IBCA/Franciscan Health POW - Week 13

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                         Contact: Brandon Bradley, 260-580-4799

Jan. 30, 2024                                                                Coordinator, Player of the Week

Girls’ Regular Season Wraps Up During Week-13 of the IBCA/Franciscan Health Player of the Week Program

            The end of the road is near for many of Indiana’s Senior female hoopers, as the regular season came to a close Saturday evening. Tonight begins Sectional play for several teams, with aspirations of making it to Gainbridge Fieldhouse in late-February. The boys’ also remained competitive last week, with some thrilling ends to games. This week seven players in total have been chosen as Week-13 Players of the Week.

            Valparaiso Junior Jack Smiley, Homestead Sophomore Myah Epps, Greenfield-Central Junior Braylon Mullins, West Lafayette Senior Adrianne Tolen, Brownstown Central Senior Jack Benter, New Washington Senior Kaidin James, and Indian Creek Senior Faith Wiseman have been selected For Jan. 22-Jan. 27 in the recognition program coordinated by the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association. Smiley is the boys’ winner, and Epps is the girls’ winner in District-1. Mullins is the boys’ recipient, while Tolen is the girls’ recipient for District-2. Benter takes home boys’ honors, while James and Wiseman share girls’ honors for District-3.

            Valparaiso continued their nice season with a pair of strong wins over the weekend. Friday night, the Vikings took care of a solid Merrillville squad, 80-63, in Merrillville. Smiley was locked in, scoring 23 points, pulling down 8 rebounds, handing out 11 assists to post a double-double, and collecting 4 steals in the meantime. Saturday, the Vikings hosted Munster, knocking off the Mustangs by a 62-55 margin. The 6-2 guard was again strong, scoring 26 points on 10-18 shooting, including 5-10 from deep. He also tallied 6 rebounds and 9 assists to help Valparaiso to a 14-4 mark to end January.

            Homestead’s Myah Epps might just be a Sophomore, but she is already gaining a reputation for late-game heroics for the Spartans. Friday, in a 72-71 double overtime thriller against Fort Wayne Northrop, the 5-10 guard made play after play, including a critical score late in regulation, as well as the game-tying basket to push the game into the second overtime period. All in all, Epps scored 27 points in the triumph, knocking down 11-17 shots from the field, 2-4 from 3-point range, and 3 free throws, while pulling in 8 rebounds, handing out 9 assists, and posting 2 steals and 2 blocked shots defensively.

            Greenfield-Central Junior Braylon Mullins has already put together a stellar career, so at this point he is just compiling more tales to tell. Friday night, the Cougars traveled to Pendleton Heights for a Hoosier Heritage Conference game, and they escaped with a 74-72, double overtime victory against the Arabians. The 6-5 Junior guard erupted for a career-high and school record 51 points, including the game-winning 3-pointer. Overall, Mullins was 18-31 from the field, he knocked down 4 3-pointers, and he was an efficient 11-13 from the charity stripe. He also chipped in 4 rebounds, 3 assists, a pair of steals, and a blocked shot in the exciting performance.

            West Lafayette Senior Adrianne Tolen has been extremely strong and consistent all season, and last week she helped the Red Devils to a pair of nice wins over Class 4A competition. Thursday, they hosted crosstown rival Harrison, knocking off the Lady Raiders, 53-42. Tolen was on point, scoring 27 points via 11-18 shooting, she made her only 3-point attempt, and she tossed in 4 free throws as well. The 5-10 wing added 5 rebounds, a pair of assists, and she collected 8 steals in the victory. Saturday, the Red Devils picked up an impressive win, 56-28, over a now 19-4 McCutcheon squad. Playing slightly beyond halftime, the Missouri S&T commit was again strong, posting a stat line of 10 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 steals, as they head into their Sectional play following another winning season.

            Purdue University recruit and Brownstown Central Senior Jack Benter helped his Braves to a trio of Mid-Southern Conference wins last week. Tuesday, Brownstown handled Austin fairly easily, Friday it was another lopsided win at Charlestown, and Saturday the Braves took care of Corydon Central in Corydon by yet another large margin, pushing their conference record to 7-0; 16-4 overall. All week the

6-5 guard shot the ball extremely well, scoring 76 points on 28-44 overall, including a combined 16-25 (64%) performance in the three games from beyond the arc. He added a total of 22 rebounds and 15 assists over those three contests as well.

            New Washington Senior Kaidin James isn’t widely known throughout the state, but she has been impressive at times throughout her career for the Mustangs. Tuesday, in a comfortable Southern Conference win at Crothersville, the 5-7 guard posted the rare triple-double, exploding for 38 points, pulling in 11 rebounds (6 offensive), and stealing the ball 15 times. She also handed out 6 assists and even blocked a shot for good measure. She was 13-14 from the charity stripe, and she surpassed the 1500-point mark for her career.

            Indian Creek Senior and Indiana University commit Faith Wiseman is sharing District-3 honors with James because of an even rarer quadruple-double she posted in their 69-35 Western Indiana Conference win over South Putnam Thursday night. The 6-4 forward scored 18 points and collected an outstanding 26 rebounds in the contest, to go along with 10 assists and 10 blocked shots. Wiseman also joined the exclusive 1000 rebound club Thursday. Saturday, the Senior forward helped the Braves to a perfect 10-0 conference record, with a 50-34 win against Northview.

