McCutcheon girls land first Hall of Fame Classic invitation

McCutcheon did not just pick up another holiday tournament game. The Mavericks earned a first-time invitation to the Henry Community Health Hall of Fame Classic, a December showcase the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame calls the state’s premier in-season tournament and its most prestigious one, a line that tells you exactly how far this program has climbed before next season even starts.

The announcement came March 26, 2026, and it placed McCutcheon in the 43rd girls edition of the Classic, which will be played Monday, Dec. 21, 2026, and Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2026, at New Castle Fieldhouse. McCutcheon will open against Pendleton Heights in the first girls semifinal at 11 a.m. on Dec. 21, with Franklin Central and Northridge in the other semifinal. The winners will play for the championship that night, while the losers will meet in the consolation game.

For Jeff Knoy, it is another benchmark for a program that finished 23-6 in 2025-26 and pushed all the way to semi-state before losing to eventual 4A state runner-up Norwell. The invite puts McCutcheon on a stage reserved for teams the state expects to matter in March, not just December. That is the point of the Classic, and the numbers behind it explain why the selection carries weight: in the past 20 years, 21 girls teams in the event went on to win a state championship in the same season, including 14 class champions and 10 state runners-up.

The roster that helped earn the trip is built around returning juniors Lillie Graves and Keara Lipscomb-Allen, with Ameria Gibson also highlighted in the Hall of Fame release. Graves, a 6-foot-1 guard-wing, averaged 17.2 points, 7.2 rebounds and 5.7 assists per game. Lipscomb-Allen, a 5-foot-7 guard, added 14.6 points per game. Those are not just good numbers for a local team. They are the kind that travel well into a bracket like this, where size, shot-making and playmaking get exposed quickly.

Pendleton Heights brings its own credentials. The Arabians will be making their first Hall of Fame Classic appearance too after a 22-4 season that ended with a regional loss to state champion Center Grove. Under coach Nick Rogers, who is 71-31 in four years at the school, Pendleton Heights has become another program that now gets a December spotlight at New Castle. With the girls field set and the boys event marking its 50th edition, McCutcheon’s invitation says the Mavericks are being discussed in the same breath as the best in Indiana.