Local Sports News: July 19, 2024

Monroe County Sports Hall of Fame Banquet Honors 2024 Class This Evening 
The Monroe County Sports Hall of Fame will induct is 14th Class this evening at a Sold-Out Monroe Convention Center in Downtown Bloomington. The 10 Member Class will have a meet and greet that is open to the Public starting at 5 PM. The Class includes 6 Athletes, 2 Coaches and 2 Contributors who all either grew up or made their name in Monroe County. 9 of the 10 inductees will be in attendance. Garry Anderson who passed away in 2020 will be represented by his family. 

The Athletes Include Greg Easton who played 3 sports at Bloomington High School graduating in 1965. Edgewood Baseball Standout Greg Granger who was Drafted Twice in the Major League Baseball Draft in 1991 and 1993. Sara Fields who won the State Discus Title and the Mental Attitude Award for Bloomington North in 2000. Jordan Hulls 2009 Indiana Mr. Basketball and State Champion at Bloomington South before staying home to play for the Indiana Hoosiers. Djibril Kante who helped Bloomington North win the 1997 Last Single Class State Championship and 1998 Indiana All-Star. Mike Mossbrucker won the 1976 State title at 155 Pounds and a Member of the 1977 Bloomington North State Championship Wrestling team.

The Coaches are Garry Anderson who coached over 30 Years at Edgewood in Wrestling and Track Field and coached 2 Individual State Champions in two different sports including 2011 Monroe County Sports Hall of Fame Inductee Stacy Martin who won the Discus in 1999 and the Mental Attitude Award.  Eric Moore who graduated from Edgewood in 1979 as football and track field standout who has led Center Grove HS in Greenwood to 5 State Football Championships and Center Grove Track and Field to 18 Sectional and 8 Regional Championships. The Contributors are Bill Atkinson Who coached Edgewood Basketball to 4 Sectional and 2 Regional Titles in the Single Class Era and Spent 30 Years as an educator as Edgewood with 19 of those years serving as the Dean of Students. David Grossman who spent 50 years as a certified athletic trainer and ended his career as the head trainer at Bloomington South. 

There are Six Scholar Athlete Award Winners One Female and One Male from each of the three Monroe County High Schools. Hadley Lucas and Jaydin Johnson from Bloomington North. Annalise Coyne and Ryan Rheam from Bloomington South. Riley Haskett and Joshua Kohne from Edgewood. They were presented with a $1,000 Scholarship and a Certificate at a ceremony in Early June.  Tonight’s Banquet will bring the total number Inductees to 147 and 78 Scholar Athletes awarding $72,000 in scholarships since 2011 when the Monroe County Sports Hall of Fame Inducted its charter class. 

The Basketball Tournament Kicks off at Hinkle Fieldhouse 

The $1 Million Dollar Basketball Tournament Kicks off this afternoon at Hinkle Fieldhouse with the First Round of the Butler Regional where 8 teams will be battling for a chance to advance to the Finals in Philadelphia where the last team standing will win the $ 1 Million Dollar winner take all prize.  The 3 Seed Team Arkansas which is the Arkansas Alumni Team will take on 6 Seed Eberlein Drive at 1 pm followed by 4 Seed Men of Mackey which is the Purdue Alumni Team against Fort Wayne Champs at 3 pm. Both games will be streamed on TBT Live which is on the Basketball Tournament Website at www.the tournament.com. At 6PM on Fox Sports 2 The Butler Alumni Team All Good Dawgs which is the second seed will take on 7 Seed Fail Harder followed the Top Seed Assembly Ball Indiana Alumni Team against 8 Seed the Cru which is the Valparaiso Alumni Team at 8 PM on the Big Ten Network.

