Indiana University Women’s Basketball blows late lead at Michigan Despite a season-high 28 points from senior forward Karoline Striplin, Indiana couldn’t hang on as it fell 70-67 to Michigan at Crisler Center on Wednesday night. Fueled by six points from junior guard Lexus Bargesser, the Hoosiers took an early 13-8 lead at the media timeout in the first quarter. Michigan went on a 7-0 run out of the break before Striplin tied the game back up at 15-all with just over a minute to go. The tie carried over into the second quarter as Indiana found some separation on a Moore-McNeil and-1 and a Parrish score at the rim to take its largest lead at five, 24-19.
Michigan came back after a called timeout on a 5-0 run of their own as the game was tied again with 4:20 remaining. Moore-McNeil got the Hoosiers on the board last in the frame as her attack at the rim put them ahead 29-27 at the break. Breaking a four-plus minute scoring drought, Moore-McNeil got the Hoosiers trending in the right direction as it finished the third off on a 11-0 run to take a 46-39 lead. The third was highlighted by 10 points from senior forward Karoline Striplin. In a high scoring fourth quarter, both teams combine to score 52 points as Indiana led by as many as seven early on. The lead was in IU’s favor for much of the fourth quarter, but the Wolverines would tie the game up with 1:48 remaining. Falling behind by three, Striplin pulled IU back within one on two occasions with under the minute mark. Bonus shots put UM back in the lead by three with 19 ticks left as Sydney Parrish finished underneath to come within one again with eight seconds to go but IU would get no closer. Striplin led the way with a season-high 28 points on 12-for-19 shooting. Parrish also added 14 points and five rebounds. Indiana won the battle on the glass, 37-26. Striplin had a game-high seven boards. Chloe Moore-McNeil and junior guard Yarden Garzon had a team-high four assists. Indiana returns home to host Purdue in the first of two meetings on Saturday at Noon on BTN.
Bloomington South to Compete in IHSAA Girls Swimming and Diving State Finals The 51st Annual IHSAA Girls Swimming and Diving State Finals will start this evening at 6 PM at the Indiana University Natatorium on the Campus of Indiana University Indianapolis. The Swimming Preliminaries will kick off tonight with the Top 16 in Each Event advancing to the Consolation Finals and State Finals with the top 8 times going for the state title in each event. The Diving Preliminaries and Semifinals will start the day of competition on Saturday at 9 AM with five rounds in which the top 20 of 32 will advancing to the Semifinals. The top 16 will advance to the finals after three more rounds of diving.
The consolation and championship finals in all events plus diving finals will kick off the finals session at 1 PM. Carmel is looking for their 40th State Championship in Girls Swimming and their National record 39 in a row as the Greyhounds won the 1982 State Championship before the record streak began. Only 6 other schools have won a state title in Girls Swimming since it Started back in 1975 and Columbus North was the last team not named Carmel to do it in 1986. Anderson went back to back in 1984-85 Columbus East in 1983, Ben Davis 1979-81 Munster 1976-78 and Lafayette Jeff in 1975.
Bloomington South won the Columbus North Sectional Last Saturday as the Panthers had 8 Sectional Champions with 6 Individual Champions and 2 Relays that advanced to the State Finals. Senior Anna Asplund will compete in the 100 Yard Freestyle and the 100 Yard Backstroke. Junior Harper Eakin will compete in the 200-yard Freestyle and 500 Yard Freestyle and Sophomore Emily Wang in the 100 Yard Backstroke. The Panthers will compete in the 200 Yard and Medley Relay and 400 Yard Freestyle Relay. Freshman Hadley Laughlin won both the Sectional and Regional Diving Title and Became the First Panther to win the Regional Title since Courtney McKeen in 2015.
13 Monroe County Boys Wrestlers to Compete at Saturday’s Semi State in Evansville 224 Wrestlers from 55 Schools in the Southern Half of Indiana will compete 14 Different Weight Classes at the Evansville Boys Wrestling Semi State Saturday at the Ford Center in Downtown Evansville starting at 10 AM Bloomington Time which is 9 AM Evansville Time. Evansville Reitz is the host school for the Semi State and teams that competed in the Bloomington South, Castle, Jeffersonville and Mooresville Regionals are competing in this event. Monroe County has 13 Wrestlers Competing with 10 representing Bloomington South, 2 representing Edgewood and one representing Bloomington North.