            This is the 16^th season for the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association Player of the Week program, and the fourth season it is being presented by Franciscan Health, a corporate sponsor of the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association.

            Player of the Week winners are chosen each week from each of the IHSAA’s three districts. Girls’ winners will be chosen through the Monday following the IHSAA Girls State Finals. Boys’ winners will be chosen through the Monday following the IHSAA Boys State Finals.

2023-24 Weekly Winners

            Oct. 30-Nov. 4: District-1 girls: Tenley Davis, Chesterton. District-2 girls: Avery Gordon, Brownsburg. District-3 girls: Hadley Crosier, Lanesville.

            Nov. 6-Nov. 11: District-1 girls: Ava Ziolkowski, Crown Point. District-2 girls: Kayla Lacombe, Arsenal Technical. District-3 girls: Chloe Spreen, Bedford North Lawrence.

            Nov. 13-Nov. 18: District-1 girls: Samantha Redinger, Argos, and Gracyn Gilliard, Munster. District-2 girls: Kaycie Warfel, Pendleton Heights. District-3 girls: Audrey Annee, Center Grove.

            Nov. 20-Nov. 25: District-1 boys: Bryce Wilcox, Southwood. District-1 girls: Brooke Zartman, Warsaw. District-2 boys: Brady Koehler, Cathedral. District-2 girls: Lillie Graves, McCutcheon. District-3 boys: Kasym Nash, Borden. District-3 girls: Madalynn Shirley, Evansville Central.

            Nov. 27-Dec. 2: District-1 boys: Tyler Parrish, Chesterton. District-1 girls: Sadie Marks, South Central (Union Mills). District-2 boys: Damien King, Anderson. District-2 girls: Maya Layton, Faith Christian. District-3 boys: Trent Sisley, Heritage Hills. District-3 girls: Gabby Spink, Gibson Southern.

            Dec. 4-Dec. 9: District-1 boys: Sam Essegian, Whitko. District-1 girls: Kenedi Bradley, Chesterton. District-2 boys: Braylon Mullins, Greenfield-Central. District-2 girls: Jaylah Lampley, Lawrence Central. District-3 boys: Aydan Head, Henryville. District-3 girls: Julia Meyer, Jac-Cen-Del.

            Dec. 11-Dec. 16: District-1 boys: Jack Smiley, Valparaiso. District-1 girls: Kahlen Robinson, Bowman Academy. District-2 boys: Josiah Cox, Tri. District-2 girls: Maya Makalusky, Hamilton Southeastern. District-3 boys: Joshua Renfro, Christian Academy. District-3 girls: Brynn Owens, Austin.

            Dec. 18-Dec. 23: District-1 boys: John Malchow, Winamac Community. District-1 girls: Gracyn Gilliard, Munster. District-2 boys: Philip Randolph, Indianapolis International. District-2 girls: Jacklynn Hosier, Alexandria-Monroe. District-3 boys: Josiah Dunham, Evansville Christian. District-3 girls: Brooklynn Renn, Silver Creek.

            Dec. 25-Dec. 30: District-1 boys: Josiah Ball, Maconaquah. District-1 girls: Addison Baxter, Columbia City. District-2 boys: Julius Gizzi, New Palestine. District-2 girls: Reagan Wilson, Noblesville, and Olivia Nickerson, Twin Lakes. District-3 boys: Blake Neill, Bloomfield. District-3 girls: Juliann Woodard, Jennings County.

            Jan. 1-Jan. 6: District-1 boys: Ashton Federspiel, Norwell. District-1 girls: Lillian Barnes, Valparaiso. District-2 boys: Nolan Swan, Tipton. District-2 girls: Laniah Wills, Lapel. District-3 boys: Malachi McNair, Evansville Harrison. District-3 girls: Chloey Graham, Gibson Southern.

            Jan. 8-Jan. 13: District-1 boys: Jack Rodgers, Culver Community. District-1 girls: Samantha Redinger, Argos. District-2 boys: Braylon Mullins, Greenfield-Central. District-2 girls: Lillie Graves, McCutcheon. District-3 boys: Deion Edwards, Springs Valley. District-3 girls: Ella Bobe, South Knox.

            Jan. 15-Jan. 20: District-1 boys: Chase Konieczny, South Bend St. Joseph. District-1 girls: Abby Ordonez, Wheeler. District-2 boys: Chris Huerta, Carroll (Flora). District-2 girls: Avery Gordon, Brownsburg. District-3 boys: Josiah Dunham, Evansville Christian. District-3 girls: Molly Schulte, South Spencer.

            Jan. 22-Jan. 27: District-1 boys: Jack Smiley, Valparaiso. District-1 girls: Myah Epps, Homestead. District-2 boys: Braylon Mullins, Greenfield-Central. District-2 girls: Adrianne Tolen, West Lafayette. District-3 boys: Jack Benter, Brownstown Central. District-3 girls: Kaidin James, New Washington, and Faith Wiseman, Indian Creek.