What an up-and-down season it has been for Kentucky Basketball, as shown by just the last two games: A dominating win over Vanderbilt, where the Wildcats led for 38+ minutes, followed by a double-digit loss to Texas A&M just 72 hours later, allowing a 27-3 run.
Kentucky
Indiana All-Stars 2025: Here are your girls basketball top seniors to take on Kentucky
IHSAA girls basketball: Twin Lakes Addie Bowsman and Brad Bowsman join the show
Addie Bowsman and her dad, Twin Lakes coach Brad Bowsman, joined The Scorers Table. Addie, a senior, has been sidelined this season with a torn ACL.
The 2025 Indiana high school girls basketball Indiana All-Stars have been selected.
This year’s 13-player roster includes 11 Division I commits, including four Power 4 recruits.
Players were selected by event director Mike Broughton and All-Stars coach Stacy Mitchell of Warren Central. Mitchell will be assisted by Hamilton Southeastern’s Brian Satterfield and Jennings County’s Kristi Sigler.
In a statement, Broughton said he, his staff and the All-Star coaches “watched many more games across the state than we normally do in a given year.”
“The 2025 edition of the Indiana All-Stars is a quality group that we feel will compete well against a Kentucky roster that includes two McDonald’s All Americans,” he continued. “This team with Stacy Mitchell of Warren Central as the head coach is blessed with size, quickness and shooting ability. Every year it is our goal to put together the best team who can work and play together to beat Kentucky. This group of All-Stars will be fun to watch.”
The Junior-Senior exhibition game is set for June 4 at Greenfield-Central. The first game against Kentucky will be June 6 at a site to be announced. The final game against Kentucky will be June 7 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. All three dates will be doubleheaders with the IndyStar Indiana boys All-Stars.
2025 Indiana Miss Basketball will be announced at a later date.
2025 Indiana All-Stars
Players listed in alphabetical order with college commitment in parentheses.
Laila Abdurraqib, Lawrence Central (New Mexico)
A 5-8 point guard, Abdurraqib helped lead Lawrence Central to a state championship as a junior and a 22-2 finish as a senior. She averaged a career-high 14.2 points on 46% shooting, plus 5.3 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 2.3 steals per game. Abdurraqib totaled 1,061 points, 396 rebounds, 329 assists and 203 steals in three-plus varsity seasons (freshman and sophomore years shortened by injury).
Addi Baxter, Columbia City (Butler)
The program’s all-time leader for career points (1,859), assists (523), steals (478) and field goals made, the 5-9 Baxter led the semistate runner-up Eagles to their first sectional and regional titles since 1999-2000, averaging 24 points, 6.3 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 5.3 steals. She won 86 games over her four-year career.
Ella Bobe, South Knox (Southern Indiana)
The 5-9 point guard led the powerhouse Spartans to a 28-2 finish (only losses to 4A’s Hamilton Southeastern and Homestead) and the Class 2A state championship — the school’s first in any sport. Bobe averaged 19.4 points, 5.1 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 2.3 steals as a senior, and finished her career as the school’s all-time leader in points (1,756), assists (418) and 3s made (183).
Addie Bowsman*, Twin Lakes (Saint Francis, IN)
Bowsman, a Junior Indiana All-Star, suffered a season-ending knee injury in early October and will be unable to play. The 5-9 guard averaged over 21 points per game as a junior, and finished her varsity career with 1,440 points, 462 rebounds, 469 assists and 180 steals. Bowsman started on senior night earlier this year and scored the game’s first basket before exiting to a standing ovation.
Avery Gordon, Brownsburg (Purdue)
The 6-6 Gordon finished her career second on the school’s all-time scoring list with 1,626 points, to go with 816 rebounds and 227 blocks. A 56% shooter, she averaged 20.3 points and 10.3 rebounds per game — both career-highs — and totaled 80 blocks. Gordon also recorded 14 double-doubles.
Jacklynn Hosier, Alexandria (Vermont)
A 5-9 guard, Hosier averaged 20-plus points for a third consecutive season, clocking a career-high 25.2 over 27 games. She shot 52% from the field, 39% from 3 and 83% at the line, and rounded out her line with 7.2 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 7.4 steals per game. Hosier totaled a Madison County record 2,108 points, 563 rebounds, 392 assists and school-record 523 steals in four seasons.
