Daily Reporter staff reports
INDIANAPOLIS — The 2017 Indiana Miss Basketball winner was announced on Thursday night during the Indiana Sports Awards at Clowes Memorial Hall in Indianapolis.
A finalist for the distinction, Greenfield-Central’s Madison Wise finished third in the voting as Homestead’s Karissa McLaughlin won the coveted prize.
McLaughlin, a Purdue recruit, garnered 155 of 388 votes. Gary West’s Dana Evans, a McDonald’s All American, was second with 91 votes. Wise, a 2017 Indiana All-Star, received 62 votes.
Wise, a 6-foot-1 forward, is only the fifth player in girls basketball state history to surpass 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds in her career. She averaged 23.5 points, 10.1 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game as a senior.
The Iowa State recruit finished her career with the county’s girls basketball scoring record at 2,109 points.
Wise is only the third girls basketball player in Greenfield-Central history to be chosen as an Indiana All-Star and first since Janet Meeker in 1989.
Tennis
Marauders top Tigers
The Mt. Vernon Marauders improved to 9-1 on the season with a 4-1 win against Hoosier Heritage Conference foe Yorktown on Thursday.
The county champion Marauders defended their home court by sweeping their singles matches and winning at No. 2 doubles.
Alaina Nelson won 6-2, 6-3 at No. 1 singles. Olivia Spicer cruised 6-1, 6-1 at No. 2 singles. Kaleigh Helm rolled 6-1, 6-1 at No. 3 singles.
Emily Annakin and Alexis Lane won 6-1, 6-3 during their doubles match.
“Their record may not say it, but Yorktown is a talented team and this was a good win,” Mt. Vernon head coach Gabe Muterspaugh said. “Great win in starting off the second half of the season. As we all say, the quote by the great Rex Nelson, ‘WWCD … winner, winner, chicken dinner.”
Dragons fall to Eagles
The New Palestine Dragons lost to Delta 5-0 on Thursday during their Hoosier Heritage Conference match.
The Eagles surrendered seven games overall to sweep each match in two sets.
The Dragons are 7-3 on the season and travel to Morristown on Tuesday and Southwestern on Thursday.
Cougars win 2 in a row
The Greenfield-Central girls tennis team held strong and fought back on Thursday night to defeat New Castle 3-2.
With the score tied 2-2, the final point of the night for the Cougars came down to a third set at No. 2 doubles.
Down most of the set and New Castle up 6-5, Kaleigh Stephenson and Grace Hall tied the match at 6-6 to force a tiebreaker. New Castle rallied back to lead 6-3, but again the Cougars regrouped and won the next five points to take the match 8-6.
“The sophomore and freshman combination showed just how much they have grown this year as they put the weight of the team on their shoulders and got the win for their team in an extremely high pressure situation,” Cougars head coach Michael Turpin commented.
The team’s other two wins came from No. 1 singles player Lindsey McCord (6-2, 7-5) and No. 2 singles player Avery Spencer (6-1, 6-1).
The Cougars are now 2-4 and 1-2 in the Hoosier Heritage Conference.
Softball
Dragons beat Bears
The top-ranked Class 3A New Palestine Dragons had little trouble with Shelbyville on Thursday, winning 9-1.
The Hoosier Heritage Conference victory improves their season record to 14-2. The Dragons are 4-0 in the conference standings and are tied for first with Greenfield-Central.
Against Shelbyville, Ashley Prange hit her 11th home run of the season as New Palestine crushed three longballs in the game. Emily O’Connor and Abby Davis each had home runs.
Prange, who has hit four homers in her last five games, was 2-for-4 with three runs and two RBIs. O’Connor was 3-for-4 with two RBIs and a double. Davis was 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Mary Crumlin had two hits, and Elisha Barker had two RBIs.
Madison Whitaker had a hit and an RBI. Barker recorded the win, allowing six hits over six innings with seven strikeouts.
Track and Field
Royals win invite
The Eastern Hancock boys track team dominated its own invitational on Thursday, scoring 152 points to win.
Blue River Valley was second with 62 points and Indianapolis Tindley was third at 61.
Alvaro Cosmen Valero was first in the 400-meter run at 54.58 for the Royals, while Skyler Schrope took first in the 1,600-meter run (4:57.96) and the 3,200 (10:36.83).
Jayson Bowers was first in the 110 hurdles (17.39), and Devyn Brinson won the 300 hurdles (44.57).
The Royals’ 4×400 relay team was first (3:47.54) and the 4×100 team was second at 9:32.63.
Kyle Moore won the long jump with a leap of 17 feet, 7 inches. Reece Burkhart won the shot put at 45-1. He was second in the discus at 125-7.
