North Montgomery girls basketball coach Ryan Nuppnau has a lot of good things to say about Piper Ramey. He sums up his four-year starter as “she exhibits everything you think of in a student athlete.”
The awards and accolades are many for Ramey, and now she can claim to be the 2024-25 Area Girls Basketball Player of the Year.
Ramey’s game is exhibited in how many categories she led the Chargers in this past season. She was the team’s leading scorer at 15.5 points per game, field goal percentage with 51% and her 9.2 rebounds per game. She also led the Chargers in assists per game (2.7) and steals per game (2.7). From the free throw line Piper led her team with 67 percent.
Ramey also entered into the history books at North Montgomery when she joined the 1,000 points in a career club. The do-everything player ended her career with 1,105 points and All-Sagamore Conference recognition for four years.
Even with all the individual success, Ramey said her team’s success was her biggest joy this past season. When she was a sophomore, the Chargers suffered through a 4-20 season and a 9-15 season her junior year. This year’s team was 16-10 and won the Sugar Creek Classic.
“I think the thing I will remember is how we hung together and had a winning season,” Ramey said. “We had a lot of young players but we put some things together and we were a family. It was a fun season. Winning the Sugar Creek Classic was big for us.”
Ramey, a three-sport athlete and a member of the Scholastic Honor Society, said the struggles helped shape her and prepared her to humbly accept success.
“I really believe the bad years prepared me mentally for this season,” Ramey said.
Ramey, the daughter of Shawn and Tonya Ramey, thanked her parents for their guidance and support through the years. She also thanked her older siblings, sister Taylor and brother Dakota, for cheering on her teams.
She also complimented Nuppnau and assistant coach Matt Voorhees.
“Coach Nuppnau was a great leader for us,” Ramey said. “He pushed us and was there when we needed him. You knew he truly had confidence in us which was huge.”
Ramey said Voorhees was the team’s most vocal supporter and motivator and she appreciated his comments before each game to help prepare the team.
Charger coaches have learned to appreciate Ramey for being a good leader for the team.
“Piper had meant a lot to our program because she is the type of player you can build a team around,” Nuppnau said. “She is the type of player others want to play with because they know Piper will always be there for them on and off the court. She is also the type of player that makes everyone else around her better.”
Finally, Ramey thanked her teammates and especially the other two seniors on the team Blair Nichols and Krestyn Bradford.
“We have played together ever since grade school,” Ramey said. “My dad coached us when we were young. But to experience basketball with them for all the years is a great feeling and will be a memory for a long time.”
The Charger coach said he knew before Ramey entered the high school that he was going to have a talented athlete.
“You knew coming up through the youth program and middle school that Piper was the type of player who was special,” Nuppnau said. “It was like having a coach on the court and she gave us a calm presence.”
Ramey knows her future will be different not playing sports after lettering for four years in volleyball, basketball and softball in high school. But, she is ready to become a student at Ball State University to study elementary education.
“It is going to be different to not play sports,” Ramey said. “But I am ready to move on with a lot of good memories of high school.”