Kya Hurt, Lawrence North (Illinois State)
It was a banner year for the 5-8 point guard, who averaged 12.6 points, 3.7 assists, 3.4 assists and 3.8 rebounds for the 4A state champion Wildcats. Hurt shot 46% from the field, 64% at the free throw line and converted 26-of-68 3-point tries (38%). She totaled 790 points, 257 assists and 199 steals for her career.
Jaylah Lampley, Lawrence Central (Mississippi State)
Lampley, a 6-1 shooting guard, led the Bears to 81 wins during her varsity career. She averaged 21.2 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2.4 steals and 1.6 steals over 24 games as a senior, and finished her four-year career with a school-record 1,802 points, 580 rebounds, 209 steals, 201 assists and 52 blocks.
Maya Makalusky, Hamilton Southeastern (Indiana)
The IU-bound Makalusky put together a well-rounded stat line as a senior, averaging 22.1 points, 6.8 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.8 steals for the 4A semistate runner-up Royals. She maintained her efficiency as a shooter, firing 49% from the floor, 40% from 3 and 80% at the line. The 6-4 guard will graduate as HSE’s all-time leading scorer with 1,933 points.
Monique Mitchell, South Bend Washington (Akron)
It was a career-year for the 5-11 forward, who set career-highs in points (18.2), rebounds (4.3), assists (2.6) and steals (3) per game, while shooting 49% (37% from 3, 75% at the line) and totaling 33 blocks. Mitchell, who accrued 97 wins, two regional titles and a 3A state championship as a freshman, finished her career with 1,313 points, 467 rebounds, 233 steals and 101 blocks.
Meredith Tippner, Noblesville (Miami)
Tippner scored a single-season record 623 points in 24 games this season, leaving her with 1,779 career points, second-most in Noblesville history. The 5-9 guard averaged 26 points, 9.9 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 4 steals this season. She rounded out her career line with 913 rebounds, 337 assists and a school-record 326 steals.
Kaycie Warfel, Pendleton Heights (Taylor)
The 5-10 guard/forward led Pendleton Heights to its first sectional championship in over a decade, averaging 23.3 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 5.2 steals. The school’s all-time leader in scoring (2,107 points) and steals (444), Warfel shot a career-best 37% from 3 and 48% from the field. She also accumulated 515 rebounds and 215 assists.
Brooke Winchester, Warsaw (Ball State)
Winchester led 4A state runner-up Warsaw to a 26-2 finish which encompassed the program’s first sectional title since 2015, first regional crown since 2013 and first semistate championship since 2004. The 6-0 forward averaged 13 points on 50% shooting (39% from 3, 80% at the line), 10.1 rebounds (school-record 282 this season) and 2.2 assists. She finished her career with 1,053 points, 688 rebounds, 163 assists and 113 steals.
Follow Brian Haenchen on Twitter at @Brian_Haenchen.
While locked in an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament, the Wildcats are playing for seeding, likely a 6-7 seed in the NCAA Tournament, and anywhere from a 4-10 seed in the SEC Tournament. The last game of the regular season to ultimately decide the latter is the SEC regular-season champion, the Florida Gators.
Already having played once this season, Kentucky trailed by as many as 17 points in the first 10 minutes, but fought back to make it a five-point game in the second half.
Can the Wildcats put together a full 40 minutes together, avoid a season sweep for the first time since 2018, and guarantee themselves a bye in the SEC Tournament?
Here’s what to watch for in Kentucky vs. Florida, Part II.
While Florida has one of the best frontcourts in the country, one of the deciding factors in the first game was the backcourt play, as Xavian Lee and Urban Klavzar, who had two of their best performances of the season and combined for 41 points.
At this point of the season, the correlation of Kentucky’s success and the play of Otega Oweh, Collin Chandler, and Denzel Aberdeen is pretty clear. Coming off a game against Texas A&M, where they combined for 36 points, on 11-30 shooting, they need to outplay Florida’s backcourt for Kentucky to have a shot at the upset.
Given their elite frontcourt, Florida looks to give their big men plenty of touches around the basket and attack the basket for offensive rebounding opportunities. As a result, they draw fouls at one of the highest rates in the nation, nearly 20 a game.
