The REPORTER
Five Hamilton County girls basketball players are among the 15 seniors and 15 underclass girls’ basketball players have earned IBCA/Franciscan Health “Supreme 15” All-State honors for 2023-24, it was announced Thursday.
The IBCA also named Large School All-State teams (15 seniors, 15 underclass) and Small School All-State teams (16 seniors, 15 underclass).
The “Supreme 15” is the top honor awarded, and players were voted to that group without regard to school size. The Large School and Small School all-state teams are secondary accolades — the Large School group including players from Class 3A and Class 4A schools and the Small School group including players from Class A and Class 2A schools. Players who make the Supreme 15 are not considered for Large School or Small School honors. The Senior Small School All-State team had 16 members because of a tie in the voting for the final spot.
In addition, 89 more seniors and 90 more underclass players were selected honorable mention all-state. The honorable mention laurels are awarded without regard to school size. In total, 270 players — 135 seniors and 135 underclass players — were recognized on the 2024 IBCA girls’ basketball All-State teams.
Fishers’ Talia Harris, Hamilton Heights’ Camryn Runner and Noblesville’s Reagan Wilson were among the players voted to the 2024 IBCA/Franciscan Health Supreme 15 Senior girls’ team. The other players are, listed alphabetically: Payton Benge, Plainfield; Aniyah Bishop, Lake Central; Kennedy Fuelling, Norwell; Emma Haan, Zionsville; Rachel Harshman, Mooresville; Denyha Jacobs, Warren Central; Ellery Minch, Mt. Vernon (Fortville); Jordyn Poole, Fort Wayne Snider; Chloe Spreen, Bedford North Lawrence; Wiseman, Indian Creek; Juliann Woodard, Jennings County; and Ava Ziolkowski, Crown Point.
Hamilton Southeastern junior Maya Makalusky and Noblesville junior Meredith Tippner were both voted to the 2024 IBCA/Franciscan Health Supreme 15 Underclass girls’ team. The other players are, listed alphabetically: Laila Abdurraqib, Lawrence Central; Lillian Barnes, Valparaiso; Addison Baxter, Columbia City; Myah Epps, Homestead; Gracyn Gilliard, Munster; Avery Gordon, Brownsburg; Lillie Graves, McCutcheon; Jaylah Lampley, Lawrence Central; Lola Lampley, Lawrence Central; Brooklynn Renn, Silver Creek; Kira Reynolds, South Bend Washington; Gabby Spink, Gibson Southern; and Brooke Winchester, Warsaw.
Westfield’s Ellie Kelleher was named to the Senior Large School All-State team. Hamilton Southeastern sophomore Kennedy Holman was named to the Underclass Large School All-State team, with Sheridan junior Kenzie Garner named to the Underclass Small School All-State team.
Hamilton Heights’ Ella Hickok and Noblesville’s Ava Shoemaker were both named Senior Honorable Mention, while Fishers junior Nevaeh Dickman, Fishers junior Allison Scheu and Hamilton Southeastern sophomore Kayla Stidham were named Underclass Honorable Mention.
The IBCA/Franciscan Health All-State teams are selected through a process organized by the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association and presented by Franciscan Health Sports Medicine.
All IBCA-member head coaches have the opportunity to nominate players. A panel of 20 IBCA coaches — 16 from the current regional areas, three district representatives (one each from IHSAA Districts 1, 2 and 3) and the committee chairman — then meet to review the nominations, vote and finalize the selections.
Those on the IBCA all-state committee for 2024 included chairman Doug Springer of Northridge plus Rod Parker of Homestead from District 1, DeeAnn Ramey of North Central from District 2 and Kevin Moore of East Central from District 3.
Completing the voting panel were Kristi Ulrich of Penn, Andy Maguire of Zionsville, Curt Benge of Plainfield and Tyler Choate of Evansville North in Class 4A; Chris Tomcsi of Griffith, Ray Davis of Maconaquah, Kaley May of Danville and Dan Grill (for Adam Dennis) of Madison in Class 3A; Tony Scheub of Andrean, Justin Jordan of Whitko, Mark Harper of Riverton Parke and Jared Rehmel of Linton-Stockton in Class 2A; and Rick Budka of Morgan Township, Ryan Chiddister of Union (Modoc), Jason West of Southwestern (Shelby) and Marty Niehaus of Springs Valley in Class A.
Franciscan Health Sports Medicine is making a financial contribution to the IBCA Scholarship Fund as the presenting partner of the IBCA All-State Teams. As part of the partnership, Franciscan Health Sports Medicine will provide plaques to Supreme 15 honorees and certificates to players receiving Large School All-State, Small School All-State or Honorable Mention All-State recognition. Those items will be made available to each recipient’s coach during April, allowing her coach to present the award to each player prior to the end of the 2023-24 academic year.
The IBCA thanks Franciscan Health Sports Medicine for being a partner in this annual project.