Purdue’s McLaughlin Named Indiana Miss Basketball
She is the ninth Boilermaker to earn the prestigious honor
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Future Purdue women’s basketball freshman Karissa McLaughlin joined an elite club Thursday, receiving the title of 2017 Indiana Miss Basketball, presented by the Indiana Fever at the Indiana Sports Awards Banquet in Indianapolis. The 2017 signee is the ninth Boilermaker to be bestowed the honor, and the first since Courtney Moses in 2010.
McLaughlin led Fort Wayne’s Homestead High School to the 2017 Class 4A State Championship, posting 29 points and six assists in a 61-54 victory over Pike High School. She led the Spartans to a 103-10 mark in her four-year career, including an unblemished 42-0 mark at home, and set a school-record with 2,586 career points. She set a single-season mark at Homestead with 778 points in her senior year, good for 25.9 per game, and set single-game marks with 12 3’s and 40 points against Fort Wayne North Side High School on Jan. 20.
Already named the 2017 Gatorade Indiana Player of the Year and First Team American Family Insurance All-USA Indiana, McLaughlin now joins a list of some of the top players in Purdue women’s basketball history. Purdue head coach Sharon Versyp was the first Boilermaker to be named Indiana Miss Basketball in 1984, and started a list that features 1999 NCAA Champions Stephanie White (1995) and Kelly Komara (1998). The rest of the list is compiled of Jennifer Jacoby (1991), Katie Gearlds (2003), Jodi Howell (2005), Brittany Rayburn (2008) and Moses (2010).
McLaughlin will next play with the Indiana Senior All-Star game, playing a pair of exhibition games against the Indiana Junior All-Stars on Jun 6 and 8 at New Albany High School (New Albany, Indiana) and Plainfield High School (Plainfield, Indiana), respectively. She’ll follow up with games against the Kentucky Senior All-Stars at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on Jun 10, and at Central Hardin High School in Elizabethtown, Kentucky on Jun 11.