The OTH Quarter Century Team: South Side Archers girls basketball

Recently, we unveiled our plan to name area programs’ top five players of the 21st century, which sits at 25 seasons in both football and basketball.

Reminder, this is based on high school career performance ONLY. This is by no means a definitive list and, if anything, is encouraging debate on potential omissions to this list.

Through exhaustive research, reaching out to former coaches and players and our own personal opinion, here is the OTH Quarter Century Team for South Side Archers girls basketball.

Note: The list is in alphabetical order

Taniece Chapman

Chapman was a four-year standout for the Archers, where she earned All-Summit Athletic Conference honors all four seasons, including three First-Team nods. She eclipsed the 1,000-point milestone during her prep career and was a consistent force rebounding the ball. Her senior season was highlighted by helping South Side capture the 2018 sectional title while she averaged 14 points and 8.9 rebounds per game and had 11 double double performances. She went on to shine at Goshen College, where she scored over 1,000 career points again.

Brittini Clopton

A 2014 grad of South Side, Clopton earned recognition as the Most Outstanding Player in the Indiana Class 4A/3A Senior Girls All-Star Game, marking her as one of the region’s top performers. She was a two-time All-SAC performer and as a senior.,averaged 18 points and 10 rebounds. The prior season, as a a junior, Clopton averaged 10 points and 10 rebounds on the Class 4A State Runner-up team. She went on to play at Walsh University.

Sha’la Jackson

She starred from 2004 to 2008 for the Archers. During her tenure, she became the school’s all-time leading scorer, earned four all-conference selections, and received top individual honors including the 21 Alive and News-Sentinel Player of the Year honors, while averaging 24.8 points and 5.2 steals per game across 25 games. She helped guide the Archers to Summit Athletic Conference and sectional titles, plus a regional finals appearance in 2007. Continuing her career at Illinois State University, she became the 26th player in school history to score 1,000 career points.

Arianna Simmons

The 2013 grad played a variety of roles and positions during a standout senior year when the Archers went 24-4 overall, went a perfect 10-0 in conference play, and earned a 6th-rank state finish. She was honored as IHSC Coaches Association Player of the Week after dominating the Kokomo Regional with 20.5 points per game and a monstrous 17 rebounds in the title game. As a senior, Simmons averaged 14.1 points and 6.1 rebounds while shooting 51.6 percent from the field. She went on to play at IPFW.

Olivia Smith

Smith was both an offensively and defensively impactful guard for the Archers. She averaged 19.9 points per game while shooting over 41 percent from the field, five rebounds and 4.9 assists per game to go with 2.8 steals while becoming an Indiana All-Star. As a junior at South Side, Smith averaged an area second-best 20.1 points per game along with 4.4 assists. After graduation, she continued her playing career at Eastern Michigan University.

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