Indiana girls rally late, fall to Kentucky on buzzer-beater

Indiana had the game in reach after Brooklynn Renn sank two free throws with 3.2 seconds left to pull the score even, but Brianna Wilkins answered at the horn with a baseline basket that sent Kentucky past the Indiana All-Stars, 59-57, on Friday night at Lexington Catholic High School. The finish turned a late rally into heartbreak, and it gave Kentucky its third straight girls win in the annual series.

Indiana had spent most of the second half chasing the game after falling behind by 11 points, yet the visitors kept clawing back possession by possession. Brooke Zartman led Indiana with 13 points, while the comeback helped the Hoosiers find enough offense to force a final sequence that looked headed for overtime before Wilkins slipped free along the baseline and banked home the winner.

Kentucky leaned on Ashlinn James, who scored 22 points and supplied the final inbound pass after the timeout with 3.2 seconds left. James, Kentucky’s Miss Basketball and an Indiana commit, added another layer to the rivalry even before the shot went down. Wilkins, a Sacred Heart Academy standout headed to Marshall University, finished with 21 points and delivered the play that decided the opener of the two-game series.

Indiana coach Joe Huppenthal said afterward that the team lacked “giddy-up” and pointed to the absence of Hamilton Southeastern guard KK Holman, who missed the game because of illness, as a factor. Huppenthal also noted Indiana’s trouble finishing at the rim, and the numbers backed him up: the Hoosiers shot just 8-for-30, 26.7 percent, in the second half and 32.8 percent overall.

The final possession underlined how thin the margin was. Kentucky advanced the ball after the timeout, then got one clean look from the baseline, and Wilkins made it count. Indiana had shown enough resilience to erase the deficit and briefly seize control of the moment, but the closing sequence exposed how much late-game precision still separated the two teams.

The rematch was set for Saturday, June 6, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, and Indiana used that quick turnaround to answer. The Hoosiers won the return game to split the series, a necessary response after a loss that stung because it was there to be taken.