5'9 Portage junior guard Nikki Monohan earned a spot on the North Team after a solid season, averaging 15.5 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.1 steals per game for the 5-18 Indians.

The Indianapolis Star has released the names of the 2012 Junior All-Star team members, who will prepare the Senior All-Stars for their two-game series with Kentucky in June.

Headlining the core list are two premier players in 6’3 PF Stephanie Mavunga of Brownsburg — recently named the Indiana Gatorade Player of the Year — and 6’2 G/F Taya Reimer of Hamilton Southeastern. Both players are being courted by a number of nationally esteemed women’s basketball programs.

The Core team will play in two exhibition games, joined by the North Team for one game and the South team in the other. The Junior-Senior All-Star exhibition game dates and sites have not yet been determined, nor have the Junior All Star coaches been named.

The 2012 Junior All-Star team members are as follows:

CORE TEAM
Celeste Edwards, North Central
Ally Lehman, Indian Creek
Stephanie Mavunga, Brownsburg
Bridget Perry, Roncalli
Taya Reimer, Hamilton Southeastern
Ariana Simmons, Fort Wayne South

NORTH TEAM
Lindsay Baker, Warsaw
Andrijana Cvitkovic, Culver
Bailey Farley, Fort Wayne Canterbury
Nikki Monohan, Portage
Meredith Shipman, Fort Wayne Snider
Caitlyn Tolen, Benton Central

SOUTH TEAM
Jenn Anderson, Westfield
Nicole Anderson, Terre Haute North
Katie Curtis, Lebanon
Jill Morrison, Winchester
Rhagen Smith, Sullivan
Dakota Weatherford, Hamilton Heights

Selection Process
The Junior All Stars are selected by the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association, which appoints a committee of 22 IBCA coaches who meet, discuss and select the team members. The selection process is conducted by the IBCA as follows:

1. Nomination letters go out to all boy’s and girl’s Head Coaches in Indiana.

2. Coaches have approximately one month to nominate the best Junior players they have seen from their area (including their own players).

3. These nominations are sent to their regional representatives who form the selection committee.

4. The selection committee consists of 22 coaches.  Sixteen coaches representing sixteen geographic regions across the state as well as two 1A or 2 A coaches from each of the three IHSAA districts.

5. The committee meets to discuss those players who have been nominated.  If three Junior All Star games are to be played the committee selects a core group of six players, plus six players form the north, six players from the south and six players from the central part of the state.  If only two games are played the committee will select six core players, plus six players from the north and six players from the south.