Girls basketball preview: Center Grove Trojans

Ordinarily, a deep postseason run by the Center Grove girls soccer team would have meant Ella Thompson missing the start of girls basketball practice.

Not this year, though.

Thompson, previously an All-County goalkeeper, passed up her senior season on the pitch — and the Trojans’ march to the Class 3A semistate — to focus all of her energy on basketball.

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She has no regrets about any of it.

“Personally, for me it really wasn’t that hard of a decision,” Thompson said. “I definitely enjoyed playing soccer the past three years, but at the same time, I was dealing with some injuries, and I just wanted to be here as a vocal leader with it being my senior year. I just wanted to be here and made sure we got off to a good start.”

After a strong junior season on the hardwood — the guard led the Trojans in rebounding and averaged 8.4 points in helping the team advance to the Class 4A regional final — Thompson dedicated herself to basketball, and that dedication paid off. She received scholarship offers from the likes of Indiana State, Milwaukee and New Hampshire before choosing Bentley University, a perennial Division II power located just outside of Boston.

The Falcons are coming off of a 28-4 season. Longtime coach Barbara Stevens is one of just seven women’s or men’s college basketball coaches with 1,000 career wins.

“It was just a perfect fit, from an academic standpoint and from an athletic standpoint,” Thompson said. “The system, the coaches, and they’re a really successful program too; they win. So I just wanted that opportunity to go somewhere and make an impact and be successful.”

With the pressure of making a college choice out of the way, Thompson can now concentrate on making sure Center Grove has another successful season. Top scorer and Indiana All-Star Cassidy Hardin has moved on to Purdue, but the Trojans still have a solid foundation in place around Thompson and fellow New England-bound guard Emma Utterback, who is committed to the University of Vermont.

Thompson knows that she’ll often have to shoulder more of the offensive burden without Hardin around as the primary option, but she’s ready for that responsibility.

“The thing about Ella that people overlooked last year is her mentality to do what’s best for the team,” Center Grove coach Kevin Stuckmeyer said. “She just hates to lose and she wants to find a way to win — so if that meant a role that was more of a second, third option, then she was okay with it. She did so many other things that people didn’t notice. Now, we’ll have to switch gears on that.”

Thompson notes that her overall mindset heading into this season isn’t that different, but she concedes that “there’s times where I definitely do need to be more aggressive and more assertive.”

By making an effort to get to the rim more frequently, Thompson should be able to take advantage of her solid free throw shooting — she hit 78 percent of her shots from the line as a junior — and the threat of the drive may free her up for more open 3-point looks as well.

“What Ella brings is the dynamic to be able to really shoot it, but also get to the basket,” Stuckmeyer said. “That’s just a dynamic that Ella’s really good at that we want to use to our advantage.”

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Coach: Kevin Stuckmeyer

Last season: 21-7, lost to Bedford North Lawrence in regional final

Top returnees: Kylie Storm, Ella Thompson and Emma Utterback, seniors; Ashley Eck, Alainna Frankel, Claire Rake and Emily Rake, juniors; Mary Wilson, sophomore

Key newcomer: Katie Egenolf, freshman

What to expect: With Thompson and Utterback leading the way, the Trojans have one of the best backcourts in the state. How far the team goes will depend in large part upon how well the rest of the team can fill in around them. Thompson will likely be tasked with carrying more of the scoring load with Cassidy Hardin now at Purdue, and players like Storm and Wilson that had smaller bench roles a year ago will be asked to do more. Expectations are high as always, and while a daunting schedule will leave some marks, it should have Center Grove ready to make another push deep into the postseason.

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Which gym is your favorite — or least favorite — to play in, and why?

"Favorite gym to play in is mine, I’d say. I love the atmosphere. I like our band. It makes me all pumped up and I love having all of our fans in the gym. My least favorite gym to play in is North Central. I’ve never liked playing at North Central. I don’t know why; I never play good there, and I feel like our team has always had bad luck there."

Which team not on your schedule would you most want to play?

"I’d like to play Zionsville. There’s a lot of good girls on their team; I’m going to Vermont with one of them, and Maddie Nolan’s a standout player in our class."

Which player that we might not know about is likely to have a breakout season?

"We’ve got a good freshman coming in, Katie Egenolf. She’s tall and lengthy, and that’s kind of what we’ve been looking for. Our team lacks size, and if she plays her role right she’ll really help us this season."

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