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(New Castle) – Women’s basketball in Indiana has always seen the top players in the nation, historically. The 2023 Induction class of the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame is no different. The board of directors of the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame proudly announces their 2023 women’s induction class, to be honored at the 21st Women’s Awards Banquet on Saturday, April 29, 2023.
Kasia (McClendon) Campbell was a 1993 graduate of Gary West Side, averaging 17.4 points, 5.5 assists, and 8.5 steals a game her senior season, while helping her team to a 24-1 record. Her Gary West Side teams won 3 sectionals, 2 regionals, and 3 conference titles while she earned team MVP her sophomore, junior and senior seasons. Campbell was an Indiana All-Star, Indiana East/West All Star, and Gary Post-Tribune Player of the Year. She continued her playing career at Southern Illinois where she set the league and school record for steals. She was a 3 time MVC Defensive Player of the Year, and 2 time 1st Team All MVC. She played for one year after graduation in Tel Aviv Israel. She was a 2005 inductee into the Southern Illinois HOF, and a 2018 member of the IBHOF Silver Anniversary Team. She has been a case manager for 20 years, and a real estate broker for 4.
Bruce Dockery earned 502 wins as a long time coach at Evansville Reitz Memorial High School. While at Reitz Memorial, Dockery was SIAC Coach of the Year 8 times, District Coach of the Year 5 times, won 8 conference, 14 sectional, 6 regional, 2 semi state, and 1 state runner up honor. In 2011 his team went 28-1 and won the 3A State Championship over Benton Central 58-50 in overtime. He was a 1969 graduate of Evansville Bosse, while also attending Charleston Southern and University of Southern Indiana. Dockery was inducted into the Reitz Memorial Hall of Fame in 2020 and in 2021, he was honored with the Hoosier Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Excellence Award.
Katie Douglas was a 1997 Indiana All-Star, having played at Perry Meridian High School. In her senior season, Douglas averaged 19.3 points while amassing 177 rebounds and 118 steals. She was named team MVP, 1st Team All State, All County, and All Conference, while her team collected the sectional and regional title her senior season. After graduating from high school, Douglas went on to help lead Purdue to the 1999 NCAA National Championship. Douglas was honored to play for the USA Basketball Team. She was Big Ten Player of the Year both her junior and senior seasons, along with earning Kodak All American, and Purdue Female Athlete of the Year honors both years. She was a 2nd Team Academic All-American her junior year, and a 1st Team Academic All-American her senior season. Douglas was the 10th pick in the WNBA draft, played in the WNBA for 14 seasons earning multiple All Star game honors and 2009 All-WNBA honors, while also playing summer basketball in Europe during the WNBA off season. Her number 23 was retired by the Connecticut Sun. Currently, Douglas is the owner of Orangetheory fitness franchise in Greenwood.
Jennifer (Marlow) Drudge was not only a standout basketball player at Rushville, but also a 1994 State Tennis Doubles Runner-up. Graduating from Rushville in 1995, Drudge scored a career 1,306 points, averaging over 20 points per game her senior season. She was selected as 1st team All sectional, Regional and All-State her senior season, while also being named an Indiana All-Star. Drudge played collegiately at Butler where right away, she was honored on the All-Newcomer Team her freshman season. Her junior and senior seasons she was named 1st Team All Conference and All-Defensive Team as a senior. Drudge was the Head Coach at Carmel from 2001-2004 and an assistant with the Greyhounds in 00-01 and again from 2009-13. She was inducted into the Butler Hall of Fame in 2013, while being named to their All-Centennial team. She has taught Chemistry at Carmel High School since 2000, while being their department chair since 2010.
Ruth (Riley) Hunter was USA Today Honorable Mention and a 1st Team All-State member in 1997, while leading North Miami to a 20-1 record her senior season. She holds the school record for rebounds per game, season, and career; blocks in a season and career, along with points per game in a season and career. She followed her high school playing days by going to Notre Dame where she graduated with a B.A. in psychology and Exec MBA (both Summa Cum Laude). Ruth was a 3 time Big East Defensive Player of the Year, and a 2 time Academic All-American. Her senior year, Notre Dame won the NCAA Championship, where she averaged 18.7 points a game that year, and was National Player of the Year, Final Four MVP, Naismith Player of the Year, NCAA Verizon Academic All-American of the Year, and Sports Illustrated Player of the Year. She was the 5th overall pick in the WNBA Draft and MVP of the 2003 finals. She is the first player to be MVP of the NCAA and WNBA Finals. After two WNBA Championship seasons in 2003 and 2006 with the Detroit Shock, Ruth continues to wear many hats including being the 1st Vice President of WNBPA, United Nations Foundation Spokesperson, Share Our Strength Spokesperson, and on the Notre Dame Monogram Club Board of Directors. Since 2002, she was a radio and tv analyst for Notre Dame Women’s Basketball, since 2018 is a color analyst for Miami Heat tv/radio, and 2019 to present is an analyst for the ACC Network. She was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019, and in 2006 was named to ESPN.com’s 25 greatest Women’s college basketball players of the last 25 years.
