Three Hamilton County basketball players are among the 18 players that have been selected for the IndyStar Indiana girls Junior All-Stars for 2022, All-Stars games director Mike Broughton announced Friday.
Ashlynn Shade of Noblesville is one of the players selected to the six-player Core Group. The list also includes Laila Hull of Zionsville, McKenna Layden of Northwestern, Karsyn Norman of Bedford North Lawrence, and RaShunda Jones and Amiyah Reynolds of South Bend Washington.
In addition to the core group, six players each were voted to teams labeled Red Group and Blue Group. Two more county players are members of the Red Group: Riley Makalusky of Hamilton Southeastern and Hailey Smith of Fishers.
The other Red Group players are Asiah Baxter of Warren Central, Saige Stahl of Columbus East, Josie Trabel of East Central and Amber Tretter of Forest Park.
The Blue Group players are Ashlynn Brooke of Pioneer, Cristen Carter of Ben Davis, Asia Donald of Hobart, Bailey Kelham of Garrett, MaKaya Porter of Mishawaka Marian and Renne Schwieterman of Jay County.
Bob Lapadot of Garrett will be the head coach of the 2022 girls Junior All-Stars. He will be assisted by Tony Hasenour of Forest Park. Lapadot guided Garrett to a 27-2 record and a Class 3A semi-state appearance this past season. He has a 179-79 record in 11 seasons with the Railroaders. Hasenour led Forest Park to a 26-3 ledger, including the Class 2A state championship. He has a 104-48 mark in six seasons with the Rangers.
The Junior All-Stars will play one game against the Kentucky Junior All-Stars on Sunday, June 5 at Bedford North Lawrence. The Junior All-Stars also will play one game against the Indiana All-Star senior girls on Wednesday, June 8 at a site to be announced. Both games will be doubleheaders with the 2022 Indiana boys Junior All-Stars, who will be chosen later in March.
The players listed as core group players each will play in two games. The players listed in the Red and Blue groups each will play in one game, the Red Group on June 5 against the Kentucky Juniors and the Blue Group on June 8 against the Indiana Seniors.
The Indiana senior All-Stars will play the Kentucky senior All-Stars on June 10 at the Owensboro Sportscenter in Owensboro, Ky. The Indiana senior All-Stars will play Kentucky’s seniors again on June 11 in Southport Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The senior game in Indianapolis again is set for Southport in 2022 because Gainbridge Fieldhouse will be undergoing a third phase of renovations and not be available in June.
The 2022 Girls Junior All-Star team was selected through a process that allows all IBCA-member head coaches to nominate players through the IBCA all-state process. The IBCA 20-member Indiana Basketball Coaches Association all-state committee reviewed and voted on players for the 2022 IBCA/Franciscan Health girls All-State teams that were released on Tuesday (March 1).
The 20 all-state committee members also provided input to a seven-person IBCA subcommittee appointed by IBCA executive director Steve Witty and chaired by Brandon Bradley of Kankakee Valley. Bradley, Broughton, All-Star junior coordinator Beth DeVinney plus coaches Katie Collignon of Marquette Catholic, Kaley May of Danivlle, Gretchen Miles of Washington and all-state committee chairman Doug Springer of Northridge finalized the selections for the 2022 girls Junior All-Stars.
The Indiana Junior All-Star program was founded in 1996 by former Indiana All-Star games director Patrick Aikman. In most years, 18 players have been chosen to the Junior All-Stars. In five years (2005, 2006, 2007, 2018 and 2019), 24 players were chosen to the Junior All-Stars. In 2021, just 12 players were chosen to the Junior All-Stars.
In games from 1996 through 2021 (with no games in 2020 because of COVID-19), the Indiana Senior girls lead the Indiana Junior girls 40-10 and the Indiana Senior boys lead the Indiana Junior boys 40-10. In five years of games against the Kentucky Juniors, the Indiana Junior girls lead 9-1 and the Indiana Junior boys lead 6-4. Games against the Kentucky Juniors previously have been played in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2018 and 2019.