The winner of game 1 will take on game 3 Sunday at 6 PM followed by the Winner of Game 2 against game 4 at 8 PM with both being televised on Fox Sports 1. The Championship Game will be Tuesday Night at 7 on Fox Sports 1.  All eight teams will have a least one player who either played High School or College Basketball in the State of Indiana. There are 64 teams in the tournament with the other regional sites at Pittsburgh, Houston, Wichita, Cincinnati, Dayton Lexington and Louisville. All games are ended on a made basket which is called the Elam Ending created by Ball State University Professor Nick Elam. The Game clock will shut off after the under four-minute time out in which a target score will be set and the first team to that score wins. 

Caitlin Clark Sets WNBA Record with 19 Assists as the Indiana Fever drop Road Contest at the Dallas Wings
Indiana Fever Rookie Guard Caitlin Clark set a WNBA record for the most assists recorded in a game with 19 assists in a 101-93 loss to the Dallas Wings at College Park Center on Wednesday. Clark also set a Fever franchise record for the most assists recorded by a player in a regular season passing Erica Wheeler’s mark of 201 set last season. For the third consecutive game, Fever center Aliyah Boston, Clark, forward NaLyssa Smith and guard Kelsey Mitchell all scored in double figures. Boston led Indiana as she posted a career-high 28 points on 11-of-14 field goal shooting and 5-of-7 from the free throw line. Boston also tallied eight rebounds, four blocks and three assists, passing Natalie Achonwa for eighth place on the Fever all-time blocks list with 90 blocked shots. On top of Clark’s 19 assists, she added 24 points and six rebounds for her ninth double-double of the season. 

Smith recorded her seventh double-double of the season with 13 points and 12 rebounds, and Mitchell tallied 13 points as well with two rebounds. Mitchell’s, one made 3-point field goal put her past Leilani Mitchell for 18th place on the WNBA all-time made 3-point field goals list with 509. Fever guard Lexie Hull and forward Damiris Dantas came off the bench to add six points each.  Former Indiana University Standout Grace Berger did not play. Late in the third quarter, Indiana went on a 19-8 run to secure a 70-69 lead and ultimately outscored the Wings, 24-18, in the third quarter. The Fever also outscored the Wings in paint points, 62-50, and outrebounded Dallas, 35-29. 

Six Wings players scored in double figures on Wednesday evening, as guards Arike Ogunbowale and Odyssey Sims both tallied 24 points. Ogunbowale pulled down seven rebounds, seven assists and three steals in the win, while Sims tallied nine assists and three rebounds. Forward Natasha Howard followed with 17 points, eight assists, seven rebounds and four steals, and reserve center Kalani Brown contributed 13 points and three rebounds off the bench.  The Wings reached 29 points in the fourth quarter and went on an 8-0 run to end the contest. Dallas handed out a season-high 28 assists and outscored Indiana in bench points, 15-12, and fastbreak points, 22-14. Aliyah Boston, Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell will participate in the 2024 WNBA All-Star Game on Saturday at 8:30 pm from Footprint Center in Phoenix. This year’s All-Star Game will be broadcast on ABC.

Kel’el Ware Dunks All Over the Dallas Mavericks in the Las Vegas Summer League 
Former Indiana University Basketball Star Kel’el Ware Scored 24 Points and pulled down 10 Rebounds as the Miami Heat beat the Dallas Mavericks 92-79 in the NBA Summer League at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas Nevada Wednesday Afternoon. Ware went 9-12 from the field 0-1 from three-point range and 6-9 from the free throw line. He also had 3 Blocks and a steal, but he impresses the crowd with several dunks as the Heat are 3-0 so far in Vegas and looking to get a top four place in the standings for a chance to play for the Summer League Championship Monday Night. In three games in Las Vegas the seven-footer who was the 15th overall pick in the NBA Draft in June has scored 52 points and 25 Rebounds and has 2 Double-Doubles. Ware has 4 assists, 7 Blocks and 2 Steals in 80 minutes of action and started all three games. Miami will play its fourth game this evening at 9 pm Bloomington Time against the Toronto Raptors. 

