Girls basketball: A look at the best to play for Princeton girls

There have been a lot of talented players to suit up for Princeton High School girls basketball in the 50-year history of the program.

When you look at the best player to ever play, you have to start with Tiah Romagnoli.

A 6-1 athletic center, Romagnoli (’99) is the all-time leading scorer of any girl or boy at PHS with 1,506 career points as well as the girls’ rebound leader (933). She was a three-time BCR Player of the Year, averaging a double-double each season, topped by 20.1 ppg as a junior and 13.2 rebounds as a senior.

Romagnoli went on to play volleyball at Indiana Wesleyan University.

Charlie Yelm, Romagnoli’s coach at PHS, said during her senior season that “we could always plug Tiah’s numbers in and hope that the rest of the team played well enough for us to win.”

Rounding out the first five are guards Tina Forth (’91) and Anna Murray (’18), forward Angie Noble (’87) and center Brooke Jensen (’07).

Murray, who averaged team-high 16.7 points, 10.3 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 3.3 steals per game as a senior, was highly touted coming up in the youth ranks playing on a boys team. She’s ranked third in scoring with 1,169 points and would have had a serious shot at No. 1 had a knee injury not knocked her out in the second game of her freshmen season.

Initially recruited to play basketball for Elmhurst University, Murray went on to play volleyball at IVCC. She is now is a member of the PHS’ boys coaching staff.

Jensen was a post (6-0) who could step out from the paint and shoot. She was a co-Player of the Year, two-time First-Team All-BCR and a star of the 2007 sectional champions, averaging 14.6 points and 8.4 rebounds a game. She stands No. 2 all-time with 1,283 career points.

Noble, the first BCR Player of the Year, graduated as the all-time scoring leader just shy of the 1,000 career mark at 994. Coach John Smith said he regrets not getting her to 1,000.

He sat her out in the second half of many blowout games over the course of a 20-6, regional championship season and one game entirely when he played his second string against a fledgling Hall team after soundly beating them the first time. Smith said Noble could have easily scored 200 or more points.

Noble, who was the leading scorer in the NCIC (18.2 ppg) as a senior, is now ranked sixth in all-time scoring and also held the career rebound record (769) and single-game scoring record (33). She went on to play volleyball at ISU.

Forth, the point guard for the 1991 regional champions, became the first 1,000-point scorer in school history with 1,029 points. The First-Team All-BCR (3 times) and NCIC selection made 114 3-pointers over three years, averaging 13.1 ppg senior season.

The setter for the 1990 state volleyball champions, Forth went on to play both basketball and volleyball at Monmouth College. The future Mrs. Heller now teaches at Logan Junior High.

Jasmine Kunkel (’12) heads up our second five, joined by guards Rachel Robinson (’89) and forwards Austyn Miller (’07), Kelly Schaill (’99) and CJ Rhodes (’12).

Kunkel joined the 1,000-point club with two points to spare. The 2011-12 co-BCR Player of the Year averaged 13.6 ppg senior year with a season-high 32, utilizing an explosiveness one opposing coach labeled “unstoppable.” Also a soccer and volleyball standout, Kunkel was a two-time BCR Athlete of the Year.

Miller shared BCR Player of the Year honors with Jensen off the 2007 sectional champions. She was a match-up problem for area defenses with her size and quickness, averaging team highs 16.4 points and 9.7 rebounds per game her senior year. She is ranked No. 8 all-time in career scoring with 844 points.

Schaill (5-11) was the second twin Tower behind Tiah Romagnoli when PHS played in Class AA, averaging 17.9 points and 5.5 rebounds a game as a senior. She holds the school-game scoring record with 40 points against L-P on Jan. 23, 1998.

Rhodes was a three-year varsity player, a ‘quiet” team leader who led by example. The First-Team All-BCR selection averaged 11.3 ppg as a senior with 49 3-pointers. She finished with 927 career points, ranked No. 7 all-time.

Robinson was a two-time All-BCR selection, named as First-Team NCIC as a senior. She made her mark as a sophomore on PHS’ 1986-87 regional champions and averaged 11.9 ppg over a three-year varsity career. She stands ninth all-time with 831 career points.

Other standouts over the years include BCR Players of the Year Mckenzie Hecht (’22) and Olivia Gartin (’23) along with Mary Bouxsein (’82), Alison Smith (’94), Tami Romagnoli (’96), Amber Briddick (’00), Gina Lopez (’01), Dawn Nissen (’03), Ashly Lowdermilk (’05), Angela Baumgartner (’06), Leah Shaw (’09), McKenzie Coleman (’20) and Taylor Quiram (’21).

Current sophomores Camryn Driscoll and Keighley Davis are showing the potential to join this conversation as some of the best players in program history. Davis was a co-BCR Player of the Year in 2022-23 with Gartin and both will be targeting 1,000 career points by the time they are done.