South Bend Washington's Mila and Amiyah Reynolds to join Rashunda Jones on Purdue team

SOUTH BEND — Steve Reynolds athletic based wardrobe will include a lot more black and gold gear in the future.

The Washington girls basketball coach and proud papa is sure to be sporting plenty of Purdue swag from now on.

Mila Reynolds and Amiyah Reynolds, two daughters of Steve and former stars for the Panthers, announced this morning that both have decided to play for the Boilermakers.

Mila, nicknamed the "Boss", spent her freshman season this past year at Maryland before announcing last month that she was entering the transfer portal. Amiyah, the "Captain", who was named an Indiana All-Star despite being injured and missing the postseason this past season, was released from her national letter of intent from the Terrapins last month.

The Reynolds sisters, who helped lead the Panthers to a Class 3A state title in 2022, will join up with former Washington teammate Rashunda Jones in West Lafayette. The electric 5-8 guard , known as "Spider", was the top scorer for the Panthers this past season and is also bound for Purdue.

Jones finished second in Miss Basketball voting last month to North Carolina recruit Laila Hull of Zionsville, while Amiyah Reynolds was third. Both are Indiana All-Stars, following Mila's selection to the team in 2022. Jones has been extremely close with the Reynolds family, which includes Steve and wife/assistant coach Marcy and their seven children, since her days in middle school.

Accolades: Jones, Foster and Reynolds are girls hoops first-team AP All-Staters

"I'm beyond excited about all of this," said Steve Reynolds via text Tuesday. "Rashunda, Mila and Amiyah have had so much success together already. And now for these three to get an opportunity to build at Purdue together and be a part of another opportunity to steer a program back to prominence is awesome. What an opportunity."

Coach Reynolds, a former star at South Bend Riley who played pro ball overseas, is now 146-82 in his nine seasons at Washington. He guided Washington to a Class 3A state runner-up finish in 2021. The Panthers went 96-18 the past four years, including 29 straight wins in the NIC.

The Panthers went 27-1 this past season with Jones, Amiyah Reynolds and her super sophomore sister Kira Reynolds, one of the top players nationally in the Class of 2025, leading the way. Washington, without Amiyah due to her foot injury suffered in the regular season finale, lost to Lake Central in the Class 4A semistate. The Panthers were ranked No. 1 in Class 4A and No. 10 nationally by ESPN. Washington led the state in scoring at 76.6 ppg. and in average margin of victory at 38.7 ppg.

"I would say Purdue has always been at the top of my list since my recruiting started, especially since they were my first offer in 2019 I'm pretty sure," said Amiyah via text Tuesday. "The biggest reason is coach Katie Gearlds. She's been my favorite for the longest. She's competitive and fiery but also super smart and I think we are very similar in that way. She's building something really good at Purdue and I'm excited to be a part of that."

"I'm super excited to play with Mila and Shunda again. We won a ring together in high school and we want another one in college. Most importantly, outside of playing with them, even though that is a plus I did want to make sure I made the decision based off of my wants, needs and values individually."

Amiyah Reynolds said her recovery from foot surgery in early February is progressing well.

More: South Bend Washington grad Mila Reynolds leaving Maryland, sister Amiyah released from NLI

"Everything is going good with my foot," Amiyah said. "I've progressed to be able to bear more weight with my walking boot on. No more crutches needed finally. Surgery is still scheduled to be around June to get all the screws and plates out and then move on from there.

"As of right now, I plan to red shirt my freshman year. Things could change, but this is a very sensitive injury so I will most likely be redshirting my freshman year."

Jones and Reynolds were both named to the Supreme 15 All-State team following their senior seasons. Jones averaged 19.8 points, 4.5 assists and 4.3 steals per game and finished third in program history in points with 1,791 and fourth in assists with 430. Reynolds, a 6-0 point guard, averaged 15.2 points, 8.1 rebounds and 6.3 assists per contest. She finished second in program history with 564 assists and eighth in scoring with 1,122 points. Reynolds is just the second Washington player, joining WNBA star Skylar Diggins-Smith, to have 1,000 points and 500 assists.

Mila Reynolds appeared in 22 games for Maryland, which went 28-8 and lost to No.1 South Carolina in the Elite 8 of the NCAA Tournament. The 6-3 guard/forward played 114 minutes, averaging 1.0 points and 0.9 rebounds per game. Her season highs included 12 minutes versus Pittsburgh and five points against Penn State. She did not play in the final game versus South Carolina and played two minutes in a 76-59 win over Notre Dame in the Sweet 16. Reynolds also played three minutes in a 74-72 win at Notre Dame on Dec. 1.

"I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to play closer to home and also having the chance to play with my sister still," said Mila via text Tuesday. "Being able to play with Shunda again is a super bonus."

Mila averaged 21.5 points and 8.1 rebounds her senior season in 2021-22 as Washington went 28-3. She finished her prep career on the West Side with 2,099 points, second only to Diggins-Smith, and with 990 rebounds. Mila totaled 53 double doubles at Washington and scored a program record 48 points in a win over Elkhart her junior season.

"I love the coaching staff at Purdue as well," noted Mila. "I'm just super excited to start the next phase of my career with Purdue."

The tremendous trio join a Purdue program surging under Katie Gearlds. The former Indiana Miss Basketball and Purdue All-American is 36-26 in two seasons in West Lafayette. Gearlds spent the previous eight seasons at Marian University in Indianapolis, where she went 228-50 with NAIA national championships in 2016 and 2017.

Gearlds won Miss Basketball honors in 2003 after leading her Beech Grove team to a Class 3A state title that ended with a win over South Bend St. Joe. She scored 2,521 points in her prep career and was MVP of the McDonald's All-America game in 2003. LeBron James was MVP of the boys game that year.

Gearlds scored 1,974 points as a three-year star guard at Purdue and then played three seasons in the WNBA and then professionally overseas.

Purdue finished 19-11 overall and 9-8 in the Big 10 this past season. The Boilermakers lost 66-64 to St. John's in a First Four game of the NCAA Tournament. Purdue lost 77-74 to Maryland in Big 10 play during the 2022-23 campaign.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Purdue University women's basketball lands Reynolds sisters