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The Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame Board of Directors announces the 2019 Women’s Induction Class to be honored on Saturday, April 27, 2019.

Indiana Fever Silver Medal Award

Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame announces 18^thWomen’s induction class

(New Castle) – Loaded with basketball talent and tradition, the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame proudly announces their 2019 women’s induction class, to be honored at the 18^th annual Women’s Awards Banquet on Saturday, April 27, 2019.

Meridith (Sanders) Barone was named a 1988 Indiana All-Star after totaling more than 1,000 career points and nearly 700 rebounds as West Lafayette H.S.  She averaged 17.2 points and 11.2 rebounds while shooting 52% FG and 72% FT her senior year.  She led her West Lafayette teams to a 39-5 record over her junior and senior seasons with two sectional championships, earning all-state, all-sectional, all-regional and all-conference honors.  Starting games for four years at New Mexico State University, she graduated among program leaders in games played and career blocks, twice earned academic all-conference honors and was a team captain her senior season.  She follows her father, Dave Sanders, a 2017 Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame inductee, into the Hall and they become the 2^nd father-daughter duo to gain enshrinement.

Sheryl Bonsett was a 1985 Indiana All-Star after totaling 1,011 points and 361 assists at Scottsburg under Hall of Fame coach Donna Cheatham.  A four-year letterwinner on Warriorettes teams that were 71-12, she was a two-time team MVP, led the team in assists for three seasons and in steals two seasons.  She averaged 17.3 points and 5.2 rebounds her senior season and was a member of the Warriorettes’ 1983 regional championship team.  In four years at Eastern Illinois University, she started 96 of 116 career games played, graduating 8^th in program history with 1,012 points, 2^nd in career assists with 435 and 5^th in program history with 166 steals.

Kevin Brown brought girls basketball success to his alma mater as the head coach of North Judson San Pierre High School.  As the girls varsity coach at North Judson from 1982-2003, he led teams to a 348-105 (.768) record.  In 21 seasons, his teams never had a losing record and claimed 12 conference, 11 sectional and five regional titles, twice reaching the 2A Final Four.  A recipient of numerous state and district Coach of the Year awards from the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association and Indiana Coaches of Girls Sports Association and a 12-time Conference Coach of the Year, he was assistant coach of the 2000 Indiana All-Star team and a 1998 Indiana Junior All-Stars coach.  Brown played at North Judson under 2019 Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Jerry Hoover and played for 2013 HOF inductee Carl Meditch on the Ball State University freshman squad.

Lisa (Furlin) Burnison was a 1992 Indiana All-Star who totaled 1,059 career points and 511 career rebounds for Hall of Fame coach Greg Kirby on teams that were 98-8, winning four sectionals, four regionals and playing in the 1991 and 1992 state finals.  She averaged 18.2 points and 8.2 rebounds as a senior to be named AP all-state, all-state finals and the Gary Post Tribune 1992 Player of the Year.  She set school records in season scoring (509), FT% (.840) and consecutive made FGs (15).  At Indiana University she graduated as the program’s 6^th all-time leading scorer with 1,451 points and a member of two NCAA Tournament teams.  She was twice named Big Ten all-conference honorable mention, three times Big Ten Academic all-conference and participated in Big Ten All-Star Foreign Tour in Japan in 1995 and with PricewaterhouseCoopers’ 2015 International team in Croatia. 

Abby Conklin cemented her spot in Indiana girls basketball history as Indiana’s 1993 Miss Basketball, an Indiana All-Star, the IHSAA Mental Attitude Award winner, a Kodak All-American and Gatorade Indiana Player of the Year honors after averaging 36.6 points per game as a senior and scoring an IHSAA girls basketball-record 2,616 career points.  Conklin also amassed 1,093 career rebounds and 361 blocks and led Charlestown to a 1993 state finals appearance, along with four sectional and three regional titles, earning all-state honors as a junior and senior.  Her decorated career at the University of Tennessee included 1,226 career points in 143 games as a starter for teams that were 95-17 in her final three seasons as 1995 NCAA National Runner-Up and 1996 and 1997 NCAA National Champions.  She was twice a recipient of the team Most Improved Player award and the Lady Vol Leadership award as a senior, she was three-time academic all-SEC and is 9th in career FT% (79.5%), 10th in career blocks (192) and 10th in blocks per game.  The 23^rd pick of the 1997 ABL Draft, she played for the Atlanta Glory before 10 years as a college basketball coach at UNC-Asheville, University of Wyoming and University of San Francisco.

Beth (Morgan) Cunningham was a 1993 Indiana All-Star and earned All-American honors after setting the Monroe County career scoring record of 1,645 points.  Averaging 27.8 ppg as a junior and 33.2 ppg as a senior, she was named AP and ICGSA 1^st team all-state and Street & Smith’s, Parade and Nike All-American her senior season.   Along with 839 career rebounds and 192 assists at Bloomington South, she scored a combined 42 points in the 1993 Indiana-Kentucky All-Star games.  She began a record-setting career at the University of Notre Dame as the only freshman to be named team MVP, broke the program’s career scoring record during her junior year and became the first Notre Dame women’s player to score 2,000 points when she graduated with 2,322 points and 28 program records.  A four-time 1^st team all-conference pick and two-time team captain, she was a 1996 and 1997 Kodak and AP All-American, 1996 UPI All-American and led the Irish to their 1^st Women’s Final Four appearance her senior season.  Drafted by the Philadelphia Rave in 1997 ABL Draft, she later played with the WNBA Washington Mystics.  The winningest head coach in Virginia Commonwealth University women’s basketball history, leading them to 165-105 record from 2003-2011, since 2012 she has been associate coach of Notre Dame women’s basketball under Hall of Fame coach Muffet McGraw, with a 209-15 record including a 2018 NCAA National Championship and four Final Four appearances in the past six seasons with her alma mater.

