News & Updates

Indiana Basketball HOF announces 20th Women’s Induction Class

December 14, 2021

The Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame Board of Directors announces the 2022 Women’s Induction Class to be honored on Saturday, April 30, 2022.

NameHigh SchoolGraduation
Gary AndrewsBellmont1986
Krista BlunkTell City1989
Cami CassNoblesville1988
Charles MairOwensville1971
Monica MaxwellEast Chicago Central1995
Julie (Rotramel) MeeksSullivan1984
Kristin (Pritchett) MessmoreBedford North Lawrence1988
Christy SmithBenton Central1994
Amy VanderkolkLafayette Jeff1985
Stephanie WhiteSeeger1995
Silver Medal Award
Darlene MathewSyracuse1968

(New Castle) – Loaded with basketball talent and tradition, the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame proudly announces their 2022 women’s induction class, to be honored at the 20th Women’s Awards Banquet on Saturday, April 30, 2022.

Gary Andrews led the Fort Wayne Bishop Luers girls to three consecutive 2A championships as part of his coaching success.  Leading the Luers girls program to a 167-44 record (.791) from 1992 – 2001, winning five Summit Athletic Conference titles, SAC tournament championships, six sectional titles, four regionals, three semi-states and IHSAA 2A girls basketball championships in 1999, 2000 and 2001, with an 81-2 record those three seasons.  In 14 seasons as the head women’s coach at St. Francis (IN) University, his teams were 322-141 (.693) with nine NAIA national tournament berths, capped by a 38-0 NAIA Division II National Championship season in 2013-14.  Spending three seasons at NCAA Division II Roberts Wesleyan College (70-30, .700), his team won the 2016 National Christian College Athletic Association National Tournament and he was named 2016 NCCAA Coach of the Year.  He is currently in his fourth season as the head boys basketball coach at Fort Wayne North High School.  A 1986 graduate of Bellmont High School, he was the 1986 Adams County Player of the Year leading the Braves to two NEIAC titles and a 1985 sectional title and regional finals appearance.

Krista Blunk was a 1989 Indiana All-Star after scoring a school record 1,044 points at Tell City, graduating with career averages of 19.2 points per game, 10.2 rebounds and a 48% career FG percentage.  A three-time all-conference selection and conference Player of the Year her senior season, she averaged 18.8 points and 9.8 rebounds per game that year.  A four-year starter at the University of Evansville, she scored 1,123 points, graduating as the 5th all-time leading scorer in UE women’s history.  She finished her career 2nd in career 3FG made (113), 6th in rebounds (459) and 6th in career assists (197).  Named NCAA “Sportswoman of the Year” for athletic and academic achievements, Blunk played professionally in the Women’s Basketball Association (U.S.) and in Australia before a career as television / radio sports commentator.  Since the start of her sportscasting career at WEVV and WFIE television stations in Evansville in 1996, she spent 13 seasons as color analyst for the WNBA Sacramento Monarchs, 2 years with the L.A. Sparks and has worked for ESPN, Fox, CBS Sports, Pac-12 Network, Westwood One, NCAA Productions and was on-air for NBC’s coverage of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Cami Cass was the starting point guard for Noblesville’s 1987 undefeated state championship team and 1988 state runner-up squad.  Her senior season, she was the team’s leader in assists and 2nd in points, rebounds and steals, teaming with 2015 Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Courtney (Cox) Cole.   During Cass’s career, Noblesville teams were 100-7, including four sectional titles, three regional titles, and two semi-state championships. A four-year starting point guard at Fordham University, she led their teams in steals all four seasons and was their leader in assists for three years.  She completed her career with the program record in career steals (188), remains 2nd in career assists (487) and remains tied for the single-game steals record (8).  A senior on the Rams’ first Patriot League championship team in 1992, in 2021 she was one of five players named to Fordham’s 1990’s all-decade team.  A member of the United States’ 1997 Deaf Olympics gold medal team in Copenhagen, Denmark, she was a teacher at the Indiana School for the Deaf and coached in their girls basketball program.  She has received numerous awards and recognitions as a deaf athlete and was featured in Sports Illustrated in 1989.