In the first matchup, Kentucky had four players with four or more fouls, including Brandon Garrison, who fouled out. This limited Malachi Moreno to just 21 minutes, still having a team-high 11 rebounds. Backing him up, Garrison had as many fouls (5) as points, rebounds, and blocks combined.
Kentucky will likely face foul trouble again, and with a limited frontcourt, Mark Pope has the option of playing Malachi Moreno through foul trouble or hoping for better production from the other bigs. Pope has shown that he would rather go with the latter. Fortunately, Mo Dioubate is coming off his best game of the season, and Garrison had one of his better performances, albeit against a smaller Texas A&M team. They will need to sustain some level of production to give Kentucky a chance against Florida.
Kentucky played well for the final 30 minutes of the first matchup, outscoring Florida 66-60 during that span. It was the first 10 minutes that were the issue, where they turned the ball over 9 times and put themselves into a 17-point deficit.
Whether it be slow starts, as in the Florida game, or tough mid-game stretches like against Texas A&M, too often Kentucky puts itself in a hole with turnovers. Mark Pope has said it, turnovers are a great indicator for this team. When keeping turnovers in the single digits, Kentucky is 11-2; when that number rises to 10 or more, it is just 3-9 against power opponent teams.
Thomas Haugh 6-9, 215 lbs
- 17.1 PPG
- 6.0 RPG
- 17 points and 8 rebounds vs UK on 2/14/26
Reuben Chinyelu 6-10, 265 lbs
- 11.7 PPG
- 4.1 APG
- 22 points, 4-7 3P vs UK on 2/14/26
- Time: 4:00 PM ET on March 7th
- Location: Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center in Lexington, KY
- TV Channel: ESPN
- Announcers: Karl Ravech, Jimmy Dykes, and Dick Vitale will call the action.
- Online Stream: WatchESPN and the ESPN app.
- Radio: Tom Leach and Jack Givens have the call on the UK Sports Radio Network.
- Replay: WatchESPN and the ESPN network (check local listings)
- Rosters: UK | UF
- Stats to Know: UK | UF
- KenPom: UK | UF
- Team Sheet: UK | UF
- Odds: FanDuel Sportsbook has yet to release the odds for this game, so please check back later for those. The analytics have Kentucky as the underdog, giving them anywhere between a 1-3 and 1-4 chance. ESPN is the most positive in Kentucky’s chances, at a 37.2% chance to win. EvanMiya (32.3%), KenPom (29%), and BartTorvik (27%) trail behind, all within five percent of each other.
- Predictions: The analytics show the most favorable scenario is a five-point loss, with Haslametrics (80-75) and EvanMiya (81-76) projecting that. BartTorvik and KenPom are both in agreement with a seven-point loss, 81-74. Florida is playing like a title contender, riding a 10-game win streak, while Kentucky is struggling to string back-to-back wins. With Florida’s higher level of play, I am taking them to win 85-76.
Sound off in the comments section on how you think this matchup will go.
The legalization of fixed-odds wagering is part of a comprehensive gaming and wagering bill filed March 4 with the Kentucky House of Representatives.
Rep. Matt Koch, a Republican from Paris, and Rep. Michael Meredith, a Republican from Oakland, are sponsors of HB 904, which creates a form of betting that sets the payout odds at the time a wager is placed and those odds do not change.
Wagering on horse racing in Kentucky is now only pari-mutuel, the traditional form for the sport in which gamblers bet against each other and odds are determined based on how much is wagered on a specific bet—for example, win, place, or show—compared with the total money in the wagering pool.
With pari-mutuel wagering, the odds change as money enters the pool and has become a sore spot with many gamblers because these changes can be dramatic due to the introduction of computer-assisted wagering. CAW betting is a form of wagering that uses computer algorithms to formulate selections and then push those bets through to pari-mutuel pools, up to six bets per second in the final minute before pools are closed. This last-minute deluge of wagers can cause a horse’s odds to fall, for example, from 8-1 as they are loading into the gate to 3-1 as the race unfolds and the tote system catches up with calculating the late wagers.
Offering fixed odds is seen as one solution and has already been adopted in New Jersey, Colorado, and in West Virginia last April.
