Senior Sydney Parrish, a Fishers, Indiana native who attended Hamilton Southeastern High School was Indiana Miss Basketball and the Gatorade State Player of The Year in 2020. The Hoosier state kid is getting to live out her dream of leading Indiana to a tournament run in her final season at Indiana.
Indiana guard Sydney Parrish began her career at Oregon leaving the program in 2022 to return to Indiana for her final two seasons as a college star.
The fifth-year senior is the Hoosiers second leading scorer and is averaging career highs in field goal attempts (9.3) and 3-point attempts (5.3) per game.
Parrish has been the heart and soul of this Teri Moren led Indiana team and her return to action is what makes them a dangerous out in this NCAA tournament. She is a true Indiana Hoosier at heart so her returning to Bloomington means everything to Parrish.
“It's everything a little girl from Indiana would dream of.“ "This is just something that I've always dreamed of.” “You have to dream big when you're younger,” Parrish said.
"‘It's everything a little girl from Indiana would dream of""Sydney Parrish
“My grandparents live about 20, 25 minutes outside of Bloomington, so they always pushed me to be a Hoosier fan growing up,” Parrish told IndyStar. “Getting candy stripes for Christmas and going to men's and women's basketball games all the time. I really did grow up a Hoosiers fan.”
Indiana, the No. 9 seed in its region, will play on Sunday against defending champions and No. 1 seed South Carolina after their 76-68 win over Utah Friday afternoon.
Parrish played 34 minutes of action scoring 8 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists but had foul trouble all game, eventually fouling out with 4 minutes left in the ball game.
Indiana will have to play flawless to beat heavy favorite South Carolina and extend their season. Dawn Staley's squad is favorite by (-22.5) points Odds provided by FanDuel Sportsbook.