by Andy Amey
Tribune-Star

Potent weapons: Lindsay Secrest of Bloomfield and Brody Boyd of Union, two of the most prolific scorers in Indiana, have hopes of wearing Indiana All-Star jerserys next summer. (Tribune-Star/Darron R. Silva)

Last year as a junior, Bloomfield's Lindsay Secrest had Indiana's best girls high school rebounding performance when she grabbed 24 missed shots against Linton. Her 48 points against Shoals was the third-best single-game girls scoring performance, and she also had games of 38 points, 37 points and two games of 35 points.

Two years ago as a sophomore, Union's Brody Boyd scored 51 points against Hutsonville for the second-best single-game boys scoring total in the state that year. Last year his top outing of 44 points against North Knox was bettered by six other players, but none of them -- or anyone else -- had five other games of 40 points or more like Boyd did while leading the state in scoring at 31.4 points per game.

So when these two players, the embodiment of small-town Hoosier wholesomeness, are coaxed into admitting they have hopes and dreams of winning the state's highest award in their sport, it might be wise not to discount those ideas just yet -- even though, as a pair of players from Class A schools, some voters might reject them on that basis alone.

"[Being named Miss Basketball] would be nice, but I don't really expect it at all," said Secrest, a 6-foot-1 veteran who could wind up at any of the five positions on the court at various times. "I'm going to work for it, but it's not life and death."

"I hope to be an Indiana All-Star; that's one of my goals," said Boyd, a 6-foot guard. "But my goal is to be Mr. Basketball, and that's what I'm working for right now. But there are a lot of good players out there, like Jared Jeffries [at Bloomington North] and Zach Randolph [Marion] and Shane Power [Andrean]."

Boyd at least gets to share a stage with Randolph, when the Bulldogs play Westview and Marion meets Monrovia in the first round of the Hall of Fame Classic in late December, and Power, when Union plays Andrean in an early December shootout at the Hammond Civic Center. Jeffries and the Cougars have been regular-season foes of the Bulldogs the last two seasons, although not this year.

"[Those games] will be a lot of fun," Boyd predicted. "They'll prepare us for the sectional, and they'll give everybody in the state an idea of how a small school can compete with the big schools."

Secrest got her chance at statewide recognition earlier, when the Cardinals became the first Class A girls state basketball champion during her sophomore season. She's also been a part of a state runner-up volleyball team.

She was still surprised, however, when she was invited last spring to be part of the Indiana Junior All-Stars for scrimmages against the 1999 Indiana All-Star girls basketball team.

"I think I was good enough to play [for that team]," she said recently, "but because I'm from such a small school, I didn't think people knew about me that much."

If people didn't notice Secrest during her two state-finals appearances as a sophomore, they certainly could have noticed her numbers a year later.

"My sophomore year, it was more, 'You play your role, we'll get it done [as a team],' " she said. "Last year I had to take more roles; it was a learning experience, and it was fun in the sense that I had more freedom."

She'll continue to get that freedom this year, Coach Paula Fettig indicated.

"She's an overall player," the coach noted. "Versatile. I can play her at every position.

"She's had a pretty outstanding career as a high school athlete," Fettig continued. "She's won every tournament you could win. You couldn't ask anything more from an individual.

"She's a National Honor Society student, so she's very talented academically, and her work ethic is very good. She comes in [to school] mornings [to work on her basketball] even while she's playing volleyball."

Work ethic is one of the reasons Coach Joe Hart doesn't mind Boyd being the individual focus of the Bulldogs.

"He's brought a lot of attention to the program, and we wouldn't get that attention if he wasn't the player he is," Hart noted of Boyd. "He does some amazing things, and he's a real good kid and that helps a lot."

Hart said he has an easy answer when people question why Boyd is often the focus of attention for his team.

"I tell them it's because [Boyd] is the one out there working on his game all year," the veteran coach said. "He's dedicated himself to it since he was in fifth grade."

Both coaches are guardedly optimistic about their players' postseason possibilities.

"I think for sure [Secrest] is an All-Star," Fettig said. "I thought she was one of the better players on the Junior All-Stars [last spring].

"Anything beyond that depends on her senior year," Fettig added, "and she's a pressure player."

"I think he's an All-Star lock. Not many kids sign a Big Ten letter of intent who don't make [the All-Star team]," said Hart of his Iowa-bound shooter.

"His chances for Mr. Basketball depend on how much success we have as a team."

Team success is really the focus of both players right now, since their college decisions -- Secrest will be attending Northern Illinois -- are out of the way.

"We have expectations that we'll do better than last year," said Secrest of the Cardinals, who lost in sectional play in February. "We have an aggressive freshman class and a little more experience, even though we still have a lot of young kids.

"I'm hoping I can increase what I did last year," she added, "and that we get a few more wins too. I'll be very disappointed this year without a sectional win."

Boyd knows all about sectional disappointments. After he and fellow senior Clark Golish started as freshmen for a Bulldog team that lost to eventual state champion Bloomington North (without Jeffries) in the regional during last year of single-class competition, Union has failed to reach a Class A regional.

"We're going to take one game at a time," Boyd predicted. "We've got one of the toughest sectionals in the state [won the past two years, incidentally, by Bloomfield's boys] and that's what we've got to get out of."

The Bulldogs are the preseason Class A boys state-championship pick by Hoosier Basketball Magazine, which also features both Boyd and Secrest on its cover.

"That surprised me in a way," he said, "but there's a difference being rated No. 1 and being No. 1. I just hope we can stay No. 1, but there are a lot of tough teams out there."

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