Brownsburg's Mavunga named Indiana Miss Basketball

Click to view image

Staff Report

In one of the closet votes since 1999, Brownsburg High School’s Stephanie Mavunga earned the distinguished title of state’s best.

On Wednesday, Mavunga was named the 2013 Indiana Miss Basketball award recipient, edging Hamilton Southeastern’s Taya Reimer for the honor by only five votes, 79-74.

It was the slimmest margin of victory for the annual award in more than a decade when Connersville’s April McDivitt slipped past New Albany’s Kennitra Johnson by three votes in 1999.

This season, Mavunga, a 6-foot-4 North Carolina recruit, led the Class 4A Bulldogs to their first sectional title in 12 years. Brownsburg advanced to the 4A regional semifinals and finished the year with a 20-4 record.

The senior forward averaged 23.2 points, 13.4 rebounds, 4.0 blocks, 1.5 steals and 1.0 assists per game this year.

The individual accolades began to pile up at season’s end for Mavunga, the school’s first Indiana Miss Basketball honoree.

Mavunga was named Indiana Basketball Coaches Association All-State for a second consecutive year and a WBCA All-American Game selection. She earned the Indiana Gatorade Player of the Year award for a second straight year and, along with Reimer, was tabbed a McDonald’s All-American.

Reimer, a Notre Dame recruit, has been named the Morgan Wooten Award recipient, the top female honor for a McDonald’s All-American.

Reimer and Mavunga competed against one another in the Hoosier Crossroads Conference throughout their careers. Reimer and the HSE Royals won the HCC title this year, finishing a flawless 9-0 in the conference.

“Having someone in the state who is as good as you or someone that is better than you maybe just gives you all the more reason to play harder or play a better game,” Mavunga told the Indianapolis Star. “Taya is an amazing player. I respect her as a player and a person. Obviously the race was really close and it shows how good a player she is. It could have gone either way.”

Mavunga compiled 1,739 points and 984 rebounds in her career and has a grade point average of 4.136 on a 4.0 scale, according to reports.

Stephanie is the second Mavunga in school history to be named an Indiana All-Star.

In 2008, older brother, Julian, was selected as an Indiana All-Star along with 4A state championship teammate Gordon Hayward.  

In addition to Julian and Hayward, Stephanie Mavunga joins Lauren Taylor (2008), Eric Riggs (1995), Craig Brunes (1992), Amy Brauman (1991) and Judy Cummings (1979) as Indiana All-Stars.

No other player in school history has been named Miss Basketball or Mr. Basketball.

“She has come such a long way in four years,” Julian told the Indianapolis Star. “She worked so hard to get where she is now. It was always her goal to be the best in Indiana and she got there.”