Charles Mair retired in 2017 as one of the winningest coaches in Indiana high school girls basketball history.  Leading teams to 465 wins in 36 seasons at North Posey and Princeton high schools, his teams claimed 11 conference championships, eight sectional titles, two regionals, one semi-state and his Princeton team won the 2015 IHSAA 3A girls basketball championship, led by 2016 Indiana Miss Basketball and Naismith National Player of the Year Jackie Young.  Among team successes, his Princeton teams won 53 consecutive games from November 2014- February 2016, 4th best in Indiana high school history.  His North Posey teams won 29 consecutive Pocket Athletic Conference games from December 1982 – December 1987.  Much of his coaching success followed a life-threatening health scare – on December 14, 1987 (34 years to the date of this Hall of Fame induction announcement) Mair collapsed in the locker room prior to a game and was hospitalized and unconscious for three days. Diagnosed with an arterial ventricle malformation, he underwent brain surgery that caused him to miss the remainder of the 1987-88 season, before his return the following fall.  Mair is a 1971 graduate of Owensville High School, where he was a three-year varsity basketball player and earned a degree from Kentucky Wesleyan, where he played as a freshman.

Monica Maxwell was a 1995 Indiana All-Star, high school All-American and finalist for the Naismith Award for the top prep player in the nation.  The East Chicago Central graduate was a unanimous 1st team all-state selection after averaging 24.4 points her senior season.  Maxwell was a member of teams that won four sectional titles, including a 22-1 team her senior season.   She played at Louisiana Tech on teams that went 123-13 in four seasons, winning four conference championships, making four NCAA Tournament appearances, including two Final Four appearances as 1998 national runners-up and 1999 national semi-finalists.  She was 1996 Sun Belt Freshman of the Year, 1997 and 1998 Sun Belt all-conference and 1999 Sun Belt Tournament MVP and graduated 4th in Louisian Tech history in 3FG made and 4th in 3FG attempted.  A member of the 1997 Jones Cup Silver Medal team for USA Basketball, she played four seasons in the WNBA with the Washington Mystics and Indiana Fever, was assistant coach at Tulane University and Cal State Northridge, and has been a high school athletics administrator for 11 years, currently as athletic director at Indianapolis Arsenal Tech High School.

Julie (Rotramel) Meeks totaled 1,227 points and 233 career assists at Sullivan High School, including a 22.7 scoring average for her 1983-84 senior season.  Averaging in double figures for three seasons while Sullivan accumulated a 61-5 record, she was a sophomore starter for Sullivan’s 1982 state finalist squad.  Helping write the record book for IUPUI women’s basketball, her 1,809 career points remained the school record for 30 years and remains 2nd in program history.  She still holds the career three-point field goal percentage record (.408) and single-season scoring record (643), and left IUPUI with the two highest single-season scoring efforts, highest single-game scoring performance (42), most career field goals made (684), most career field goals attempted (1,625), 2nd in career assists (431) and was 3rd in career steals (227).  As a junior and senior, she was among the nation’s leaders in three-point shooting, while winning consecutive NAIA district championships.  She earned honorable mention All-American recognition as a senior and is a member of the IUPUI Athletics Hall of Fame.  In 24 years as a high school head coach, currently in her 19th season at her alma mater Sullivan, her teams have accumulated 265 wins, including three sectional titles.

Kristin (Pritchett) Messmore was a four-year letterwinner on Bedford North Lawrence teams that were 83-13 and winners of four sectionals and three regionals. Scoring 1,017 career points, she set the BNL single-game scoring record of 53 points. Averaging 15.5 points per game as a junior and 15.8 points, 5.7 rebounds and hitting 52% of field goals her senior season, she was a two-time Bedford Times-Mail Player of the Year (‘87, ’88), was Hoosier Hills all-conference four years, all-sectional four years, all-regional four years, all-semi-state three years and an all-state selection her senior year. A four-year player at IUPUI, she totaled 1,342 career points (12.8 ppg), 746 rebounds (6.9 rpg), 343 assists (3.2 apg) and 230 steals (2.1 spg). She graduated as IUPUI’s 2nd all-time leading scorer, all-time leader in rebounds (746), 3rd in career assists (343) and 3rd all-time in steals (230). She was a member of IUPUI’s 1990 and 1991 district champion teams and advanced to the 1991 NAIA national semifinals and twice received all-district honors.  Employed in education, she works at Oolitic K-8 school.  The daughter of 2007 Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame inductee coach Pete Pritchett, they are the 3rd father-daughter duo to be enshrined into the Hall.

