This year’s IndyStar Mr. Basketball and Miss Basketball duo share a unique distinction as state champions.
For just the fifth time in the history of the Indiana All-Star series – which begins Sunday when the Indiana Junior All-Stars play the Kentucky Junior All-Stars at Charlestown – both Mr. and Miss Basketball are coming off state championships as seniors.
Gracyn Gilliard led Center Grove to a Class 4A state title on her way to winning Miss Basketball and Mt. Vernon’s Mr. Basketball Luke Ertel followed suit by taking the Marauders on a magical ride to the 4A championship.
“It’s unusual and definitely unique in my time as director,” Indiana All-Star director Mike Broughton said. “Gilliard will give us some leadership. She’s a winner and makes people around her better. Ertel is the same way. He’s as good of a point guard as we’ve had the last 10 years – just an amazing player who had an amazing career.”
Broughton said he likes the look of the girls’ team around Gilliard, citing Warsaw’s Joslyn Bricker (Indiana Wesleyan) and Brooke Zartman (Miami of Ohio) and Jennings County’s Mollie Ernstes (Kansas) as players who can shoot it from the perimeter, size with Silver Creek’s 6-3 Brooklynn Renn (Kansas), Pike’s 6-1 Komari Booker (Northern Illinois) and Lapel’s 6-foot Laniah Wills (Butler), quickness with Hamilton Southeastern’s Kennedy Holman (LSU) and Marquette Catholic’s Laniah Davis (Northern Illinois) and defensive stalwarts in Norwell’s Vanessa Rosswurm (Indiana Wesleyan) and Valparaiso’s Lilli Barnes (Ball State).
Broughton said Maya Epps of Homestead (Louisville) will be able to spend the week with the All-Stars as she continues her recovery from her injuries suffered in a car accident.
On the boys’ side, Ertel will be surrounded by one of the tallest teams in recent memory. Crown Point’s Dikembe Shaw (Illinois-Chicago), Plainfield’s Noah Smith (DePaul), Lawrence North’s Brennan Miller (Southern Illinois-Edwardsville), Carmel’s Evan Harrell (Bellarmine), Silver Creek’s Dane Caldwell (Richmond), Fishers’ Kai McGrew (Ball State) and Northridge’s Brady Scholl (Indiana Wesleyan) are all 6-7 or taller.
“This is definitely one of the biggest teams we’ve had,” Broughton said. “That will help a lot of things defensively. The kids practiced a couple weeks ago together and you can tell they really enjoy each other’s company. This will be a team that Indiana people will enjoy watching and will be fun to watch.”
Here are the other Mr. and Miss Basketball winners to win state in the same year as a senior:
2015
Ali Patberg, Columbus North
Caleb Swanigan, Homestead
2003
Katie Gearlds, Beech Grove
Justin Cage, Pike
2001
Shyra Ely, Ben Davis
Chris Thomas, Pike
1976
Judi Warren, Warsaw
Dave Colescott, Marion
There are other duos that have won state championships but not the same year as seniors:
2021
Jayla Smith, Lawrence North (won as a junior)
Caleb Furst, Fort Wayne Blackhawk Christian (won as a sophomore and senior)
2011
Bria Goss, Ben Davis (won as a sophomore and junior)
Cody Zeller, Washington (won as a freshman, junior and senior)
2009
Skylar Diggins, South Bend Washington (won as a sophomore)
Jordan Hulls, Bloomington South (won as a senior)
2006
Amber Harris, North Central (won as a sophomore and junior)
Greg Oden, Lawrence North (won as a sophomore, junior and senior)
1987
Lori Meinerding, Fort Wayne Northrop (won as junior)
Jay Edwards/Lyndon Jones, Marion (won as sophomore, junior and senior)
Injury notes
>>>Ben Davis’ guard JaShawn Ladd is out with a wrist injury for the boys’ Indiana All-Stars.
>>>The girls’ Indiana Junior All-Stars will be missing Plainfield’s Hannah Menser and Northridge’s Lily Scholl due to injuries.
>>>The Futures Game will be missing New Albany’s Noah Washington (injury) and Pike’s Landon Lampley (unable to play). Evansville Mater Dei’s Cole Breeden and Norwell’s Josh McBride are unable to play due to their baseball teams making it to the sectional final on Monday.
Records
The Indiana vs. Kentucky boys’ series dates to 1940. Here are the top-10 individual scoring performances in series history:
53 George McGinnis (IN), 1969
42 Jim McDaniels (KY), 1967
41 Oscar Robertson (IN), 1956
41 Chris Lofton (KY), 2004
41 James Blackmon Jr., 2014
38 Luke Recker (IN), 1997
37 Quentin Snider (KY), 2014
36 Phil Cox (KY), 1981
36 Max Green (KY), 2024
34 Oscar Robertson (IN), 1956
34 Mike Rolf (IN), 1963
34 Rex Chapman (KY), 1986
34 Jay Edwards (IN), 1987
34 Damon Frierson (IN), 1995
34 Antwain Barbour (KY), 2000
34 Eugene German (IN), 2016
The Indiana vs. Kentucky girls’ series dates to 1976. Here are the top-10 individual scoring performances in series history:
34 ZaKiyah Johnson (KY), 2025
31 Tiffany Gooden (IN), 1994
31 Amiya Jenkins (KY), 2022
30 Geri Grigsby (KY), 1977
30 Jenni Benningfield (KY), 2000
30 Jackie Young (IN), 2016
29 Leslie Johnson (IN), 1993
29 Angela Hamblin (IN), 1994
29 Shanna Zolman (IN), 2002
29 Skylar Diggins (IN), 2009
29 Courtney Moses (IN), 2010
29 Gracie Merkle (KY), 2022
29 Maya Makalusky (IN), 2025
Week schedule
>>> Admission is $15 per person for the Indiana Juniors vs. Kentucky Juniors doubleheader on Sunday at Charlestown. Tickets are available at the door. The girls start at 2 p.m., and the boys follow about 4 p.m.
>>> Admission is $15 per person for the Indiana All-Star “Futures Games” on Monday at New Palestine. Tickets are available at the door. The girls start at 6 p.m., and the boys follow about 8 p.m.
>>> Admission is $15 per person for the Junior-Senior doubleheader on Wednesday at Mt. Vernon. Tickets are available at the door. The girls start at 6 p.m., and the boys follow about 8 p.m.
>>> Tickets are $15 each for the All-Stars against Kentucky on Friday at Lexington Catholic High School. The girls start at 5:30 p.m., and the boys follow about 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available at kentuckybasketballcoaches.org.
>>> Tickets are priced from $12 to $100 for Saturday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. The All-Star doubleheader has the girls at 5 p.m. and the boys about 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse box office and at this link:
Indiana-Kentucky All-Star Games Tickets Sat, Jun 06, 2026 Indianapolis, IN | Ticketmaster
Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649. Get IndyStar’s high school coverage sent directly to your inbox with the High School Sports newsletter. And be sure to subscribe to our new IndyStarTV: Preps YouTube channel.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Mr. Basketball, Miss Basketball share unique distinction as state champions
Reporting by Kyle Neddenriep, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
