville, Lawrence Central, Noblesville — before opening City tournament play on Jan. 10.

13. Hamilton Heights (11-2)

PR: 11

The Huskies lost 38-20 at West Lafayette on Dec. 15, then came back with an eight-point win over Lapel. Their game vs. Blackford was postponed, so they'll play their first game since Dec. 22 on Thursday at Lewis Cass, before welcoming Northwestern on Saturday.

Camryn Runner vs. Northwestern's McKenna Layden (Purdue) should be good, quality fun Saturday afternoon.

14. Danville (13-2)

PR: 13

You can only beat the teams on your schedule and that's exactly what Danville's done. It blasted by 2-12 Frankfort on Dec. 27 (65-11), then slipped by 9-7 Greensburg a couple days later (56-53).

Three players are scoring in double figures for Danville with a fourth, sophomore Addison Davis, up to 9 ppg. It opens the Hendricks County tournament against Plainfield on Tuesday, with the winner advancing to play at Tri-West on Friday.

15. Franklin (10-4)

PR: 14

The Grizzly Cubs split their Dec. 21 doubleheader, falling to Brownsburg then beating up on Eastern (Pekin). They, not unlike others on this list, have a weirdly long layoff between games, with nothing scheduled until Jan. 7 (vs. Mooresville at Gainbridge Fieldhouse).

Follow Brian Haenchen on Twitter at @Brian_Haenchen.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IHSAA girls basketball rankings: Noblesville rises, No. 1 up for debate