Christy Smith was a 1994 Indiana All-Star after totaling 1,113 career points at Benton Central, setting school records for career assists (506), single-season assists, career steals (418) and single-season steals.  Averaging 21.6 points, 5.0 assists, 4.5 steals and 3.4 rebounds as a senior for 16-4 team her senior season, she earned 1st team all-state honors and was named academic all-state.  A stellar career at the University of Arkansas included 1,459 career points, along with 507 assists, 239 steals, and a .837 career free throw percentage.  She led the nation in 1994-95 with a .899 free throw percentage, was the 1995 SEC Freshman of the Year, three-time SEC all-conference, four-time honorable mention AP All-American and three-time SEC Academic Honor Roll honoree.  Smith participated in the 1997 World University Games, led Arkansas to the 1998 NCAA Final Four and was the 17th pick in the 1998 WNBA Draft to the Charlotte Sting.  She played two seasons in the WNBA before a coaching career that has included roles as an assistant coach at Lafayette Jeff, head coach at Harrison H.S., assistant at Valparaiso University (2008-11), assistant at Purdue (2011-14), assistant at Arkansas (2014-16) and head coach of NCAA Division I University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas (2016-2019).

Stephanie White was the 1995 Indiana Miss Basketball, 1995 Gatorade National Player of the Year, USA Today National Player of the Year, WBCA High School All-American, and MVP of the WBCA All-American game.  A three-time AP all-state selection from Seeger High School, she set the IHSAA girls basketball scoring record at 2,869 career points, after averaging 28.3 points per game as a sophomore, 31.0 as a junior and a state-best 36.9 as a senior, including a single-game high of 66 points.  Stardom continued at Purdue University, where she totaled 2,182 career points, 671 rebounds, 582 assists and 277 steals, leading them to the 1999 NCAA National Championship, two Big Ten titles and two Big Ten Tournament titles.  White was named the 1999 Wade Trophy recipient and received the 1999 Honda Sports Award as the top women’s college basketball player in the nation, along with 1999 Kodak All-American and Big Ten Player of the Year honors.  Playing four seasons in the WNBA with Charlotte and Indiana, her coaching career included assistant roles at Ball State, Kansas State, the University of Toledo, the WNBA Chicago Sky and Indiana Fever (2012 WNBA champions).  She was head coach of the Indiana Fever for two seasons, including a 2015 WNBA Finals appearance and was head coach of Vanderbilt University women’s basketball from 2016-2021.

Amy Vanderkolk was an all-state player at Lafayette Jeff H.S., helping the Bronchos to a pair of sectional titles, including reaching the 1983 semi-state finals and 1985 regional finals.  Selected three times to the Lafayette Journal & Courier all-area team, she totaled 784 career points and was the recipient of the Golden Broncho Academic Award.  At Indiana State University, she graduated 4th in career scoring (1,484), set the single-game scoring record of 43 points, tied the school record for season scoring average (19.8) and had two of the top six single-season scoring efforts.  She remains the program leader in career field goal percentage (.533), had the top two season field goal percentage marks (.588 and .543) and graduated with the top three single-game field goal percentage performances in ISU women’s history.  Her 762 career rebounds were 6th best in school history at the time.  She earned Gateway Conference all-conference honors as a junior and was all-conference and a Kodak All-American nominee as a senior, averaging 19.8 points and 9.1 rebounds per game.  Named a GTE-CoSIDA Academic All-American and recipient of a prestigious NCAA post graduate scholarship, she was invited to the Olympic Sports Festival.

The 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 Darlene Mathew.  Mathew had a 46-year career as teacher, coach and athletic administrator at Westview High School.  She became the girls basketball and volleyball coach in 1975, winning three straight basketball sectionals the first three seasons of IHSAA competition with an 84-38 record (.689) with no losing seasons in seven seasons as head coach.  She became the Westview girls sports athletic director in 1980-81 and athletic director for all Westview sports in 1989-90, serving in that role for 32 years.  In her tenure as athletic director, Westview teams won 95 sectionals, 1999 and 2000 boys basketball state championships, 2006 girls basketball state runner-up, nine girls individual state champions in track and cross-country and four boys individual state champions in track and cross-country.  She was a member of the IHSAA Girls Advisory Committee, Past President of the Indiana Coaches of Girls Sports Association, a member of the Indiana Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association, member of the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association and the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame Women’s Committee.

The Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame’s 20th Women’s Awards Banquet will be held on Saturday, April 30, 2022. 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 2022.  Call the Hall at 765-529-1891, visit www.hoopshall.com or email info@hoopshall.com for more information.