Indiana Miss Basketball Gracyn Gilliard decommits from Davidson, reopens recruitment

Indiana’s 2026 girls recruiting board shifted again Thursday when Gracyn Gilliard, the state’s Miss Basketball and the centerpiece of Center Grove’s unbeaten championship season, decommitted from Davidson and reopened her recruitment.

In an Instagram statement, the 5-foot-11 guard said it was in her “best interest” to move on from her earlier pledge. She thanked Davidson coach Gayle Fulks and said she still wants a college program that gives her the right blend of academic excellence and athletic development. That reset matters because Gilliard is not just another senior changing plans. She is Indiana’s highest-profile 2026 girls prospect, and her decision puts one of the state’s most decorated guards back on the board.

The move also fits a turbulent stretch for Indiana girls basketball recruiting. Hamilton Southeastern’s KK Holman recently committed to Oregon after a coaching change, and Warsaw’s Joslyn Bricker flipped from Butler to Indiana Wesleyan while pointing to stability and transfer-portal concerns. Gilliard’s reopening adds another marquee name to a market that has already shown how quickly early commitments can unravel.

Gilliard first committed to Davidson in August 2025, picking the Wildcats over Ball State and Harvard. That choice came before she finished a senior season that bordered on complete. She averaged 25.6 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.7 steals and 1.9 assists per game, shot 53 percent from the field, 40 percent from 3-point range and 75 percent at the line, and closed her high school career with 1,898 points, 336 steals, 438 rebounds and 179 assists. Of those points, 1,040 came at Center Grove.

Her final prep season ended with Center Grove at 29-0 and the Class 4A state championship, a run that made the Trojans the state’s 18th unbeaten girls basketball champion. The perfect season also made Gilliard the first Miss Basketball winner in Center Grove history.

The award itself was a close but clear statement of statewide respect. The Miss Basketball vote drew 181 ballots from Feb. 9 to March 2, and Gilliard received 51, ahead of Lawrence Central’s Lola Lampley with 34, Norwell’s Vanessa Rosswurm with 24 and Valparaiso’s Lilli Barnes with 10. She will wear the No. 1 jersey for the Indiana All-Stars in the annual series with Kentucky, becoming the second Center Grove player to do it after her cousin, Trayce Jackson-Davis, the 2019 Mr. Basketball.

Davidson finished 21-12 and 12-6 in the Atlantic 10 in 2025-26 under Fulks. Even so, Gilliard’s reopening sends a wider message in Indiana: the state’s elite recruits are treating early commitments as reversible, and the biggest name in the class is suddenly back in play.