Campus clips: South Bend-area trio takes Holy Cross women to higher level
Tom Robbins knows just how good high school girls basketball is in Indiana.
The Holy Cross College women's hoops coach also knows how important it is to try and stock his roster with Hoosier homegrown talent.
A trio of that former local prep talent are helping lead the Saints toward some new heights on the basketball court.
The pair of Jordyn Smith and Grace Adams, both Penn High School products, and Jayda Miller, a Mishawaka High School alum, are the top performers for the Saints this season.
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Smith and Adams were part of a senior class of 2021 for coach Kristi Ulrich at Penn. They helped the Kingsmen go 99-10 overall and 45-0 in the Northern Indiana Conference with four Class 4A sectional titles, four NIC championships and two regional crowns.
Sophomore point guard Smith, a 5-6 savvy leader, is averaging 16 points, nearly four assists and over two steals per game. Adams, an athletic 5-11 sophomore forward, is at 16 points and almost nine rebounds per outing. Miller, a 5-6 smooth-shooting senior guard, averages 11 ppg.
"I'm an Indiana guy and I believe we have the best high school basketball in the country here," said Robbins, a native of Peru now in his fourth season at Holy Cross. "We put a lot of effort into recruiting Indiana players and players from this area.
"There are a lot of good basketball players in this area and a lot of high quality high school girls basketball programs. Continuing a pipeline of area players is vital to the success of our program."
Robbins has his team sitting at 12-9 overall and 7-6 in the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference after an 86-39 league win at Calumet College of St. Joseph Wednesday night. The Saints finished 15-15 a year ago, just the second time in program history that they have been at .500. The program record for wins is 16.
Robbins, who is also the Holy Cross Athletic Director, knows he has something very special in his trio.
"They are our top three players," said Robbins, whose team has won five of its last six contests. "Jayda really helped keep us afloat my first couple of years here with her play. Then adding Jordyn and Grace helped us move the program forward.
"I knew when we signed Jayda and Grace that they would step in and do great things for us and they have for two years now. Coming from the program they did at Penn, with the competition they played there and the coaching that they had there, I knew they would give our program a great push forward and they have."
Smith was the CCAC Freshman of the Year a season ago after averaging 10 points and four assists per game. Adams was on the CCAC All-Freshman Team after averaging 9.7 points and 8.3 rebounds. Miller led her team in scoring a season ago at 13.8 ppg. and went over 1,000 career points.
"Jordyn is the best point guard in our league," Robbins said. "She just has the will to win. She's very intelligent and comes from a great basketball family. They and coach Ulrich at Penn did a great job with her. She just has the tools and determination that separates her.
"Grace has the size, athleticism and skill set that we just don't see in our league. It's rare to have a player like her at our level. She's made a huge impact for us. She is determined and a winner. She can score and guard all five spots.
"Jayda is someone we really relied on to score for us her first two years. She had to play point guard for us as a freshman and then we moved her to a wing position the last two years and she has really done a great job adjusting. She's athletic, but she's put in a lot of work to become a shooter. That's a testament to her."
Robbins believes the best is yet to come for his team, which is in the middle of the league standings in the 14-team CCAC.
"I feel we are moving in the right direction," said Robbins, who coached at Ancilla College before coming to Holy Cross. "I feel like this is just the beginning for us.
"The future is bright and I think the next couple of years for our program could be tremendous. We just need to continue to bring in great kids like the ones we have now."
Snyder, Robles and Ludwick come up big for Holy Cross Saints
The Holy Cross men's basketball squad is also benefitting from plenty of local flavor on its roster.
Coach Mike McBride's squad is getting big-time play from Tommy Snyder, Phil Robles II and Beau Ludwick.
Snyder (Adams) is making a big splash in his first year. The 6-6 freshman forward paces the Saints in scoring at nearly 20 ppg. and on the glass at 8.8 rebounds per contest.
Robles II (Riley) is averaging 11 ppg. The talented freshman guard is also averaging three rebounds per outing.
Ludwick (Penn) averages almost eight points per game. The 6-2 senior guard also grabs almost five rebounds per outing.
The Saints roster also includes freshman guard Beau Barhams (Jimtown).
Foster, Asad and Morris playing for Bethel women
There are a handful of former area prep standouts on the roster for the Bethel University women's hoops squad.
Ellia Foster (Bremen), a 5-8 freshman guard, averages 7.4 ppg. for the Pilots. Junior guard Nyla Asad (LaPorte) averages 7.1 ppg. and junior Caroline Morris (Penn) average five points and four rebound.
The Bethel roster also includes senior Halle Shipp (Warsaw) and junior Kara Kitson (Goshen).
Northridge's Litwiller key for Eastern Illinois
Morgan Litwiller (Northridge) is one of the big reasons for the success of the Eastern Illinois women's basketball team.
The 5-11 senior forward is averaging 8.5 points and 5.1 rebounds per game for her team, which is 14-2 overall and 6-0 in the Ohio Valley Conference.
Litwiller had a season high 15 points in a win over Tennessee Tech.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: South Bend area athletes play at Holy Cross, Bethel Eastern Illinois
