Two Royals earn their spots on Indiana Girls’ All-Stars team

Hamilton Southeastern seniors Olivia Brown (left) and Riley Makalusky were named selected to the 2023 IndyStar Indiana Girls All-Stars on Tuesday. Makalusky averaged 19.9 points per game for the Royals, while Brown scored 6.9 points, handed out 7.5 assists and collected 5.0 rebounds per game. (Kent Graham/File photos)

The REPORTER

Hamilton Southeastern seniors Olivia Brown and Riley Makalusky are among the 12 players that have been selected to join IndyStar Indiana Miss Basketball Laila Hull of Zionsville for the 2023 IndyStar Indiana Girls’ All-Stars, All-Stars game director Mike Broughton announced Tuesday.

Those chosen to the team will play three games in June — one exhibition game against the Indiana Junior All-Stars as well as home-and-home contests against the Kentucky All-Stars.

Hull’s selection as Miss Basketball was announced Monday. The other players completing the 2023 Indiana Girls’ All-Stars, listed alphabetically, are Ashlynn Brooke of Pioneer, Cristen Carter of Ben Davis, Asia Donald of Hobart, Layla Gold of Cathedral, RaShunda Jones of South Bend Washington, McKenna Layden of Northwestern, Karsyn Norman of Bedford North Lawrence, Amiyah Reynolds of South Bend Washington, Saige Stahl of Columbus East and Amber Tretter of Forest Park.

Reynolds is injured and is not expected to play in the games.

The 2023 All-Stars include five players who have been a part of six state championship teams (Tretter with two; Brooke, Jones, Norman and Reynolds with one each), two IHSAA Mental Attitude Award winners (Norman and Tretter), five players who were named IBCA first-team Academic All-State (Carter, Hull, Layden, Norman and Tretter) and one player who was named IBCA honorable mention Academic All-State (Makalusky).

Kristi Ulrich of Penn has been named the head coach of the 2023 All-Stars. She will be assisted by Bryan Graham of Triton Central and Bob Lapadot of Garrett. Ulrich is 312-50 in 14 seasons at Penn, including the 2016 Class 4A state championship. Graham is 299-65 in 15 seasons at Triton Central. Lapadot is 193-91 in 12 seasons at Garrett.

The Junior-Senior exhibition game is set for June 7 at a site to be announced. The first game against Kentucky will be June 9 at the Owensboro Sportscenter in Owensboro, Ky. The final game against Kentucky will be June 10 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

All three dates will be doubleheaders with the IndyStar Indiana Boys’ All-Stars, whose roster will be announced later. The roster for the Indiana girls’ Junior All-Stars were announced March 8. The roster for the Indiana boys’ Junior All-Stars will be announced later.

The Indiana Junior All-Stars will play two girl-boy doubleheaders this year — June 4 against the Kentucky Junior All-Stars at Jeffersonville High School and June 7 against the Indiana seniors at a site to be announced.

The Indiana All-Stars program was founded in 1939 when the Indiana Boys All-Stars played the state champion Frankfort Hot Dogs. The series with Kentucky began in 1940, and the girls’ portion of the All-Stars was added in 1976. The Junior All-Stars, boys and girls, were added in 1996. The All-Star senior girls have played Kentucky every year since 1976, except 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The All-Star senior boys have played Kentucky in all but three years since 1940 — 1943 (World War II), 1944 (World War II) and 2020 (COVID-19 pandemic).

The Indiana Senior girls lead 52-40 in their series with Kentucky. The Indiana Senior girls lead 41-10 in games against the Indiana Junior girls. The Indiana Junior girls lead 10-1 in their series with Kentucky. The Indiana Senior boys lead 103-44 in their series with Kentucky. The Indiana Senior boys lead 41-10 in games against the Indiana Junior boys. The Indiana Junior boys lead 7-4 in their series with Kentucky.

The June 10 date also will include the inaugural IndyStar Indiana All-Star “Futures Games.” The Futures Games will be a girls-boys doubleheader at Gainbridge Fieldhouse with Indiana-only squads of juniors, sophomores and freshmen in a North vs. South format. The girls’ Futures Games lineups were announced on Feb. 16. The boys’ Futures Games lineups will be announced later.

The Indiana portion of the All-Star Games is organized and produced by the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association. The Indianapolis Star, with its IndyStar brand, is a title sponsor.

Miss Basketball is selected through a balloting process of coaches and media overseen by game organizers from the IBCA. The remainder of the team is finalized by Broughton after observing numerous games and events throughout the season, conferring with coaches, school officials and media across the state. Broughton also reviews votes submitted by coaches and media who each could recommend up to 10 players.

Those chosen as 2023 IndyStar Indiana Girls’ All-Stars are listed below alphabetically. Hull will wear the traditional No. 1 as Miss Basketball. All other jersey numbers will be assigned later.

 

Key dates

Sunday, June 4 — Indiana Juniors vs. Kentucky Juniors at Jeffersonville (2315 Allison Ln. Jeffersonville, IN 47130) — girls, 2:00 p.m.; boys, to follow; admission, $10 per person at the door (adults, school-aged students; pre-school children are free).

Wednesday, June 7 — Junior-Senior All-Star game at TBA (address TBA) — girls, 6:00 p.m.; boys, to follow; admission, $10 per person at the door (adults, school-aged students; pre-school children are free).

Friday, June 9 — Indiana at Owensboro Sportscenter (1215 Hickman Ave., Owensboro, KY 42301) — girls, 5:30 p.m. CDT (6:30 p.m. EDT); boys, to follow, about 7:30 p.m. CDT (8:30 p.m. EDT). Ticket information, TBA.

Saturday, June 10 — Futures Games and Indiana vs. Kentucky at Gainbridge Fieldhouse (125 S. Pennsylvania St., Indianapolis, IN 46204) — Futures Games, girls, noon; boys, 2:00 p.m.; Senior girls, 5:00 p.m.; Senior boys, to follow (about 7:30 p.m.). Tickets go on sale on April 15.

 

All-Stars

Name                           School                                    Height  Pos.     PPG     College Choice

Ashlynn Brooke             Pioneer                                      5-7        G          23.8      Ball State

Olivia Brown                  Hamilton Southeastern          5-7        G          6.9        Akron

Cristen Carter                Ben Davis                                 6-3        C          18.6      Miami (Ohio)

Asia Donald                  Hobart                                        5-9        G          26.7      Indiana State

Layla Gold                    Cathedral                                    6-0        G          21.9      Valparaiso

Laila Hull                       Zionsville                                    6-1        F          23.2      North Carolina

RaShunda Jones          South Bend Washington          5-8        G          19.8      Purdue

McKenna Layden          Northwestern                            6-2        F          21.6      Purdue

Riley Makalusky            Hamilton Southeastern          6-2        F          19.9      Butler

Karsyn Norman             Bedford North Lawrence        5-6        G          15.5      Butler

^ Amiyah Reynolds        South Bend Washington       6-0        G          15.2      Maryland

Saige Stahl                   Columbus East                            6-1        F          26.0      Indiana State

Amber Tretter                Forest Park                               6-1        F          15.8      Miami (Ohio)

Head coach: Kristi Ulrich, Penn

Assistant coaches: Bryan Graham, Triton Central; Bob Lapadot, Garrett

^ injured; unable to play in All-Star games