As the landscape of area conferences continues to change, we are seeing our first real wave of scheduling changes in area high school girls basketball.
Homestead’s full schedule has been released for the 2026-2027 season and absent from the schedule are SAC opponents Wayne, North Side, South Side and Concordia Lutheran.
That means that the Spartan girls, who have dominated the SAC in girls hoops since entering the league in 2015, are likely not eligible for the league title this season if the same formula is followed as football by the conference. Attempts to get comment from SAC and school officials by Outside the Huddle have yet to be returned.
This comes after an offseason in which multiple football teams pulled out of SAC conference games, throwing the race to crown a conference champion into upheaval.
Homestead, under Coach Rod Parker, has won eight SAC titles in the 11 seasons it has been part of the SAC. The Spartans won the title the first five seasons (2016-2020) they were in the league, going on an unrivaled undefeated streak against conference opponents. Homestead won the title again in 2022 and then, after a two-year absence from the top spot, is on a two-year run of championships.
During its time in the SAC, Homestead has posted a 94-5 record in the regular season against league foes.
The Spartans opened with Wayne last season, but will now open at the Lawrence North Tournament. Concordia was played on Nov. 21 last season, that spot now appears to be filled with a game at the Brownsburg Shootout. Whitko on Jan. 8 looks to have taken the spot where South Side sat on Jan. 9 of last season.
There are no games between Warsaw and Northrop on Homestead’s 2026-27 schedule, where North Side used to sit.
Last season, Homestead went 6-0 against the four SAC teams that have been dropped from the schedule, which included victories over both South Side and North Side in sectional play. In the four regular season games, Homestead outscored those four opponents 323-87 – an average win margin of 59 points – including the Spartans’ top two offensive scoring games of the season.
Crown Point (December 12), Whitko (January 8) and Oak Hill (January 13) all mark opponents which were not on last season’s Homestead schedule.
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