Before we get to the Outside the Huddle All-Area Team and our end-of-year awards, Bounce wanted to take some time and take a last glance at area conferences and hand out some league-specific metaphorical hardware.
We continue today with the SAC.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Myah Epps, Homestead
How do you picks just one player from Homestead’s lineup here? It wasn’t easy, but at the end of the day, the diversity of Epps’ work just spoke for itself. Myah Epps is a winner, she has been since her freshman season and this year as an upperclassman she helped put Homestead on her back to sweep the SAC and win yet another Sectional title.
Sure, she had help; Homestead is loaded. But that will never make Epps’ body of work less impressive. She averaged 15 points and 4.4 assists per game, a balance that is always impressive. To be one of your team’s best scorers and also be your team’s best passer with the court vision she displays is rare. Epps also averaged 4.6 rebounds and two steals per game, also surpassing 1,000 career points.
HONORABLE MENTION: Gabby Helsom (Homestead), Jersey Paul (Carroll), Swynn Jackson (Northrop)
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER: Jersey Paul, Carroll
If you know Bounce’s awards and OTH history, you know MVP means something different than Player of the Year. MVP to us is someone who is legit the most valuable to their team and overall success of that program.
Carroll was right back in the title picture this season, finishing tied with Northrop for second in the conference race as well as battling Snider in a tight one during Sectional week. At the forefront of that was Paul, who has been a steady presence her entire career. During her senior season however, Paul became a menace for opposing defenses.
The All-SAC guard averaged 16.8 points and 2.1 steals per game while also going over 1,000 points for her high school career. Paul also finished as Carroll’s all-time leader in three pointers made on her way to becoming just the 5th Charger girl to surpass 1,000 career points. As a fun side note, Paul joins brother Jalen and Jackson in surpassing 1,000 points in her career; a real family of bucket getters.
HONORABLE MENTION: Whitney Ankenbruck (Homestead), Khala Williams-Thomas (Northrop), Janaya Cooper (Snider), Alivia Bolinger (Concordia), Aubrey Bleeke (North Side), Reese Rhodehamel (Bishop Luers)
BREAKOUT/MOST IMPROVED PLAYER: Janaya Cooper, Snider
Having the hype heading into high school that Snider freshman Janaya Cooper had isn’t easy. Living up to that hype? Substantially more difficult. Yet, Cooper did that in an impressive way during her first season on a high school basketball court. The Panthers stayed competitive in the SAC and in the postseason, they flourished with their fourth straight Sectional title despite losing a massive core of D1 players after the previous season.
Cooper was the major catalyst, giving Snider another instant star on the court to match up with a team of really good players who knew how to contribute in different roles. Cooper averaged 14.7 points and 7.1 rebounds to go with 2.4 steals and 1.4 blocks per game.
HONORABLE MENTION: Cala Haffner (Carroll), Cella Kaiser (Concordia), Davianna Irons (Wayne), Delaney Noll (Homestead)
COACH OF THE YEAR: Rod Parker, Homestead
It was a year of dominance from the Parker led Homestead squad. They returned to the top of the pecking order in the SAC, going a perfect 9-0 in conference. Parker won over 20 games – finishing 24-3 – for the second straight season, but for the 6th time in the past 7 years and the 12th time in his career (all coming in the past 15 seasons).
Homestead also went on to win their seventh straight Sectional title and have now lost three or less games 10 different times since Parker took over the program in 2001-2002.
HONORABLE MENTION: Katie Jackson, Northrop
GAME OF THE YEAR: Wayne vs. Concordia
Often, the SAC felt like the year of haves and have nots; games were lopsided far more than they were even. The tiers of the SAC made it so we had some domination, but very rarely surprises and also rarely close contests that you would look at as a game of the year contender.
So lets talk about Wayne and Concordia, right there in the middle of the pack on the final standings this season. Wayne was 6-2, winners of their previous five, when the teams met on December 6, while Concordia was 4-4 with some really good wins under their belt as well as lopsided losses to 4 of the best teams in Northeast Indiana.
They game was a real war of two teams who wanted the best momentum they could get to close out 2024, with Wayne coming away 52-49 winners for their sixth win in a row in what would be a seven game unbeaten streak for the Generals. Senior Kamoni Grayson scored 21 points to lead all scorers, including three triples and four steals. Concordia was more balanced with Alivia Bolinger scoring 13, followed by 12 points each from Nysia Walker and Lauren Goodman. Concordia actually shot better and the rebounding battle was physical all night, but the Cadets’ 27 turnovers ended up being their biggest cryptonite.
EARLY 2025-26 CONFERENCE CHAMP PICK: Homestead
When deciding who to type out as the player of the year, in my opinion, in this conference this season you can see above who I had to choose from. But at the end of that internal debate were just two names: Myah Epps and Gabby Helsom. Good news for Homestead: they don’t have to choose; both of these players are back for their senior seasons as two of the best overall juniors IN THE STATE.
If that isn’t a great place to start for Homestead, then I don’t know what is. They didn’t lose in the SAC this season and with how much they bring back, you can’t really expect them to drop a game next season in the conference without it being considered a sizable upset.
Behind Helsom and Epps, Homestead brings back Whitney Ankenbruck and Carly Moellering for their seniors seasons. This quartet averaged a combined 52.3 points per game this past season as juniors. Also returning will be breakout freshmen Delaney Noll and Suzy Perego.
The cupboard is far from empty out southwest.
These opinions represent those of Bounce and Outside the Huddle. No opinions expressed on Outside the Huddle represent those of any of our advertisers. Follow Bounce on Twitter at Bounce_OTH
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