Connecticut signee Ayanna Patterson will lead Indiana against Kentucky in the annual all-star series next month. (Photo by Twitter)
Winning is something that Danville High School girls coach Judie Mason knows how to do.
She was the first coach to win 500 games in the 12th Region. She won the All “A” state championship at Somerset in 2000 and went to the All “A” state tourney six straight times, including 2001 when it reached the semifinals. She continued her success at Danville and her teams have won 15 12th Region All “A” championships.
She was an assistant coach for the Kentucky all-star team that played Indiana last year and is the head coach this season.
“Indiana is very big and athletic. They have a five-star player going to UConn that can dunk,” said Mason. “They are loaded with Division I talent but my hope is we can run and outscore them. I hope they have a hard time stopping our guards and that we can interchange a lot of players.”
Indiana Miss Basketball Ayanna Patterson is a 6-3 guard/forward headed to Connecticut. She averaged 25.8 points, 11.8 rebounds and 2.1 blocked shots per game last year with 19 double-doubles and seven 30-point games. She finished her prep career with 1,912 points and 1,006 rebounds. She’s a McDonald’s All-American and Naismith All-American.
Michigan signee Alyssa Crockett was an Indiana Miss Basketball finalist and is a top 50 player in her recruiting class. She averaged 18.5 points, 8.5 rebounds, 2.0 steals and 1.5 blocks per game last season.
Mila Reynolds, a 6-3 Maryland signee, averaged 21.5 points and 8.1 rebounds per game last season with 10 double-doubles. She had one game with 48 points.
IUPUI signee Jessica Carrothers is a 5-7 guard who scored 2,335 points in her career, 16th most in state history. She also finished with 545 rebounds, 468 steals and 396 assists.
“I know how good they will be but I like my team. We are very athletic,” Mason, who got her first look at her team at a practice last weekend, said. “We are going to be able to play two different styles. We can go big with Grace Merkle, who is 6-6, and when she is out we can have a very long, athletic team which is suited to my style of play.”
Mason’s style is to run, push the ball and press. She likes a fast pace from start to finish but also knows what Merkle, a Bellarmine signee who got Bullitt East to the state title game in March, can add.
“They are going to have a hard time stopping her. At the tryouts you could see she had been working to share her body into a college player. I have also wished I had somebody like that on one of my teams. She can dominate a game with her size.”
Mason has six players on the team who were on the junior all-star team in 2021.
“This is a fun group. A lot of them have played AAU together,” Mason said. “If you put them in the gym, most of them all look the same. They are very versatile. They are all long, all very athletic and all can jump.”
The roster includes Kentucky signees Amiya Jenkins of Anderson County, Kentucky’s Miss Basketball, and Cassidy Rowe of Shelby Valley. Mason also has Western Kentucky signee Josie Gilvin, a versatile three-sport star. She has helped Sacred Heart win two straight state titles and was state tourney MVP in 2021.
“She was on the junior all-star team last year and she is full of personality. You can tell she is a leader,” Mason said. “She will make cuts to get others open. She just makes everybody better like a great leader does.”
“But I love everybody we have. They are all competitors and enjoy the game. This is a bucket list item for me and it is going to be really fun to watch these girls play. I have always dreamed of having a team like this.”