Rod Fisher earns induction as the 2^nd winningest head coach in Indiana high school girls basketball history.  Leading teams at Gary Wirt and Gary West to a 674-210 record (.762) in 41 seasons, Fisher’s teams won 19 sectionals, three regionals and were 2005 4A runners-up.  In his 35-year tenure at Gary West, he earned numerous Indiana Coach of the Year honors from the Times of Northwest Indiana and his teams won sectionals with such regularity that only one four-year player in his program ever graduated without a sectional championship.  Fisher was a 1968 graduate of Marion High School, where he played under Hall of Fame coach Jack Colescott and was a four-year letterwinner in baseball.  He earned a degree at Indiana State University and spent over 40 years as a physical education teacher in the Gary Community School Corporation.

Pat Grimm was a standout player in the pre-IHSAA basketball era, with notable success at Center Grove High School and Purdue University.  In the G.A.A. era she was a four-year starter at Center Grove under Hall of Fame inductee Carol Tumey.  As a freshman she scored over 50 points in one game, playing only two quarters of the contest.  As a senior, she averaged 20 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists for the Trojans’ undefeated team.  At Purdue before the institution of Title IX, she played for four years, including their 1969 entry into the first women’s intercollegiate national tournament, earning a 6^th place finish.  With the introduction of women’s five-on-five play in 1970, she excelled as a double-figure scorer and standout passer and defender at the point guard position.  After earning a degree in education and working as a physical education and health teacher, she embarked on a 22 year career with Finish Line, rising to national sales manager.

Leslie Johnson was a 1993 Indiana All-Star and high school All-American after graduating as the 7^th leading scorer in IHSAA girls basketball history with 2,045 career points and 1,282 rebounds.  Johnson led Fort Wayne Northrop in scoring for four seasons, including 28.4 ppg as a senior for the 25-1 Bruins.  She also averaged 14.1 rebounds with 75.1% FG as a senior en route to 18 school records, including 739 season points and a 71% career FG%.  She earned four-time SAC all-conference honors, leading teams to three SAC championships, three sectional championships, three regional titles and three semi-state finals appearances.  She set the Indiana All-Star record with a 29 point single-game performance in a 113-51 win over Kentucky.  She was named the consensus NCAA National Freshman of the Year, 3^rd team All-American and the first freshman to earn 1^st team all-Big Ten honors, leading Purdue University in scoring (18.5), rebounds (9.1) and FG% (.596) as they reached the 1994 NCAA Final Four.  She transferred to Western Kentucky University where she became first player to surpass 1,000 points in two seasons, with 1,079 points and 472 rebounds in 64 games, earning two-time all-conference and two-time honorable mention All-American honors.  In all, she totaled 1,860 points and 861 rebounds in 3.5 seasons of college basketball.  Drafted by the WNBA Washington Mystics, she played professionally in Greece, Turkey, Israel, South Korea, Portugal and Spain.

Tiffany Longworth was a 1993 Indiana All-Star, Kodak All-American and two-time 1^st team all-state selection while leading Kokomo to two state championships and early 1990’s dominance.  A member of Kokomo teams that were 94-7 in four seasons, including winning the 1992 and 1993 state championships and three North Central Conference titles, Longworth set the Kokomo and Howard County career scoring record of 1,936 points (career average of 20.0 ppg), along with school records in FGs (687), FTs (371), assists (531) and steals (413) and single-season records in assists (162) and steals (149).  She recorded the only triple-double in Kokomo girls basketball history and scored in double-figures in 91 career games.  At Penn State University, she graduated as the program’s career leader in 3-point field goals made, with 175.  A member of teams that were 96-26, they won a Big Ten conference championship, two Big Ten tournament titles and reached the 1995 NCAA Sweet 16.  She was named a 1996 Big Ten All-Star and received the 1997 Robin Lombard Award.

Gena Stubbs was a 1985 Indiana All-Star after averaging 25.7 points and 12.0 rebounds her senior season.  Averaging 22.3 points as a junior, she totaled 1,326 career points at Broad Ripple High School and earned 1^st team all-state honors.   Averaging double-figure scoring in all four seasons at Northern Illinois University, she graduated as their 4^th all-time leading scorer with 1,537 career points, to accompany 576 rebounds, 353 assists and 211 steals in 110 career games played.  She left her mark in the Huskies’ record book as a passer – she set the single-game (14) and season (169) assists records and graduated 2^nd in career assists – and was 3^rd in career steals.  She earned 1987 Women’s Basketball News honorable mention All-American honors and was named 1989 all-North Star Conference. 

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 Lori Culler.  A 1986 graduate of the then-Huntington College, where she earned All-American honors with 1,307 career points and a member of their 1984 National Christian College Athletic Association national championship team, Culler has begun her 33^rd season as head coach of the now-Huntington University.  The winningest active NAIA Division II women’s basketball coach in the nation, entering the 2018-19 season with a 576-377 (.604) record, her teams have recorded 24 winning seasons, including seven conference championships, a pair of conference tournament championships, made six NAIA National Tournament appearances, and winners of the 1991 and 1992 NCCAA national championships.  She has won nine Conference Coach of the Year awards, was twice named the NCCAA National Coach of the Year, was a 2006 inductee of the Huntington University Athletic HOF and was named the 2008 Huntington University Alumnus of the Year.  She has served 15 years as athletic director at Huntington University, a role she currently holds.

The Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame’s 18^th Annual Women’s Awards Banquet will be held on Saturday, April 27, 2019. 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 are available online now or through mail order in early 2019.  Call the Hall at 765-529-1891, visit www.hoopshall.com/events or email info@hoopshall.com for more information.