GREENWOOD — There are different ways to define depth with this year’s Center Grove girls basketball team.
In the aftermath of Saturday’s Class 4A Sectional 12 championship game — a dramatic 55-50 win over rival Franklin Central — Trojans coach Kevin Stuckmeyer first highlighted the girls who didn’t get to play: Seniors Mia Mann and Anna Karr, and some of their underclassmen like Kennedy Kemper.
“They’ve been fantastic all year,” Stuckmeyer said, a smile sweeping across his face as he continued. “They’ve been ready for the moment and helped us prepare all year. They’re over on the sideline talking their position through things. They’re coaches on the sideline.”
Junior MacKenzie Pierce added: “They give us 100% and give us the looks that lead to us having so much success in games. And they’re the best cheerleaders on the bench. They make it so special.”
The depth of CG’s everyday lineup is pretty fantastic, too.
It’s not always the flashiest or “those plays that end up on TikTok,” Stuckmeyer said, but everyone is bought into their roles and can do things like guard one-on-one, front a cutter in the post and guard someone five inches taller than them inside, then play through a loose ball and grab it.
It’s depth that shows up in the biggest moments, Stuckmeyer concluded.
And that depth was absolutely brilliant top-to-bottom Saturday night.
On paper, Franklin Central should have been in full control through two quarters. Ashlee Baker led a 3-point barrage with four triples and Aniyah Doughty poured in an additional nine points, while the defense limited CG star Gracyn Gilliard to a workman-like 11 points.
But the halftime margin was only six.
MacKenzie Pierce, the team’s third-leading scorer at 7 points per game, delivered a pair of critical 3s, the second of which brought the score to 15-10 late in the first quarter.
“She kept us in it early. Franklin Central didn’t miss a shot in the first half,” Stuckmeyer said. “MacKenzie kept us close until Grayson got comfortable with their trap. She hit some big ones just to keep us within distance.”
Freshman point guard Lillia Tapak played with the poise of an upperclassman — as she has all season — finding open shooters both within set plays and when she was forced to improvise, typically off a dribble-drive attempt.
Ella Sprong and Haley Wagoner bookended a game-altering 7-0 run in the fourth. The former kicked it off with a 3, then the latter finished it with an easy 2 off a Center Grove steal that extended the Trojans’ lead to 50-45.
There was also Hannah Gin, the 5-foot-5 senior guard who played for an undefeated JV team as a freshman and is a two-year varsity letter-winner who attempted just four field goals as a starter last season (played the second-most minutes on the team).
She effectively clinched the sectional, hurling herself at a loose ball off a missed free throw with less than a minute remaining, securing the offensive rebound that allowed Center Grove to eventually extend its lead to two possessions.
That was the epitome of Gin and the past four seasons, Stuckmeyer said. “The girl just doesn’t lose. She’s a winner and she proved that tonight.”
“I’ve always been so determined,” Gin added. “I love this program. I love my coaches. I love my teammates. And I’ll do anything to win. And I know together we have the will to win and we’re going for that state championship.”
And then there was Gracyn Gilliard.
She impacted the game as a scorer, registering 19 points, including a steal-and-score that secured CG its first lead in the second quarter. She engaged her teammates as a passer, assisting on a few critical baskets. And she delivered in the clutch, most notably with a steal-and-score to tie the score at 43 midway through the fourth.
There was a scary moment late in the fourth when Gilliard injured her ankle, but she left with full confidence in her teammates, and upon her return, helped close out the first sectional championship of her career.
“She’s the best player in the state this year,” Stuckmeyer said. “She is the best player in the state this year, because she’s the best teammate. Nobody’s been a better teammate than her that I’ve coached in nine years. Nobody’s been more coachable than her in nine years. … She was ready for the moment because of the work she puts in and her humbleness to be a great teammate and a great competitor.”
Center Grove will face Pendleton Heights in the regional championship next Saturday.
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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Gracyn Gilliard, team effort lifts undefeated Center Grove to sectional title
Reporting by Brian Haenchen, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
