It was quite a twist when Highland senior center Haylie Houchin emerged from the regional championship game with a scratchy voice.
Highland girls basketball coach Eric Kundich, who describes the 5-foot-11 Houchin as a vocal leader, noted practice was unusually quiet this week.
“Sorry, my voice is gone from screaming on Saturday,” Houchin said with a wide smile.
And why not? Houchin and the Trojans had much to celebrate after they toppled Culver Academies to win their first regional title since 2003. Highland (15-10) advanced to the semifinals of the Class 3A Huntington North Semistate and will play Columbia City (23-4), which defeated Highland’s Northwest Crossroads Conference rival Lowell in a regional.
Houchin’s contributions to that success extend well beyond the 1.4 points and 2.6 rebounds she averages. Part of two sectional championship teams in three seasons, Houchin is a co-captain with star junior guard/forward Jordan Steele, who ranks fourth in the state in scoring with 26.2 points per game, according to MaxPreps.
“I’m always very vocal on the court,” Houchin said. “Maddy Greiner is too. We make sure that practice is always going good. Even if someone is down, we’re always the ones yelling and making sure we’re getting on one another but also lifting each other up. We always want to make sure there’s that positive atmosphere.”
Kundich said Houchin accomplishes that in more ways than one.
“Haylie understands her role on the team,” Kundich said. “She leads, first and foremost, and she does the little things on the court like play solid paint defense, box out, set screens for our guards, relieve pressure when our guards get into trouble.
“She is a glue kid that holds us all together as a family, and family is probably our strongest attribute as a team. We do a lot of things off the court to develop chemistry, and Haylie organizes and leads these events.”
Along those lines, Steele said Houchin is “like the mother of our team.”
“I talk to her a lot about what we can do at practice, team bonding stuff, and just how to make the team closer,” Steele said. “On the court or on the bench, no matter where she is, she’ll always be up. She will never get down on any of us.”
Houchin embraces her role as a unifying and uplifting presence.
“I’m able to keep everybody together,” she said. “There hasn’t been any drama. Just being able to have everyone’s back and be that person for literally any of my other teammates to come and talk to me if there is a problem to clear up or if they’re happy about something and just want to talk about it — me being that shoulder to lean on for my teammates has been my main thing.”
Houchin has built up those relationships over the course of several years. She and senior guard/forward Alyssa Niemann, senior guard/forward Maddy Greiner and senior forward/center Mya Simmons have played together since they were 5 years old in town ball. They all attended Southridge Elementary School and Highland Middle School.
“Alyssa, Mya and Maddy are literally my best friends,” Houchin said.
So Houchin had a sense of what this group might be capable of accomplishing.
“I feel really confident in my team,” she said. “This is the closest team I’ve ever had. We really are like a family. I’ve been playing with these girls since we were little, especially the three other seniors. Us having that connection as a family, we’ve brought that to our senior year and given it to the underclassmen.
“I definitely had confidence in us. I knew it was going to be a tough game (against Culver Academies). But it just felt amazing that it paid off and everything worked. It’s insane. It’s unreal. It’s been a super cool experience.”
Kundich, who is in his first season at Highland after 15 seasons at East Chicago Central, also took over the girls golf team. He said the first player he contacted was Houchin, Highland’s No. 1 golfer and the captain of that team in the fall.
Houchin also is a thrower in track and field. She won a sectional title in the discus last spring.
Her bond with Kundich, who won one sectional title with the Cardinals and notched his first regional title as a coach with the Trojans, has continued to grow.
“In the summer, when we first met, I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, there’s this new person coming in senior year. I don’t know how it’s going to go,’” Houchin said. “But I had the opportunity to have him as a coach for golf, as well, so it was really cool to get to see him through that side and get to know him. So I had the great opportunity to help the other girls get to know him and be like, ‘He’s not a scary guy. You don’t have to worry the first day.’
“He’s a great coach to talk to. He’s hard on us, but we know that he loves us and cares about us.”
Away from the court, Houchin is class president, president of the Key Club and a member of the athletic leadership committee, which opens the door to participate in Indiana High School Athletic Association leadership conferences.
Houchin is also one of six recipients of the prestigious Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship in Lake County. With full tuition covered for four years, she plans to attend Purdue and become a pharmacist.
But before Houchin does that, she has more basketball to play.
“I’m just so happy with how the season has gone so far, and I’m so happy to get to hang out with my friends, continuing to play basketball this week,” she said. “I wouldn’t be here without my teammates.
“Being able to be with my fellow seniors and being able to experience this and have this opportunity, it’s something I never thought in a million years I would have. So I’m grateful to have it. To be able to have our last season, this big hurrah, to really just make a statement, has been super cool.”
