By RICHIE HALL
Before she even got into high school, many people in the Indiana basketball world were saying that Ashlynn Shade was going to be a very good player.
Shade is now a quarter of the way through her sophomore season at Noblesville, and she has certainly proved how good she is. After a stellar freshman year where she averaged 20.5 points per game, Shade is going strong as a sophomore, with 21.6 points per game so far this season.
Now it appears that Shade’s success has become known beyond Indiana. The 5-foot-8 guard has been placed on the 2020-2021 Jersey Mike’s Naismith High School Trophy Underclassmen Girls Watch List. The list contains 25 underclass girls from across the country, and Shade is one of the five sophomores to be recognized. She is also the only player from Indiana on the list.
“I think it’s really cool because I’ve working hard my whole life to get those honors and everything, and I think it’s cool that it’s finally happening,” said Shade. “I’ve just been working hard my whole life to get those goals and achieve everything. And then I’ve just had so much help along the way. Every team I’ve played on, every coach I’ve had, everyone’s just helped me get here.”
Shade was a star from her very first game, scoring 26 points in her high school debut when the Millers played Lawrence North on Nov. 7, 2019. In Noblesville’s 23 games last season, Shade reached double figures in all but one contest, and totaled at least 20 points in 12 of them. She hit her season-high of 34 points twice, in Noblesville victories against Anderson and Franklin Central.
So far this season, Shade has been consistently outstanding in all five of the Millers’ games. Her scoring has ranged from 19 to 24 points, the latter total she achieved twice this year.
Shade is far from one-dimensional. She already revealed that last year, with 6.7 rebounds per game (including four with at least 10) and solid numbers in steals (4.2 per game) and assists (2.3 per game). But Shade has improved them even more this year, averaging 6.2 rebounds, 6.0 steals and 5.0 assists per game.
“Ashlynn is definitely one of the best players in the country,” said Noblesville coach Donna Buckley. “She is a phenomenal basketball player. The growth that she’s had from her freshman to sophomore year has been awesome to watch. She’s just an all-around kid. She’s going to guard you. She’s going to be able to score. She can play point, she can play in the post. Her talent is absolutely unbelievable.
“One of the best things about her is, she’s just such a great kid and a great teammate. She’s very humble, great student-athlete. She’s just everything you could ever want in that kind of kid. It’s unbelievable what she’s capable of doing on and off the floor and we’re really excited to have her here.”
If Shade felt any pressure handling high-school level competition, she has responded to it very well. In fact, she said having pressure is fun “because it just gives me extra motivation to work harder.
“And I still have a lot of time to achieve a lot of my goals, so I think that’s awesome that I’m still young and able to still try to achieve everything,” said Shade.
Of course, Shade is always mindful of her teammates. She’s enjoying the chances to get to play with her fellow Millers, saying she loves her team “so much.”
“It’s just awesome,” said Shade. “I love hanging out with them, I love coming to practice every day and seeing them. And even at school. They’re like my best friends. I just love them so much.”
That chemistry has given Noblesville a 4-1 record so far this season. That includes wins over big programs like Lawrence North and Hamilton Southeastern, the last two teams to have won a Class 4A state championship.
“I think we’re doing awesome,” said Shade. “We’re playing well as a team. We’re being awesome communicators. We’re picking each other up mentally and everything. We hold each other accountable. I still say we can get better.”