Valley Basketball: Brouyette Taking Next Step To IWU
AKRON – The beat will carry on for another of Tippecanoe Valley’s finest as senior Meredith Brouyette has signed a letter of intent to continue her basketball and academic career at Indiana Wesleyan University.
In the ceremony Tuesday night at the high school, Brouyette became the third member from the most successful class in Valley girls basketball history to sign with a college, joining Anne Secrest (Youngstown State) and Hannah Dunn (Anderson) to continue at the next level. Both Secrest and Dunn, along with cousin and teammate Addy Miller, were in attendance for the moment.
Brouyette helped Valley to an 85-17 mark in her four years with the program, establishing several notable feats along the way. The 85 wins is the most in a class at Valley, and 25 wins her sophomore and junior years are the most in a season. Valley also won 20-plus games the past three years in a row, which is also a school record, and her sophomore year went to the state finals for the first time in program history. Brouyette helped the team to three straight Three Rivers Conference titles – which includes a current 28-game conference win streak – as well as three straight sectional titles to add to the success in 2014-15 on the state run.
Brouyette averaged 8.7 points and 2.9 assists per game her senior season and was a sniper from three-point range, hitting 46 from deep. Brouyette was remarkably consistent, averaging 8.7 points a game as a junior and 8.6 points per game as a sophomore.
“I don’t even know if it’s been long enough for it to set in what all we’ve done,” Brouyette stated with her patented smile and honesty. As she fumbled with her state runner-up ring, she added, “Mom reminds me that I have to be proud of (the ring). It’s just weird for me, it hasn’t set in. I know we were really successful, but we were doing things no other teams had done. That’s exciting to know that we are able to leave that in the program.”
Brouyette joins Warsaw’s Dayton Groninger as part of the latest class for Indiana Wesleyan University, the two will be roommates in fact. The Wildcats are 19-13 this season and in the semi-finals of the NCCAA Midwest Regional, looking to build its résumé for a further postseason berth. IWU has won Division II National Championships in 2007 and 2013, won a 2002 NCCAA National Championship and have claimed the Crossroads League championship 11 times, most recently in 2015.
The Wildcats are in somewhat of a transition period as longtime head coach Scott Brooks, who guided IWU to its two national championships, resigned in an announcement in November. The recruiting process was then put on hold, as Brouyette wasn’t even made aware IWU was interested in signing her until the week of Feb. 12, long after most basketball recruits had made their decisions. Chet Foraker is the interim coach at IWU; Brett Bellinger is the assistant coach who made contact with Brouyette and got the ball rolling.
The opportunity to play for such a rich tradition was hard for Brouyette to pass up.
“My dad is friends with the men’s tennis coach there, and I just wanted to see the campus,” Brouyette said. “It wasn’t even an official visit, really. But he gave us a tour and I just fell in love with the campus. It’s beautiful. The facilities are so good. The whole faith aspect is also a huge part of my life, and it’s very important down there.
“I was at home and got a text from coach Bellinger, and he asked if there was a good time to call. I said yeah, I’m not doing anything since I don’t have practice! I didn’t know what to expect, but it was just kind of a huge shock. I was so excited because that is where I wanted to go, but I didn’t expect it.”
Brouyette plans to study elementary education with the intention to be a teacher upon graduation.