Gracyn Gilliard was asked following Center Grove’s come-from-behind win over Brownsburg in December about the prospects of going undefeated. Was it something the players were conscious of? Something they talked about?
The senior Davision recruits smiled and replied simply that going undefeated was the goal.
A couple months later and those Trojans are still unbeaten, one win away from the program’s first state championship since 1996 and Indiana’s first undefeated champion since Bedford North Lawrence in 2012-13 (28-0, 4A).
“This has meant everything,” senior guard Hannah Gin said of the team’s run to Gainbridge Fieldhouse (8:15 p.m. Saturday vs. Norwell). “I’ve forever been a Trojan. I remember being a little kid watching girls basketball and being so excited to become a Trojan and to become a part of the girls basketball team. I look back at those moments now and it’s shocking. It’s like, wow, I’m really here. I think little Hannah would be really proud.”
Appreciating the brilliance and recognizing the dominance of the 2025-26 Center Grove girls basketball team requires looking beyond their John Harrell page. You need to watch those games with the low point totals, like last Saturday’s 29-26 victory over Lawrence Central, and even the come-from-behind five-point wins over Franklin Central and Pendleton Heights that preceded it.
This is a well-oiled and ruthlessly efficient machine.
And it all starts on defense, that mesmerizing switching pack-line that’s limiting opponents to a paltry 35 points per game.
It’s the brainchild of coach Kevin Stuckmeyer and though it’s been tweaked and modernized over the years, its core principals were inspired by the legendary Jack Edison (Stuckmeyer’s coach at Plymouth) and later influenced by Al Rhodes, another hall of famer whom Stuckmeyer coached with.
Everyone in the CG lineup is bought into playing tough defense and is willing to matchup against anyone. That allows the Trojans to seamlessly switch on everything, making it extremely difficult for opposing players to find their open spots.
Center Grove has limited 12 opponents to 30 points or fewer, including Lawrence Central, which was held to 26 points, its lowest output in six years.
There is an individual determination one-on-one to not get beaten, Stuckmeyer said. “(Then) we have three in the gap. They should feel three people guarding them, but others are seeing splits on the backside.”
From a player’s perspective, it can take time to get up to speed on Stuckmeyer’s defense, but “once you get it, you really get it,” Gilliard said.
“And because we all get it, that’s why the defense looks so good, so clean,” she continued. “And even those mistakes that only we see, they look perfect to the audience, because (we) cover the tracks.”
Here are a few other reasons why Center Grove is playing for a state championship:
The evolution of Gracyn Gilliard
Franklin Central coach Vince Cerbone, whose team lost to Center Grove twice this season after knocking them out of last year’s state tournament, estimated he watched 15-16 CG games in preparation for sectionals.
And in watching the film, he saw Gilliard score basically every way imaginable, be it coming off screens, firing off deep 3-pointers, getting out in transition, hitting a step-back — “I mean every way,” Cerbone said.
That’s the difference with her this season, he continued, highlighting the evolution of Gilliard’s game from her Trojans debut in Nov. 2024 (also vs. Franklin Central) to the start of her senior season. “You have to worry about her every inch of the floor.”
Gilliard has been the driving force for this Center Grove offense, averaging 25.7 points on 53% shooting. She’s converting 41% of her attempts from 3 and 74% of her free throws, of which she has attempted a team-leading 206.
Isolated to her six games in February, the 5-foot-11 guard has totaled 132 points and shot 53% from the field, with clutch performances against FC, Pendleton Heights and Lawrence Central.
Teams have tried anything and everything to contain Gilliard, but she simply will not be denied.
Glamorizing the role players
Center Grove has glamorized the role player.
Seriously.
Everyone on their varsity roster is bought into their roles, from the starters through the girls at the end of the bench, and everyone in the regular rotation is massively important.
In terms of scoring balance, Hailey Wagoner, MacKenzie Pierce and Lillia Tapak are all averaging 7-8 points per game, with Tapak, a freshman, dishing out three assists per game as starting point guard. Her maturity is astonishing, and is driven by both a trust in her teammates and a confidence in the work she’s put in.
Wagoner, a 5-11 sophomore, has scored at least eight points in five of her past six games, and shot 67% or better in three straight (Pendleton Heights, Evansville Reitz and Lawrence Central).
Pierce, a 5-8 junior, is a 39% shooter and delivered 12 points on four 3-pointers in the sectional final. She also logged nine points and four rebounds in the semistate semifinal vs. Reitz.
Ella Sprong is scoring just over four points per game, but maximizes her minutes as the first one off the bench, doing whatever her team needs in the moment (see: her critical 3-pointer vs. Franklin Central).
CG’s fifth starter, Gin, is the latest in her family to be competing for a state championship with Center Grove, following her mom (softball) and brother (football).
Sprong described Gin as “the glue” to this team, adding: “She does so many things that make us who we are.”
“At the beginning of the year, we talked about culture and how we wanted this year to go and Hannah’s a huge part of that,” Sprong said of the 5-7 guard, who’s averaging three rebounds, two assists and two steals. “Her hustle and her grind, she wants it just as bad as any of us. It’s really special to be her teammate.”
A ‘ruthlessly efficient’ offense
I referred to Center Grove as “ruthlessly efficient.”
Allow me to quantify.
The Trojans average 53 points per game on 45% shooting with a 36% mark from 3 and a 69% mark at the line. They commit less than eight turnovers per game and no one on their team averages more than three fouls per game.
Individually, their two leading scorers, Gilliard and Wagoner, are both shooting above 53%, while Pierce and Tapak are at 39% and 37%, respectively.
Center Grove does not beat itself. And when it does make mistakes on the offensive end, they are typically neutralized by that ridiculous defense.
Late-game confidence
There is a lot of value in the ways Center Grove has had to win games this month. It withstood an early 3-point barrage from Franklin Central in the sectional, then Pendleton Heights built a double-digit lead in the regional a week later. Last Saturday, it was a 32-minute fist fight with Lawrence Central that came down to free throws and a couple last-second defensive stands.
This team has earned the right to be confident in those game-on-the-line moments, both because of its execution in those spots and the work it puts into them.
“We practice that kind of stuff every day,” Sprong said. “We run through like we’re down against our scout team — and they’re really good at this stuff — (Stuckmeyer) will throw plays at us and it’s up to us to make those winning plays.”
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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Defense, Gilliard & role players: Why Center Grove is playing for 4A title
Reporting by Brian Haenchen, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
