Austin is Scott County's other high school, just up the road. The Warriors have played the Eagles since at least 1930, more than 140 times, and these days the boys' and girls' county games come in Thanksgiving week.
Scottsburg has had the better of it. But Austin has had its nights, and the most famous of them wasn't in this gym. The 1986 sectional final at Madison went to six overtimes. With five seconds left in the sixth, Austin's Kevin Reece took the inbounds pass and drove the length of the floor, and his ten-footer just before the buzzer bounced around the rim and dropped: Austin 60, Scottsburg 58. They were his only two points of the night. Four years later, in the same sectional final, the Warriors won 69–65: their first sectional title in eleven years.
107–34Warriors vs. Austin
47–14Warriorettes vs. Austin
Scottsburg's record in the series, as the team's own site tallies it (read October 2026).
Feb. 5, 1983: the Warriorettes carry Donna Cheatham off the floor after beating Austin for the sectional title. The Madison Courier, Feb. 7, 1983; staff photo by Bob Demaree.
At the Madison sectional
March 8, 1986: “Tears of joy.” Austin's coach Dave Lueking after six overtimes. The Madison Courier; staff photo by Bob Demaree.
March 3, 1990: Scottsburg's team, cheerleaders and coaches after beating Austin 69–65. The Madison Courier; staff photo by Bob Demaree.
At Austin
The Courier-Journal, Saturday, Nov. 25, 2000.
Nov. 24, 2000
No. 1 falls.
The day after Thanksgiving in 2000, Austin was ranked No. 1 in Class AA, and the Warriors went up the road to play there before a full house: the 115th meeting of the Scott County schools. By Austin's second timeout, with 2:25 left in the first quarter, Scottsburg led 12–2. Austin had nine turnovers and had missed all nine of its shots. The Warriors forced 31 turnovers in all, held Anthony Winchester, one of the best juniors in Indiana, to 16 points, and won 60–38.
“Some of the Austin and Scottsburg players appeared to be sitting this one out …” “… an overtime rouser.” The Chronicle, Dec. 6, 1962.Nov. 27, 1962
“The” game of the year
Scottsburg won 50–48 in overtime. Things got “a little wild both on the floor and in the stands,” the county paper said, and it called it “‘the’ game of the year for the two teams.”
In Jim Barley's first season, 1965–66, Austin beat his Warriors 86–61, then beat them again in the sectional. “I hold the record,” he said. That summer, he said, he did a lot of groundhog hunting: he “had to stay out of the city.” Then he beat Austin eight times in a row, the eighth 91–65 before “a capacity crowd of about 3,700,” the Courier-Journal said.
The girls' sectional final: the second-ranked Warriorettes against Austin, the defending champions. A long line waited outside, and there was “a capacity crowd in the gymnasium which seats 3,636,” the Madison Courier said. The IHSAA's assistant commissioner, Patricia Roy, called it “the biggest crowd I've ever seen at a girls' sectional game.” Austin led 47–45 with 5:41 to play. From a 49–49 tie the Warriorettes scored eight in a row, and won 65–55.
Austin's senior guards, Jodie Whitaker and Tina Reece, scored 49 between them, and the Lady Eagles won 72–54 “before a rabid crowd of 2,500.” That spring Whitaker was Indiana's Miss Basketball, and the state's all-time leading girls' scorer, with 2,095 points.
The year before, at Austin, Scottsburg had held Anthony Winchester to 16 (above). Here he scored 50, the most any visiting boys' player has scored in the gym, and Austin won 86–77. He went on to Western Kentucky, and in 2010 he came back to coach the Warriors for a season. His first game was at Austin.
Austin won 78–61 in front of what the team's site called a “packed Meyer crowd.” Through the 2025–26 season it's still the Eagles' last win over the Warriors in boys' basketball.
Photo by Roger Vaughn, on scottsburgwarriors.com.Nov. 27, 2019
Capacity
Scottsburg won 60–33 “before a capacity crowd in the ‘Pressure Cooker’.” What the night would be remembered for, the team's site said, was three dunks in the first quarter.
The first game of the state-title season. Photo: DLHahn Photography (Eyes of the Heart).Nov. 22, 2023
Shuttle buses
The season that ended with the state title began here, against Austin. The preview planned shuttle buses from the middle school for the overflow parking and four doors open, and the Warriors won 86–35.
Originals photographed for meyergym.com, photographs and recollections people shared with us, and posts we can't link to.
Photograph of the Austin game at the Meyer Gym, Nov. 22, 2023, by DLHahn Photography (Eyes of the Heart), shared with meyergym.comBacks up: Nov. 22, 2023: Shuttle buses
