BROWNSBURG — Sneakers For Santa, one of the premier events during the girls high school basketball season, delivered more than a few surprises Saturday with one top-5 team going down and another getting blown out, a massive performance by a freshman and more.
Here’s what we learned from this year’s event, with a couple bonus thoughts from the inaugural BodyArmor Showcase at Pike High School.
Jennings County answers the call, upsets 4A Warsaw
What a win for the Panthers. Less than 24 hours after dropping a one-point decision at home to Cathedral, they staged a fourth-quarter rally to upset No. 3 Warsaw, 64-59.
Coach Kristi Sigler lamented her team’s lack of toughness (at times) against the Irish — and challenged her team accordingly afterwards — but said Cathedral’s physicality ultimately helped prepare them for Saturday.
Analysis of this game must begin with senior Kansas commit Mollie Ernstes. Warsaw actually did an admirable job guarding the 6-foot combo guard, forcing her to take tough shots and limiting her transition opportunities.
She just hit those shots.
The 3-ball wasn’t working for Ernstes early, so she focused her efforts at the mid-range, starting her scoring with a few turnaround fadeaway jumpers in the lane. She finished the game with 31 points, including a critical 3-pointer in the fourth quarter amidst JC’s comeback charge.
“She came to play. She 100% came to play,” Sigler said. “She likes this atmosphere and was very good today.”
Ernstes is — or at least should be — a known quantity, but I was still really impressed by how much she’s expanded her range and improved her efficiency as a shooter since her freshman year. She’s evolved into a tremendous talent.
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I was most curious to see who (if anyone) would step up alongside Ernstes, because you’re highly unlikely to keep up with a team like Warsaw as a one-person show.
Saturday, it was Aniston Kent and Etta Young. Young scored 10 points as Jennings County refused to allow Warsaw any separation through the second and third quarters; Kent was a key presence on the glass and delivered two critical 3-pointers in the fourth: The first to make it a one-point game, the second to give JC a lead it would not relinquish.
More here from Ernstes on her teammates:
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Sigler said the Panthers threw some things at Warsaw that they haven’t worked on a ton. The older players were familiar with the concepts and executed at a high-level.
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Jennings County has several players making the jump from JV to varsity this season, and they’re being challenged and pushed during practice, Sigler said, which has helped accelerate the transition.
Warsaw at its first crossroads
The Tigers did a good job guarding Ernstes, but they also left the Panthers’ other shooters some wide-open looks and squandered a few solid defensive possessions by giving up the offensive rebound.
Things were just OK on the offensive end, too — at least by Warsaw standards. The Tigers, who accounted for 44 of its 59 points from Brooke Zartman (22) and Joslyn Bricker (20), shot 31% from the field. That’s the third time in six games they’ve shot under 40% (it happened three times all of last season).
That leads to this team’s most pressing task moving forward: establishing chemistry, particularly on the offensive end. Last year’s Warsaw team was made lethal by how well it shared and moved the basketball. There was an inherent trust among the players, resulting in the high-powered attack that largely defined their run to Gainbridge.
That team had two years to cultivate that chemistry, coach Lenny Krebs said.
The 2025-26 Tigers do not have that luxury.
They need to do a better job connecting and loving each other, Krebs observed, playing for each other instead of competing against one another.
“And there’s a sense of urgency that we really need to connect.”
“It’s about the process of getting this year and that process involves some tough times. Now I’m curious to see how we respond,” he continued.”I hold true to the fact that when we finally connect the way we need to connect, we’re going to be a tough team to beat.”
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Warsaw entered Saturday 38-1 in regular-season games since Jan. 1, 2024.
This year’s schedule is significantly tougher than recent years with opponents including Jennings County, Norwell, Valparaiso and Homestead, plus the invite to the Hall of Fame Classic (Evansville Central and either Norwell or Plainfield).
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Alexis Neely, the team’s fourth-leading scorer behind Bricker, Zartman and transfer Reagan Huss, was an early bright spot offensively for Warsaw vs. Jennings County. She provided some early stability and finished the game with seven points on 3-of-6 shooting.
“The thing with Alexis Neely is she’s always going to play hard,” Krebs said of the 5-6 forward, who totaled 26 points and six assists over her past two games (Valparaiso and South Bend Riley).
“We ask her to do a lot defensively, to handle the ball and get it where it needs to go — there are so many things she does that probably don’t show up in the stat sheet,” he continued. “But her offensive firepower makes us a different team when it’s there. So the question for us as a staff becomes how do we continue to get her involved with the offense and get her the looks she needs.”