Sheila (McMillen) Keller led the Rochester Zebras with 28.2 points her senior season, which ranked #2 in Indiana that year. Her senior season stats earned her All Conference, South Bend Area Player of the Year, Parade All-American, a Nike All-American, North/South All-Star, and a member of the Indiana All-Star team. She holds the all-time scoring record, for boys and girls, at Rochester with 1,696 career points. She was a member of the Hall of Fame’s 2020 Silver Anniversary Team. Following her time at Rochester, she went to Notre Dame, where her senior year was highlighted by being named team captain, MVP, Francis Patrick O’Connor Award (best displays total embodiment and inspiration to their team), and being named to the Big East All Tourney and Academic All-Star Team. She was also a participant in the ESPN College 3-point Championship. Sheila is currently a Varsity Assistant at Carmel High School, after numerous other coaching positions since graduation. She is also a black belt in taekwondo.
Diane (Hoereth) Metz, was 1986 Indianapolis Star’s “City Athlete of the Year” as a senior on the Roncalli basketball team that went 22-5 where she averaged 17 points and 12.5 rebounds a game and were Sectional, Regional, and Semi-State Champions. She was 1st team All-State, All-Metro, along with being named Marion County Coaches of GSA Outstanding Senior Athlete. She was a member of the 2011 Silver Anniversary team, along with being the Roncalli Athlete of the Year in 1896. Diane was also a standout volleyball player where she was a 3 time All City and All-State award winner. After graduating from Roncalli, she went on to play collegiate volleyball at Texas, IUPUI and Indiana where she holds the career record for most matches with 20 or more kills (17). Since 1991, Diane has worked for Aldi, Inc. where she is currently the Director of Administration in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee.
Charmonique Stallworth was on the 1992 historic South Bend Washington squad that was the first in school history to win a Sectional, where she averaged 26.3 points and 10.5 rebounds that season. She was an Indiana All-Star along with being named to the 2017 Silver Anniversary Team. Charmonique graduated from South Bend Washington in 1992, and continued her academic and athletic endeavor at Northern Illinois University where she averaged 23.1 points per game her senior season, which is 2nd highest in school history. She holds the school record of scoring 19 baskets in one game and sits 10th on the career scoring list at Northern Illinois with 1,415 points. Charmonique was a 2001 inductee into the South Bend Washington Hall of Fame, and a 2015 inductee into the Northern Illinois Athletics Hall of Fame. Since 2010, she has worked in MSD Warren Township as a Special Education Teacher and Department Chair at Creston Middle School.
Lisa (Shepherd) Stidham was the 1997 Miss Basketball, an Indiana All-Star, Gatorade Player of the Year, Nike WBCA All-American, and Parade All-American 1st team, in her senior season at Richmond High School. As a senior, Lisa averaged 29.9 points per game while accumulating 132 rebounds, 80 assists, and 87 steals during that campaign. She holds the career scoring record for boys or girls at Richmond High School with 2,140 career points. Following her playing days at Richmond she went to Penn State University where she was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman team. She was named 3 time Academic All-Big Ten and 2 time All-Big Ten honoree. Following playing at Penn State, she was an assistant coach at North Central from 2011-2020 where they were the 2012 State Champions. Lisa has been an activities director in different nursing homes and has been the owner of Dream Makers Basketball since 2008, and co-owner of S & S Elite Sports since 2016. Stidham is currently on the Hamilton Southeastern coaching staff.
The Indiana Fever Silver Medal Award, including induction for contributions other than as an Indiana high school basketball player or Indiana high school basketball coach, is presented to Denise McClahanan. With over 30 years of experience as a high school coach, AAU director and coach and noted for creation and leadership of Lady Mac summer leagues, McClahanan was Director of Lady Mac high school summer league for 32 years and director for 31 years of Jr. Lady Mac middle school league. Over the years, these leagues have provided opportunities for countless central Indiana girls players, recently involving 700 players per summer (36 high school teams and 38 middle school teams). As director, she schedules teams and officials for approximately 400 games per summer. As a high school coach, a career record of 347-292 including six sectional titles, one regional title, three Marion County championships and was twice Marion County Coach of the Year and 2002 Indiana All-Star assistant coach. AAU involvement includes creation of Lady Mac AAU Club and Indiana Faith AAU, as well as coaching roles with Indiana’s Finest and Indiana Elite programs, coaching teams to numerous national appearances including 2002 17U AAU National Champions. She also created and ran the High Intensity Basketball Camps. A member of two Marion County championship teams as a player, at Perry Meridian H.S., she also played at Central Michigan, Butler and IUPUI.
The Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame’s 21st Annual Women’s Awards Banquet will be held on Saturday, April 29, 2023. The day’s events will include a free reception at the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame Museum that afternoon and a banquet that evening at the Primo Banquet Hall in Indianapolis. Reservations will be available online, over the phone, or through mail order in early 2023. Call the Hall at 765-529-1891, visit www.hoopshall.com or email kayla@hoopshall.com for more information.
For more information visit: www.hoopshall.com
For more sports coverage from MLB, NBA, NFL, to NCAA contact Julian Ojeda at 786-501-9082 or via email julian@communitynewspapers.com