Bloomington South won the Regional Title for the first time since 2019 and had 4 individual champions and Edgewood’s John Orman took home a individual title to give Monroe County Five Individual Regional Champions. Edgewood finished 9th and Bloomington North 13th in the Team Standings. At 106 Pounds Bloomington South Sophomore Jaxsen Jean 32-10 faces Freshman Leo Oatman of Switzerland County 35-8. At 113 Pounds Bloomington South Freshman Nick Russell 21-8 takes on Evansville Memorial Junior Matteo Cirgnano 21-8.
At 120 Pounds Bloomington South Senior Cam Meier 38-3 faces Monrovia Junior David Bowman 25-7. At 126 Pounds Bloomington South Freshman Mark Hand 19-19 takes on Switzerland County Junior Ethan Rose 34-10. At 132 Pounds Bloomington South Junior Brian Conley 23-17 faces Jennings County Sophomore Luke Kirchner 23-10 and Edgewood Sophomore John Orman 27-6 faces Corydon Central Sophomore Luke Enlow 29-14.
At 138 Pounds Bloomington South Sophomore Amrin Pratt 35-6 faces Evansville Central Freshman Jasper Nurrenbern 22-10. At 150 Pounds Edgewood Senior Michael Neidigh 30-4 faces Switzerland County Senior Ethan Jones 36-8 and Bloomington South Junior Wyatt Cooksey 35-5 faces Franklin Sophomore Jonah Strain 22-18. At 157 Pounds Bloomington South Junior Hunter Fender 29-13 faces Columbus East Junior Aiden Miller 8-8. At 165 Pounds Bloomington South Senior Evan Roudebush 39-1 faces South Putnam Junior Tyler Sandusky 29-5 and Bloomington North Junior Miguel Tedrow 26-12 faces Avon Junior Griffin Larson 28-8.
At 175 Pounds Bloomington South Sophomore Denny Algood 28-15 takes on Evansville North Senior Matthew Pegram 33-2. Monroe County did not have a wrestler qualify in the 144-, 190-, 215- and 285-Pound Weight Classes. The Top Four in each weight class will advance to the State Finals Next Friday and Saturday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. There are 16 competing in each weight class and you must win your first two matches to be guaranteed a place in the top four and a State Finals Berth.
Former Indiana University Women’s Basketball Star Mackenize Holmes Signs with the Seattle Storm The Seattle Storm signed Mackenzie Holmes on Thursday, the Storm announced. Holmes was selected in the third round (No. 26 overall) in the 2024 WNBA draft. She missed the 2024 season due to a knee injury. Holmes is the all-time leading scorer in the IU women’s basketball program, with 2,530 points in her five-year career with the Hoosiers. She’s also holds the all-time wins record (123). She was an AP First Team All-American in 2022-23, the first ever in Indiana program history. She was also named All-Big Ten First Team twice and made and All-Big Ten team three times. Holmes is currently a graduate manager with the IU women’s basketball program as she recovers from her knee procedure. IU is 15-9 this season and 7-6 in the Big Ten. They host Purdue on Saturday at noon. The Seattle Storm was 25-15 in 2024 and lost to the Las Vegas Aces in the first round of the WNBA Playoffs.
Bloomington North to Join the Mid-State Conference after leaving Conference Indiana Bloomington’s high school athletic programs are turning back the clock to the late 1970s and early ’80s. That was the last time North and South were in different conferences, the Cougars in the Hoosier Hills from 1976-81 before joining South, which had maintained the South-Central Conference membership from the BHS days. On Thursday, the Mid-State Conference announced that Bloomington North would be leaving Conference Indiana to become its newest member in 2026-27, replacing Greenwood. It will bring the Mid-State back to an eight-team league with Martinsville, Mooresville, Decatur Central, Franklin, Perry Meridian, Plainfield and Whiteland. “For us, the Mid-State has always been a conference that we looked at,” said North athletic director Andy Hodson, who said the Cougars were first interested in moving in 2019, when Perry Meridian and Franklin Central left the CI. “It’s one we thought they had a great tradition with the schools involved. We think the proximity is a great fit for us and as a school as a whole, for academic endeavors, for clubs and for competing in athletics. “With I-69 being complete the travel is nicer and faster and easier to get to those places.”