Former Hoosier Trayce Jackson-Davis did not play for the Golden State Warriors in their 96-85 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers Wednesday Night at the Pavilion. Golden State is 3-0 and will play the Oklahoma City Thunder this evening at 10:30pm Bloomington Time. Jackson-Davis Started 2 Games for the Warriors and has scored 27 points, pulled down 17 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 Steals and 1 block in 52 minutes in action.  Miller Kopp scored 12 points for the Oklahoma City Thunder in a 100-99 loss to the Phoenix Suns Wednesday at the Pavilion. Kopp Started and played 27 minutes going 4-10 from the field and 4-9 from three-point range. Kopp pulled down 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal after he went scoreless in a 94-69 loss to Toronto earlier in the week. Kopp played 17 minutes going 0-5 from the field and 0-3 from 3-point range. Kopp had 2 Steals and an assist. The Thunder are 0-3 and will face the Golden State Warriors this evening at 10:30pm Bloomington Time.  The Fourth former Hoosier that is on a summer league Roster is Romeo Langford with the Philadelphia 76ers, but he has not played and has been ruled out for the rest of the summer league with a right thumb injury. The 76ers are 2-1 and will play The San Antonio Spurs tonight at 8:30pm Bloomington Time. All 30 Teams will play a fifth game Saturday or Sunday and the Top 4 Teams will play in the Semifinals on Sunday with the Championship Game Scheduled for Monday Night. 

20 Indiana University Water Polo Athletes named to the 2024 ACWCP Women’s Academic All-American Team
For the second-straight year, 20 Indiana water polo student-athletes were named to the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Academic All-America, as announced by the organization. Additionally, the Hoosiers finished 20th in the country in overall team GPA. Selections were made in three different categories – Outstanding (4.0-3.71), Superior (3.70-3.41) and Excellent (3.40-3.20). The Hoosiers had seven in the outstanding category, nine in superior and four excellent honors. Last season, the Hoosiers placed 21 student-athletes on the list. In 2024, Indiana posted its most wins since 2018 by going 21-10 overall. IU also got off to its best start in program history, going 12-0 to open the season. Season highlights also included team wins over No. 8 Princeton and No. 13 Michigan.

Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches 2024 Women’s Academic All-American
Outstanding (4.0-3.71)-Audrey Cox, Claire Witting, Grace Hathaway, Grace Klingler, Gwyneth Le, Sophia Sollie and Zoe Crouch. Superior (3.70-3.41)-Jasmine Higgs, Kiki Mein, Louisa Downes, Megan Holcomb, Natalie McCarroll, Olivia Stark, Sarah Lolli, Savannah Batchelor and Sophie Wazzan.
Excellent (3.40-3.20)-Haley Hunter, Kallie White, Olivia Harris and Skylar Kidd.

Longtime NASCAR Cup Owner Rick Hendrick to drive the Pace Car for the Brickyard 400
Rick Hendrick won’t have to out this weekend’s Brickyard 400 qualifying to see who will lead the Cup cars to the green flag Sunday. Indianapolis Motor Speedway officials announced Wednesday that the longtime NASCAR owner will drive the pace car for the 30th Brickyard race — and the first on the historic 2.5-mile oval since 2020. Hendrick Motorsports holds every major team record, including championships, points-paying victories, laps led and, yes, pole wins. The team has won at least one race in each of the past 39 seasons and Hendrick’s driver, Jeff Gordon, won the first Brickyard.

Hendrick will be driving a Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. “Time goes by fast,” Hendrick said in a statement. “I can’t believe it’s been four decades since we started Hendrick Motorsports and 30 years since Jeff (Gordon) won the inaugural Brickyard 400. I’ll never forget the excitement around that event and the thrill of winning a race at Indianapolis.” The 75-year-old Hendrick started his career by working on race cars with his father, “Papa Joe,” and rebuilt his first car, a 1931 Chevrolet, at age 14. He traveled frequently to racetracks across the South, often volunteering as a crew member before building a career in retail automotive sales and ultimately following his passion for racing into ownership. Hendrick Motorsports has 600 employees, who work on his four-car Chevrolet stable that features drivers Alex Bowman, William Byron, Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson.

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