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“This basically puts it in hands of the tracks to test the waters,” said Koch, who is the co-founder of Shawhan Place in Bourbon County. “As the gambling market continues to expand, we’re exploring ways to give tracks the flexibility to introduce new and engaging products. For many who enjoy wagering, consistency is key. They want the confidence of knowing a horse’s odds will remain steady throughout the race, allowing them to enjoy the experience to the fullest. However, we recognize the uncertainty that a new product brings and want to be particularly mindful of its potential impact.”
As part of the legalization of fixed-odds wagering, the bill creates a “purse stabilization fund” that will be supported by excise taxes and fees from fixed-odds wagering. Licensed tracks would pay 15% on the adjusted gross revenue of fixed-odds wagers placed on-track and via advance-deposit wagering websites and mobile applications. This fund will be used to supplement purses at live horse racing meets annually at an amount not to exceed 10% of the fund.
“This is similar to how other states manage the revenue from fixed odds and protects the traditional purse pools,” Koch said.
Additionally, Koch said having outdated totalizator networks contributes to the frustration with CAW, so HB 904 includes a provision for licensed totalizator companies and licensed racetracks to accelerate the adoption of improved technologies for wagering systems and provide “commercially reasonable access to the betting odds for retail bettors by April 1, 2027.”
“Some of these totes are only updating every 30 seconds and that is contributing to the perception and frustration,” he said, referring to bettors seeing late odds changes. “Doing our research, we realize there are things we can do for tracks to update their totes and have those updated odds in seconds. We need to stay on top of the IT and that needs to be an ongoing deal.”
The bill also includes a prohibition against any track or association licensed to conduct horse racing, sports wagering, or fantasy sports being affiliated with or benefiting from any entity that offers prediction market contracts.
Prediction market operators are a growing concern for the gambling industry because they have expanded from taking wagers on the outcome of future events, such as elections or new events, and are now including sporting events, such as horse racing. The prediction markets defend their business by claiming to take “contracts” and not “wagers.”
The threat of the prediction markets was addressed by Churchill Downs Inc. CEO Bill Carstanjen during a Feb. 26 conference call with investors and analysts and is the subject of a panel discussion this week during the National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association’s annual conference being held at Oaklawn Park.
READ: Prediction Markets Have the Racing Industry’s Attention
Other provisions of HB 904 include:
- After Nov. 1 of a calendar year, the Kentucky Horse Racing and Gaming Corporation may authorize additional racing dates or make changes to racing dates awarded if requested by a licensed association, supported by the applicable horsemen’s group and “deemed in the best interest of racing.”
- Creates a new section that legalizes and puts the regulation of fantasy contests under the authority of the Kentucky Horse Racing and Gaming Corporation. Fantasy contests are simulated games or contests with an entry fee and awards or prizes established prior to the contest. Participants compete against each other and manage a fictional roster of actual athletes and obtain scores based on real-life performances. If adopted, all fantasy contest operators must be licensed by the state and adhere to regulations that include preventing fraud and money laundering, prevent underage participation, verify customers are geographically located in jurisdictions allowing fantasy contest participation, and comply with state audits and any complaints or allegations of prohibited conduct.
- Sets the legal age to participate in sports betting, fantasy contests, and charitable gaming at 21 but keeps the legal age for betting on horse racing at 18.
The Kentucky High School Athletic Association indoor state track meet rolled on on Wednesday, March 4. One day after Beechwood claimed the Class 1A boys team title, three Northern Kentucky big schools combined for four individual state titles in Class 3A.
Cooper’s Paul Van Laningham won the 3,200-meter run in 9:09.49 and took second place in the 1,600-meter run in 4:07.88. It was a reversal of his results at the 2025 indoor state meet and earned him his fifth overall state title. He scored all of Cooper’s points, good for ninth place in the team standings with 18 points.
Van Laningham’s teammate, Ava Dunn, got the day started with a shot put title, throwing the 8.82-pound ball 39 feet, 3.25 inches.
Simon Kenton’s Alexis Howard won the long jump with an attempt of 18 feet, 7.25 inches, then claimed the triple jump title with a distance of 37 feet, 4.25 inches. It is her second straight indoor long jump title and third overall as she also claimed the 2024 outdoor title. Taking fifth place in the 55-meter dash, she scored all 24 points for SK, finishing in a tie for eighth place. Cooper was right behind with 22 points.
Finally, Conner’s Avery Vanlandingham win the 800-meter run in 2:17.55, out-leaning North Oldham’s Millie Huang at the line.
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