North will be the sixth-biggest school in the Mid-State at 1,589, right behind Franklin (1,590). Perry Meridian (2,359) has the only 6A football program. Whiteland (2,574), Decatur Central (1,883), Plainfield (1,773) are also 5A (though DC is bumping up for two years due to success factor), while Mooresville (1,398) and Martinsville (1,315) are 4A. All of those schools have made major investments in athletics facilities over the past decade due to strong population growth. Every school has a turf football field. “They were supportive, and we appreciate that,” Hodson said. “We talked about the positives of being in the Mid-State. “With the CI, we had a hard time attracting more schools to get to 8 when Perry Meridian left. So just that security, too. And they’re close to us, similar in athletic and completion level and size, things like that. Plus, a great group of ADs and principals. We’re excited to join them.”
“We applied,” South AD and boys basketball coach JR Holmes said. “They only took one. The word was they might take three, but it didn’t work out.” It leaves the Panthers, Columbus North, Southport and Terre Haute North and South scrambling to figure out what comes next. “I guess we’ve got a year and a half to figure something out,” Holmes said. “I don’t know what that is. We’ll see if we can exist with five and add someone else. We’re always trying to find more members. “We’ll get together as group and see where we’re at. The other five teams are in the same boat. Everybody needs a conference for football. The other sports, you can generally get games for but football, it really helps being in a conference.”
The change may not eliminate the annual North-South meetings in all sports, but it will likely mean moving them to different dates. The Cougars will now have no open dates from Weeks 2-9 in football, for instance, so any city rivalry game would have to take place before then. The most likely scenario would be in the opener, as it was from 1973-80. It also was moved to Week 9 for several years before settling into Week 4 in 1985. “We definitely don’t want to lose those games with South,” Hodson said. “They’re our crosstown rival and a sectional opponent, plus, it’s good for the community and both schools.”
The Mid-State’s founding members in 1942 were Brownsburg, Danville, Decatur Central, Greenwood, Lawrence Central, Mooresville, Plainfield and Speedway. Over the years, schools such as Beech Grove, Center Grove and Avon came and went. Martinsville and Decatur Central left CI in 2005 for the Mid-State, while Lawrence Central and Pike left to join the Metropolitan Conference, then Franklin Central (Hoosier Crossroads) and Perry Meridian (Mid-State) took off in 2012. CI then took on former Metropolitan Conference members Terre Haute North and South in 2013 and has been a league of six since. The Western Indiana Conference, which includes Edgewood and Owen Valley, is also going through a massive change, with Indian Creek, North Putnam, Greencastle and Cascade leaving for other leagues. The WIC recently announced it was adding Vincennes Lincoln, which voted to leave the Evansville-based Southern Indiana Athletic Conference, in 2026-27.
Former Indiana Fever Guard Erica Wheeler joins the Seattle Storm After the past two seasons with the Indiana Fever, veteran WNBA guard Erica Wheeler has elected to sign with the Seattle Storm through offseason free agency, it was announced Wednesday. Per team policy, the terms and conditions of the deal were not disclosed at this time. Wheeler started her WNBA career in 2015 when she signed with the Atlanta Dream, where she appeared in 17 games, averaging 11.9 minutes, 4.5 points, and shot 45.7% from the field. In 2015, she also appeared in three games with the New York Liberty and eventually landed in Indiana from 2016-2019.
During her first stint with the Fever, she played in every regular season game, averaging 9.5 points and 4 assists, and shot 39.9% from the field. In 2017, she led the Fever in assists and was second in total scoring. In 2019, she became the first ever undrafted player to win All-Star MVP. During the 2021 season, Wheeler departed Indiana for the Los Angeles Sparks, where she played alongside now-current Storm teammate Nneka Ogwumike. With the Sparks, Wheeler averaged a career-high 13.6 points and 4.8 assists. Following her lone season in Los Angeles, Wheeler rejoined the Dream in 2022, averaging 8.4 points, 3.9 assists, and 3.1 rebounds per game before circling back to Indiana for the 2023 and 2024 seasons. In her second Fever tenure, she averaged 8.5 points, 3.4 assists, and 40.4% field-goal shooting while playing 20.4 minutes per game.
On June 7, 2024, Wheeler scored her 2,500th career point, becoming just the fourth undrafted player to reach the milestone. Additionally, she delivered her 1,000th career assist in the 2023 season, becoming the second undrafted player, along with Becky Hammon, to reach that career milestone. With the Fever significantly upgrading their backcourt with other veteran playmakers to accompany their rising young core of Caitlin Clark, Aliyah Boston, and Kelsey Mitchell, the prospects of Wheeler playing time with Indiana were dwindling with the impending logjam in the guard positions.