By Sam King
jconline.com
INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana All-Stars displayed their depth and star power during a 105-75 victory over Kentucky’s girls June 13 at Conseco Fieldhouse.
The depth came from 13 players making the scoring column. The star power came from Skylar Diggins, the national high school player of the year.
Diggins scored 17 points to Kentucky’s 14 in the second half’s first 7:33 to help Indiana open a gap and eventually run away.
“The first four minutes of the second half was probably the most important minutes of the game,” Diggins said. “We all knew we had to step it up. The defense stepped it up and got some steals in transition. I just took my role and my teammates did a great job of setting me up.”
The Notre Dame-bound Diggins earned game MVP honors with 25 points and five rebounds in 22 minutes.
Indiana led 35-34 with 4:24 remaining in the first half. A three-point play by Diggins with three seconds left provided a 10-point halftime cushion.
From there, the 2009 Miss Basketball took over with 14 points in the first five minutes of the second half, then sank a 3-pointer just moments later to make the score 77-54.
“Whenever you’ve got somebody on your team and you see they are hitting, you obviously want to get the ball to them and set them up,” said Heritage Christian graduate Kelly Faris, who will play at Connecticut.
Benton Central graduate Skyler Gick made both of her field goal attempts, a fast-break layup and a fadeaway jumper. Gick finished with four points, one assist, and one rebound in 14 minutes.
Indiana has now won 26 of the 35 meetings since 1993, which includes a Kentucky sweep last season, and leads the series 37-30.
Still, the Hoosier state representatives believe there’s room for improvement before Sunday’s game at Bellarmine University in Louisville, Ky.
Indiana trailed 13-4 five minutes into the game.
“After about the first five minutes, offensively, I thought we played very well,” said Indiana coach Stan Benge, who mentored Ben Davis to an undefeated state title this season against Diggins’ South Bend Washington team. “We still need to work on our defense a little bit. We fouled too much, but if we get that down it is going to be fun to watch (Sunday).”
Lecretia Smith, who helped Fort Wayne Elmhurst defeat Benton Central in this year’s Class 3A semistate, scored on a spin move in the lane with just under five minutes remaining. Smith’s basket put all 13 Indiana All-Stars in the scoring column.
“You always want to get everyone to score, and everyone (on the team) can score,” Gick said. “Everyone plays their roles well on this team. Not everyone is going to be a scorer on this team.”
Penn State recruit Alex Bentley had 14 points and her Ben Davis classmate DeAirra Goss contributed 13. Faris chipped in 11. Hamilton Southeastern’s Courtney Osborn led Indiana with six rebounds.
Tennessee Tech recruit Tiara Hopper had 19 points, while Kentucky Miss Basketball and future Kentucky guard Adia Mathies scored 15 points and pulled down eight rebounds.
Gick knows any less of an effort than what Indiana showed on Saturday will not be good enough Sunday.
“They are going to want us pretty bad because we kind of beat up on them,” Gick said. “We have to step it up defensively, and our defensive intensity will carry over to offense.”
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