Sydney Parrish isn’t one for sitting idle. She’s taken up running, she’s getting shots up in the backyard and at a friend’s house, she’s working out at home. And she’s waiting. Lots of waiting. But mostly, she’s waiting.
“Me and all the recruits, we’re just waiting and waiting and waiting,” Parrish said. “It feels like it’s going to be so long until we can go.”
The window between the end of Hamilton Southeastern’s season in February and her departure for Oregon in July was supposed to be a busy time for Parrish — the Jordan Brand Classic was slated for March 27, the McDonald’s All America Game was scheduled for April 1 and the Indiana All-Stars games were scheduled for June 5 and 6. All of those were cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
So now she waits and dreams on what the future could look like.
She’ll do so as the 2020 IndyStar Miss Basketball winner, edging out Northwestern’s Madison Layden in the statewide voting. Parrish received 102 votes to Layden’s 83. Layden’s Northwestern teammate Kendall Bostic received 22 votes.
Parrish lives up to the hype
Before we look ahead, let’s take a look back. Parrish doesn’t get where she’s going without being where she’s been.
In her first varsity game as a freshman, she scored 29 points.
Former Ben Davis coach Joe Lentz didn’t know who Parrish was before that game. “But over the course of the game, we learned a whole lot,” he said. “We were able to handle their older players, but she just took charge of the game. For a freshman to take over and be the go-to player down the stretch was pretty impressive.”
She averaged 16.2 points as a freshman and 15.7 points as a sophomore. By the time her junior season came along, she wasn’t the only one on the Royals roster coming into her prime. Amaya Hamilton (Duquesne), Malea Jackson (Illinois-Springfield) and Tayah Irvin (Northern Kentucky) were seniors on that 2018-19 team. But what Parrish did that year — averaged 21 points, including scoring 30 points in the Royals’ Class 4A state title win — was unparalleled. She was named the Indiana Gatorade Player of the Year, and seemed primed to be the best player in Indiana as a senior.
But there were questions. Parrish went from being a piece of the HSE puzzle to being the whole puzzle, at least on the surface. And she knew it. The question was, could she live up to the hype?
“I think I’m the best player in the state,” she told the IndyStar in November. “All eyes are on us. All eyes are on me.”
HSE went 22-2 in the regular season before losing to Fishers in the sectional title game. Parrish averaged 24.8 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.4 steals per game, including eight games with 30 or more points and eight double-doubles.
After HSE’s season came to an end, coach Chris Huppenthal had this to say: “She’s the best damn player I’ve ever seen.”
“I think I left a pretty good legacy. We won a state championship,” Parrish said after the loss to Fishers. “That’s all we really want to do in the long run. I’ve gone to a sectional championship the other three years. We have a really tough sectional.”
She finishes her high school career as HSE’s all-time leading scorer and Hamilton County’s all-time leading girls scorer.
Would Parrish change anything that happened over the past four years?
“Not one thing,” she said. “Everything was perfect.”
Finishing unfinished business
Sabrina Ionescu, the unanimous AP women’s basketball player of the year and the projected No. 1 pick in the upcoming WNBA draft, did things with Oregon that no one has done before. She set a new NCAA career triple-double mark and became the first player in college history to have 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 1,000 assists. She could have entered the draft a year ago, but came back for her senior season. She had unfinished business.
Oregon figured to be one of the favorites to win the 2020 NCAA women’s tournament after making it to the Final Four last season. Then the sports world shut down. Oregon’s business remains unfinished, and Ionescu is gone.
Sydney Parrish, your table is ready. She’s ranked the No. 8 player in the 2020 class and is part of the nation’s top recruiting class, which features five five-star recruits and McDonald’s All Americans.
“It pushes the 2020 recruiting class,” Parrish said. “It’s still unfinished business. We still need to get there. People are looking at us because we are the No. 1 recruiting class in the nation. The seniors that left this year left a legacy. We have to carry it on.”
Parrish’s relationship with Ionescu began before she ever set foot on Oregon’s campus. After the HSE star missed out on making the USA Basketball youth national team in 2016, she got a text from Ionescu. That relationship continued through Parrish’s visits, and it left an impression.
“She’s just as good of a person as she is an athlete. I know that’s hard to match,” Ionescu said. “She couldn’t be nicer. I wish people knew how great of a person she is, because I don’t think some people know that.”
Does Sydney want to be the next Sabrina?
“That’s a huge goal of mine,” she said. “What she’s done for the team, for her state of Oregon, her town in California, for college basketball in general, she’s done things nobody has done before. I would love to do that.”
And Parrish already has her eyes set on might come after Oregon — remember, she doesn’t like idling.
“100%, I would love to play in the WNBA,” she said. “If I can’t make the WNBA, I definitely want to play professionally overseas. Basketball is what I’ve been doing forever. I love doing it and want to play as long as possible.”
In late July, the next chapter of Parrish’s career begins in Eugene. But she’ll take a bit of Indiana with her. And a piece of her heart will always be home.
“When you come to a game in Indiana compared to a game outside of our state, it’s like they don’t even know how exciting basketball is and how personal we take it,” Parrish said. “Our fans are so much more enthusiastic, our players are so much more intense. It’s night and day. Indiana basketball is unlike any other state.”
Story written by: Matthew VanTryon, Indianapolis Star Published 11:03 a.m. ET April 10, 2020 url:https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/high-school/2020/04/10/hamilton-se-star-sydney-parrish-wins-2020-indiana-miss-basketball/5121483002/
Follow IndyStar girls basketball insider Matthew VanTryon on Twitter @MVanTryon and email him story ideas at matthew.vantryon@indystar.com.