Homestead dazzles, dominates in win over Plainfield
Warsaw wants to get where Homestead is offensively. The Spartans operated like a well-oiled machine in Saturday’s primetime match, moving the ball quickly to create open looks and capitalizing upon those opportunities. They scored the first 19 points, then fought off a brief second-quarter rally (Plainfield got within nine) to pull away for a dominating 57-35 win.
You can tell Homestead has been playing together for a long time and coach Rod Parker has been preaching the importance of keeping the ball moving, especially against more physical teams like Plainfield. They have high-scoring weapons up-and-down that lineup and have done a really good job maximizing those talents this season.
“The mantra we talk about all the time is about making a teammate better and understanding that if we move the ball, it’ll come back around and make us (even harder) to guard,” Parker said.
The diversity in scoring was on display with Myah Epps, Carley Moellering (she was really good Saturday), Gabby Helsom and Whitney Ankenbruck all chipping in buckets as the Spartans maintained control.
Postgame! Here are @SpartyTweets seniors @MyahEpps and @WAnkenbruck following @Homestead_Bball’s win over Plainfield.
Sneakers wrap Monday. pic.twitter.com/1CYl5nBoNW
— hank 🇰🇷 (@Brian_Haenchen) November 23, 2025
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Homestead may be even better defensively. Their intensity on that end of the floor was most impressive and they did a great job, making it difficult for Plainfield’s top shooters — Hannah Menser (17 points) and Berkeley Williams — to find any sort of space.
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Sophomore Delaney Noll, a 5-10 combo guard, is expected to return this week for Homestead. Already on the radar of a number of Division I programs, she averaged over six points in her debut season and is elevated by her advanced basketball IQ.
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Suzy Perego is one to watch moving forward. The 6-1 sophomore delivered a couple really nice plays against Plainfield, and Parker spoke highly of her continued development and understanding of the game as she continues settling in at the varsity level.
Brownsburg takes out Pendleton Heights
It’s not necessarily a surprise to see Brownsburg at 4-1 entering Tuesday’s game vs. Hamilton Southeastern, but I certainly wasn’t expecting them to beat Noblesville and Pendleton Heights by a combined 39 points this week.
The emergence of freshman Ava Emberton has been massive to their early success, adding another talented guard to an already talented lineup. She netted 18 points (six 3s) and five assists in a 67-48 win over the Millers, and went for 19 points in a 20-point triumph over Pendleton Heights.
The schedule does not lighten up at all for Brownsburg, which plays Franklin Central, Lawrence Central, Greensburg and Center Grove (tournament) in December.
The Scorers Table recaps Sneakers For Santa
Pike hosts inaugural BodyArmor Showcase
First, a major tip of the cap to Keith Hollins, who did a wonderful job running Saturday’s event. It was a nice array of talent and gave Indy-area folks a chance to see teams from different pockets of the state (having the opportunity to see a rising East Central squad and Hammond Central’s Indiah Hutchinson in-person was really fun).
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The Red Devils have played three games so far, tied for the second fewest in Class 4A (Evansville Reitz has played just twice and will not play again until Dec. 3).
“It’s kind of new for us since last year we played all of November, but this has given us the opportunity to work harder in practice, work on those little things,” Saniya Smith said following Pike’s 88-56 win over Attucks.
“It’s been kinda slow, but we’ll be picking it up. It’ll be alright,” Marley Jeffers added. “It’s just been a little different, but that’s OK.”
Pike wraps up the month at Westfield on Tuesday, then has a couple outings before the Marion County Tournament from Dec. 9-13.
Postgame! Here are @PikeHSAthletics’ @Saniya_S1 and @marley_hoops26 following @LadyRedDevilsB1’s 88-56 win over Attucks.
19 points, 5 assists, 7 steals for Smith, 6 points, 4 rebounds for Jeffers.
Kamrah Banks led Tigers with 31.
Full box attached. https://t.co/nHeqbgDgIapic.twitter.com/Yzhki6JUAU
— hank 🇰🇷 (@Brian_Haenchen) November 22, 2025
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East Central freshman Lilly Maple, a 6-1 forward/guard, really stood out in the Trojans’ 68-42 win over Hammond Central, effectively using her size to pick up points in the paint, but also springing free for a few fast-break opportunities in tandem with both Sydney Campbell and sophomore point guard Natalie Stenger, who’s another young, rising talent — and the team’s leading scorer at 19.3 ppg.
EC travels to Greensburg on Wednesday and opens December at Jennings County
Follow Brian Haenchen on Twitter at @Brian_Haenchen. Get IndyStar’s high school coverage sent directly to your inbox with the High School Sports newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IHSAA girls basketball: Jennings County upset, Homestead rout, more
