By Arv Koontz
For The Republic
INDIANAPOLIS — Sydney Jaynes said she thoroughly enjoyed her basketball experience with the Indiana All-Stars last week.
Jaynes was part of the Indiana Girls All-Star team that played a pair of games against the Kentucky All-Stars over the weekend.
“It’s just a whole different experience entirely,” she said. “We spent a week at Marian (University), and we practiced two times a day. (Friday) was the first time playing against Kentucky at Owensboro (Ky.), and I think nerves got the best of us a little bit, but we pulled that one out.”
Jaynes scored two points Friday in helping Indiana to a 69-58 win.
On Saturday night, Jaynes, a 2021 Trinity Lutheran graduate, played parts of the second, third and fourth quarters in a 78-76 loss to Kentucky at Southport High School.
She is the first girls basketball All-Star from Trinity.
The 6-foot-3 post player made 2 of 3 shots from the field and had four rebounds, one steal and one blocked shot. Jaynes helped force a bad pass that caused a Kentucky turnover and had one of her rebounds during a four-minute span in the second period. She scored both of her field goals in the final three minutes of the third period to help Indiana take a 63-58 lead into the fourth quarter.
Jaynes was disappointed with the final score Saturday night.
“Here at Southport we didn’t get to pull this one out, but I think we played well,” she said. “I think we could have played a little bit more as a team, but its All-Stars and people are going to be like that.”
Both teams struggled from the free-throw line late in the game. Indiana shot 18 for 26, and Kentucky shot 15 for 27 at the line overall.
Jaynes said, “My job was to defend, get some of those rebounds because we needed a big rebounder, and I was to take whatever the defense gave me inside. I think I did that. I think I matched pretty well with the tallest Kentucky girl (Maria Kiefer) out there. She’s pretty good. She’s going to Ball State, so I’ll probably see her a little bit next year.”
Jaynes, who is Trinity’s career scoring leader with 1,598 points and carried an average of 19 points in helping the Cougars to a 20-5 record and their third straight sectional title last winter, will play at Butler this winter.
Jaynes said at each level she has advanced in her basketball career, the game has gotten faster.
“AAU is faster than high school because we have all the girls that want to go a little bit further. With the All-Stars, they pick the best players off of each AAU team so it’s faster than AAU ball. The guards are just like another level with their speed. A couple of them are going Big Ten, and I’m so happy for them, and a couple of them are going into the Big East with me, so I’ll get to see them next year.
“It’s a lot harder as a ‘big’ because you go baseline to baseline, so you have to keep up with the guards from baseline to baseline even though they’re probably going 3-point line to 3-point line,” she added.
Jaynes said she will be working hard to improve her game this summer.
“I think I need to work on post moves a little bit more,” she said. “I definitely need to get into the rhythm of a faster game. I’m going up (to Noblesville) a couple times a week (to work out) before I go to Butler. I thought I was pretty well conditioned going into this, so I’ve just got to keep this up for Butler. I know Coach G (Kurt Godlevske) wants us to be ready.”
