Indiana University would have loved to have a DeMuth dynasty for four more years. But instead, Julie DeMuth will be headed to another state school in Ball State next fall.

The Merrillville senior verbally committed to Ball State earlier this week after being impressed with the school during a campus visit two weeks ago.

Julie’s sister Jenny is a junior for the Hoosiers’ women’s basketball team.

“I really liked my visit. I liked the younger coaches and they’re an up-and-coming program,” Julie said.

The Cardinals finished with a 21-10 record, losing to Missouri 88-77 in the second round of the Women’s National Invitational Tournament last March.

She’ll also have some familiar area faces on the coaching staff. Ball State head coach Tracy Roller played for Crown Point while administrative assistant Jeanette Gray graduated from Valparaiso University in the spring.

“(Roller) has been recruiting me hard for the last year,” DeMuth said. “I’d love to play with (Jenny) again but it worked out better at Ball State.”

DeMuth will be playing her senior year for the Pirates after transferring from Highland over the summer.

She averaged 17.5 points, 7.9 rebounds and 3.5 steals per game to earn Post-Tribune Girls Player of the Year honors last season in leading the Trojans to the semistate.

She is almost as talented in volleyball as basketball, but she decided to stick with the latter as she looked toward the future.

“I was thinking about volleyball, but basketball would be better for me in the long run,” she said.