INDIANAPOLIS — Unofficial Jackson County Day at Hinkle Fieldhouse was not quite as big as Oktoberfest in Seymour, but for a transplanted, out-of-town event, the occasion was large and memorable.

Neither Sydney Jaynes nor Bailey Tabeling had the best days of their basketball careers on the court Thursday afternoon, but it will be hard to top the warmth of the festivities.

As Jaynes’ host Butler team defeated visiting Ohio University 69-49 at the venerable hoops site, they were both queens for a day, feted by former teammates, family, friends and the Trinity Lutheran High School community.

It was plain old basketball during the 40-minute time span on the clock but a block party on the court post-game as the alumni duo darlings were mobbed by admirers.

Jaynes, the 6-foot-3 junior Bulldogs’ center from Brownstown, scored six points and gathered seven rebounds on an off-shooting day. Tabeling, a 5-foot-10 freshman guard from Seymour, scored eight points. Recently, they were teammates at Trinity, which is a member of the Class A classification in Indiana high school basketball, the smallest division.

It is rare enough for a Class A school to send a player into the top level of NCAA Division I play, never mind two, and wildly rare for circumstances to align where those two players who do not compete in the same league ever face one another on the court. This particular situation where Jaynes and Tabeling played against each other is unlikely to ever be repeated.

Butler (8-4) of the Big East won the game handily over Ohio (3-6) of the Mid-America Conference, but for most of the fans present when students were not because of Christmas vacation, it was not so much about who won but that Jaynes and Tabeling were center stage.

Oh, it should be noted Jaynes set Trinity’s all-time girls basketball scoring record, then Tabeling broke it and owns the mark now, so they created a lot of fans at Trinity Lutheran with their accomplishments.

Afterwards, when seemingly half of Seymour posed for photos with the two young women (one at a time, two at a time, everyone together), a smiling Tabeling was asked if it felt as if she was a celebrity.

“Just a little,” she said.

Jaynes was prepared to be excited after being told the current Trinity boys and girls teams, fans and coaches were all coming to the game.

This is Jaynes’ third season at Butler, and she is averaging about eight points a game despite bemoaning she has been in a shooting slump. Her first season was a dismaying one, the team going 1-27. Last season, the Bulldogs won 11 games, and this year, they are far ahead of that pace.

“It’s a lot better,” Jaynes, 21, said of how things have progressed. “This year, we feel a lot more secure as a team. So far, it’s been great. We’re building a culture.”

After being high school teammates with Tabeling, it was odd to think of being opponents.

“It’s a very surreal feeling,” Jaynes said. “We’ve only been teammates when we’ve been on the court. It’s all going to be good vibes.”

Except for the game period.

“That’s going to be cutthroat, but we want the best for each other,” Jaynes said.

Tabeling, 19, said in her first year, she has had to adjust to the speed of the game in Division I from Class A.

“It’s definitely a big difference,” Tabeling said.

Tabeling showed up for school in the fall in Athens, Ohio, about a four-hour drive from home, not knowing anyone, although there are two other players from Indiana on the roster.

She has been coming off the bench and averaging about 15 minutes per game, though already has had one huge performance for the Bobcats, pumping in 23 points against Syracuse recently.

“My teammates were passing me the ball, and I got hot,” Tabeling said.

When Tabeling heard Trinity was going to turn out in force for the Ohio-Butler game, Tabeling wasn’t that surprised.

“Trinity has always had a good support system,” she said.

Tabeling and Jaynes on the court together at the Division I level sets a good example for the players still in high school Class A, Tabeling believes.

“It’s nice showing the kids who are at Trinity now that it doesn’t mean it defines you,” she said. “It doesn’t matter where you go. Just to be on the court with Syd is going to feel good.”

For the adults who followed them in high school, too. Mike Lang, who coached both Trinity stars before switching to mentor of the boys team, stays in touch with his ex-players. They call and he offers advice. When they come home, they are welcome in the old gym.

“It’s an event that I don’t think will ever happen again,” Lang said of the Jaynes-Tabeling meetup. “This is a special occasion. It’s neat to see. We’re just being supportive. We’re there for them.”

The players wore their game faces when play began. Since Jaynes is a center and Tabeling is a guard, they didn’t cover one another at any time, and Jaynes said they didn’t talk during the action. As the teams passed through the post-game handshake line, however, the Trinity gals exchanged a pass-by hug.

After other fans departed and coaches spoke to their teams, everyone who remained, 100, 200 people, lingered and mingled on the court. It was a selfie extravaganza. Tabeling and Jaynes posing together, separately, with their coaches, with family members. Anyone who had a phone or a camera was clicking away.

Doug Jaynes, Sydney’s father, surveyed the scene and summed it up.

“It’s all good,” he said. “It’s more than good.”