Center Grove Girls Finish Perfect 29-0 Season with 56-53 Title Win

Gracyn Gilliard had already won a Daily Journal Player of the Year award. She had already helped reshape a program. Then she went out and made sure the last game of her Center Grove career was the best one.

The senior scored 23 points, grabbed eight rebounds and recorded six steals as the Trojans held off Norwell 56-53 in the Class 4A state championship game, capping a perfect 29-0 season and completing one of the more remarkable two-year runs in recent Johnson County basketball history.

The margin was three points, but the path to it was anything but comfortable. Norwell pushed Center Grove to the final buzzer in what local coverage called "the thrilling 56-53 victory," and Gilliard's presence on both ends of the floor was central to the outcome. She drove hard to the basket against the Eagles' defense and disrupted their possessions with six steals, the kind of two-way performance that defines her tenure in a Center Grove uniform.

Gilliard was named Daily Journal Player of the Year for a second consecutive season. The recognition punctuates a two-year stretch that reads like a program revival: in her two seasons starring for the Trojans' varsity, Center Grove won 47 of 51 games, with the Class 4A championship serving as the final chapter. She totaled 1,030 points in a Center Grove uniform and 1,898 points for her entire high school career.

Her path back to Johnson County adds texture to those numbers. Gilliard started at Center Grove Community School Corporation from kindergarten through fourth grade, then moved north and attended Munster High School through her sophomore year before returning prior to the start of the 2024-2025 school year. As local coverage noted simply: "Her impact was immediate and long-lasting."

Center Grove's championship was part of a broader postseason surge across Johnson County, which claimed three team state titles and multiple individual honors this winter. Hannah Gin earned a spot on the Daily Journal's All-County Girls Basketball First Team alongside Greenwood Christian's Myra Finnity. Sophomore Haley Wagoner of Center Grove was also recognized in the postseason honors.

The full honorable mention list for Johnson County girls basketball: Josie Fiesel, Greenwood; Reagan Ferris, Indian Creek; Journey Frederick, Franklin; Adriane Gieseking, Whiteland; Norah Herndon, Greenwood Christian; Molly Hunter, Greenwood Christian; Aubrey Leugers, Franklin; Ellie Oliver, Indian Creek; Kinzie Purvis, Edinburgh; Kate Reed, Greenwood Christian; Aleah Singleton, Franklin; Ella Sprong, Center Grove; Bella Turner, Edinburgh.

Gilliard leaves Center Grove with a state title, two Player of the Year awards, and a win percentage that most programs never approach. The 29-0 finish is the number that will go in the record books, but the 47-4 mark across her two seasons tells the fuller story of what her return to Johnson County meant.