Hamilton County Reporter

Sydney Parrish fulfilled the dream of many an Indiana basketball player when she and the Hamilton Southeastern girls team won a state championship in February.

After a little bit of time off, Parrish was back in the news again, making headlines when she committed to the University of Oregon. Then it was back in the gym and onto the court for summer ball with the Royals.

So while the state may be at the halfway point between basketball seasons, there’s always something going on. The Reporter caught up with Parrish a couple weeks ago at the Westfield Shootout, where Southeastern was playing. Parrish was there with her team, then on her way to an All-Star game in Anderson that night. But she appreciated the break she got after the Royals won state.

“It was definitely a good rest time for all of us,” said Parrish, noting that it was necessary because of HSE’s long and successful season. After that was AAU, then the month of June consisted of “workouts and weights and back into high school ball,” she said.

Parrish, who was named Indiana’s Gatorade Player of the Year, was selected as a member of the IndyStar Indiana Junior All-Star team, as a member of the six-player core group. The Juniors played the Kentucky Juniors in early June, then took on the Indiana Senior All-Star team a couple days later.

“It was really fun to play in that game with all the best juniors in the state and then against the best seniors in the state, and against the Kentucky players, because I know some of them,” said Parrish. It was so much fun playing with them.”

The core group contained some well-known players in addition to Parrish. North Central’s Jasmine McWilliams, a Northwestern commit, was in the group, as were Kendall Bostic (headed to Michigan State) and Madison Layden (committed to Purdue) of Northwestern High School, which has dominated the Class 3A state tournament the past two years. Northwestern will move up to 4A this year. Also in the group was Danville’s Ella Collier and Jeffersonville’s Nan Garcia, both of whom have received Division I offers.

“We all got along really well,” said Parrish. “There was no drama at all. It was cool because a lot of us have just been playing against each other for a long time, so having all of us in the same room, we all just connected right away and it was a really good experience.”

The Indiana Juniors split the two-game series with Kentucky, winning the first contest 89-85, but falling 111-107 in the second game. Parrish scored 26 points and handed out four assists in the first game, and had 19 points, five rebounds and two blocked shots in the second game.

“But they were both good games, it could’ve gone both ways each time,” said Parrish.

The seniors won the Junior-Senior game 97-58, with Parrish scoring 14 points, grabbing eight rebounds and making two blocks.

“The seniors were good, though,” said Parrish. “I got to give them that.”

Prior to that, Parrish made news by committing to Oregon, which has dramatically raised its women’s basketball profile over the past few years. The Ducks have made the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament the past three years, and broke through to their first ever Final Four last season. Junior Sabrina Ionescu, won the John R. Wooden Award for being the most outstanding women’s college player in the 2018-19 season, and will return for her senior season.

The success hasn’t gone unnoticed, as the Ducks have the top recruiting class for the high school Class of 2020. Parrish was the first one to commit, making the decision right after Spring Break.

“It was the team and the coaches,” said Parrish. “I feel in love with the staff, I fell in love with the girls. I felt like I belonged there.”

Parrish said it only took one visit to convince her that Oregon was the right choice.

“And I kept visiting places and I just knew that was the one place that I wanted to go,” said Parrish. “And it was unlike any other place I’d visited. I kept looking back at Oregon and nothing compared.”

Parrish is one of five recruits on a list that includes other five-star and four-star players from all across the nation. Among them are Angela Dugalic of Des Plaines, Ill. who is trying out for the 2020 Serbian Olympic team, Maddie Scherr of Florence, Ky., the Kentucky Gatorade Player of the Year, and Te-Hina PaoPao of Oceanside, Calif., who was touted as a possible college starter when she was 14.

“It’s an amazing feeling,” said Parrish. “I’m so blessed to be a part of that group and I’m just ready to get there. I get to see them this summer. So we’ve seen each other. When they came to Indy for a tournament, so we got to lunch with them. It’s just an amazing feeling getting to know that people are talking about our legendary recruiting class and I get to be a part of it.”

Of course, Parrish still has one year at Southeastern. She acknowledges things will be different, as the Royals graduated a highly-talented senior class that included Division I players Amaya Hamilton (Duquesne), Tayah Irvin (Northern Kentucky) and Division II Malea Jackson (University of Illinois-Springfield). But there are plenty of returning players who will be determined to give the Royals another great season.

“I think we have really high expectations coming off of a state championship team and state championship season,” said Parrish. “I think people have really high expectations for us. We lost five seniors, we lost five really key players in our offense and in our defense, and we’re not as tall anymore. But I think we just have to make adjustments. Playing with them right now, we’re already getting a feel of how we’re going to start to play different than how we did last year. I think we’re going to have a good season. I think people are going to underestimate us.”