By RICHARD TORRES
For The Reporter
INDIANAPOLIS – Noblesville’s Meredith Tippner couldn’t play on Saturday night, but she was more than a mere spectator inside Indianapolis’ Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Named a 2025 IndyStar Indiana Girls All-Star, the Miami commit was active on the bench in full uniform despite being sidelined following shoulder surgery to repair a torn labrum.
The ninth girls Indiana All-Star in Noblesville basketball history, Tippner watched, cheered, encouraged and shared the heartbreak as the Kentucky All-Stars completed the two-game series sweep with a historic double-overtime win 106-103.
“You can always be a leader from the sidelines, take kind of a coaching role, and I got a chance to see the other side of the court through this,” Tippner said. “That was a great opportunity.”
Tippner stood up and applauded when the Indiana All-Stars mounted a comeback late in the fourth quarter to erase a seven-point deficit with an 11-4 run. She yelled out when a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Lawrence Central’s Laila Abdurraqib capped the rally and tied the game 76-76 to end regulation.
“I love it. That’s what you want. It’s Indiana basketball, and Kentucky brings it every year,” Tippner said. “I wish I could have been out there on the floor with my girls, but at the end of the day, the energy was great. The fans, the community, the support was amazing. And that’s what you want in a game like this.”
Indiana wanted a victory to prevent Kentucky’s first series sweep since 2012. However, Kentucky Miss Basketball ZaKiyah Johnson (Louisville Sacred Heart/Louisiana State) and Peyton Bradley (Meade County/Louisville) helped secure the southern neighbor’s 10th series sweep in 49 years.
Johnson finished with a game-high 34 points, which set a new single-game record for the girls, and she became the best two-game scorer in girls’ history with 62 points after posting 28 during Kentucky’s 84-73 win in Lexington on Friday.
Bradley had 26 points as the game’s third-highest scorer behind Hamilton Southeastern’s 2025 IndyStar Miss Basketball winner Maya Makalusky with a team-high 29 points, 14 rebounds, two assists and three steals.
The teams’ combined point total was the highest ever scored at 209, and both converted a single-game best 72 field goals combined to best the former record of 68 set in 1994.
“It was so much fun. You compete against these girls for all these years, and then you get a chance to come together and play one last time to represent Indiana,” Tippner said. “I’m so grateful I got to be a part of it.”
Tippner is now part of an Indiana girls All-Star tradition at Noblesville that includes Reagan Wilson (2024), Emily Kiser (2019), Sarah VanMetre (2003), Cindi Merrill (2002), Jami Sloan (1990), Courtney Cox (1989) and Krissi Davis (1987).
Even after fouling out of the double-overtime, back-and-forth battle with 27.4 seconds left in the second five-minute bonus quarter, Makalusky echoed the same sentiment as Tippner.
“I think over this past week we grew a sisterhood,” said Makalusky, an Indiana University commit who was named the game’s Hoosier Shooting Academy MVP. “I’m definitely going to remember the family feel. You know, Indiana’s a family, and everybody from Indiana. It’s special.”
Makalusky led Indiana with 18 points during Friday’s loss, and she played 46 minutes, 37 seconds in the second game. As one of five players in double figures, Makalusky had no regrets after the loss.
“I mean, what are you going to do? At the end of the day, I’m proud of our girls. We played hard,” Makalusky said. “It’s been super fun, and it’s just been super humbling.”
It was also HSE’s ninth time sending a girls representative to the annual event.
Makalusky is the second Miss Basketball winner from HSE to participate after Sydney Parrish (2020).
In year’s past Olivia Brown (2023), Maya’s sister Riley Makalusky (2023), Amaya Hamilton (2019), Taya Reimer (2013), Courtney Osborn (2009) and Kahla Roudebush (2005) also made the roster.
“I’ve had those girls that showed me how to act and how to treat others. I’ve just learned from the best role models possible, and I hope I can be known as a good role model for younger girls,” Makalusky said. “Basketball should be a family, and those should be your sisters.”
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