INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — South Bend Washington teammates RaShunda Jones, Amiyah Reynolds and Kira Reynolds helped the Panthers make a seamless transition to Class 4A this season.
After getting bumped up one class because of the IHSAA's success factor, the 2022 Class 3A state champs responded with yet another big season. They went 27-1, won sectional and regional titles and were ranked No. 1 before losing to Lake Central in the state semifinals. And they might have done even more if Amiyah Reynolds hadn't needed season-ending foot surgery in February.
Still, Jones and the Reynolds sisters were popular picks on this year's Associated Press Girls All-State Team.
Jones received the most votes, barely edging Laila Hull of Zionsville. Amiyah Reynolds finished fourth in balloting from a panel of Indiana's sports writers, broadcasters and coaches, and Kira Reynolds was sixth after a breakout season while being coached by her father, Steve.
Players are selected regardless of their grade level or in which class their school competes.
Joining Jones and Amiyah Reynolds on the first team are Hull, Mishawaka Marian senior Nevaeh Foster and Bedford North Lawrence junior Chloe Spreen. Hull was named the IndyStar Miss Basketball Award winner in March.
But the 5-foot-8 Jones won this polling battle after averaging 19.8 points, 4.5 assists and 4.3 steals last season. She is joining Katie Gearld's Purdue program next season, breaking up South Bend Washington’s strong three-pronged attack.
Kira Reynolds, a 6-4 sophomore, will return to the Panthers next season after scoring 16.1 points, grabbing 12.0 rebounds and blocking 5.8 shots, but Amiyah Reynolds' future has suddenly become unclear.
The 6-foot senior who averaged 15.2 points, 8.1 rebounds and 6.3 assists had signed a national letter of intent to join her older sister, Mila, at Maryland. But after Mila Reynolds announced in late March she was entering the transfer portal, Amiyah Reynolds decommitted from the Terrapins and reopened her recruitment.
Neither has dropped hints about where she might land. Mila Reynolds still has three years of eligibility after appearing in 22 games with the Terrapins this season, and the sisters could find something enticing about staying in their home state, which featured two top-10 programs this season, Indiana and Notre Dame, as well as the resurgent Boilermakers.
“Right now, as a family, we’re trying to do our due diligence and find the right spot for Mila,” Steve Reynolds told The South Bend Tribune last week. “Will both of them now go to the same college, not necessarily. It’s about finding the right fit for both of them as we move forward.”
Reynolds added: “There is no timetable right now for Amiyah to return to the court. With her type of injury, you are normally talking a year to get back and she will be redshirting next season. But all is going good with her recovery from the surgery."
Hull, a 6-1 forward who will play at North Carolina, averaged 22.4 points and 8.4 rebounds during Zionsville’s 20-3 season.
Foster, a 5-9 senior, scored 25.1 points with Marian's 22-win team. Spreen, a 5-10 junior, helped power Bedford North Lawrence to a 27-3 mark and the Class 4A state title by scoring 19.0 points. She is attending college at Western Kentucky.
Both were second-team all-state selections last year.
This year, Kira Reynolds is the only underclassmen on the second team. She was joined by Riley Makalusky of Hamilton Southeastern, Karsyn Norman, Spreen's teammate, Saige Stahl of Columbus East and Asia Donald of Hobart.
Donald led the state with in scoring at 26.7 points per game while Stahl finished second at 26.0.
Makalusky and Norman are both Butler-bound and Stahl and Donald are both Indiana State signees.
McKenna Layden of Northwestern, Amber Tretter of two-time Class 2A state champion Forest Park and Juliann Woodard of Jennings County were joined on the third team by Cristen Carter of Ben Davis and Renna Schwieterman of Jay County.
Layden was a second-team selection last season and will join Jones at Purdue.
Tretter and Carter are headed to Miami (Ohio) while Schwieterman will play next season at Purdue Fort Wayne. Woodard is a junior.
The Associated Press
