PDC Winter Sports Preview 2012

BasketballBasketball2012

November 21, 2012

A Special PublicationOf The

Piqua Daily Call

PreviewPreview

BY ROB KISERSports [email protected]

Second-year boys bas-ketball coach Heath But-ler knew turning theprogram around wouldnot happen over night.And he also knows

there are specific thingsthat have to happen forthat improvement tocome.And Butler is already

seeing a lot of those signswith this year’s team.“We have a lot of guys

playing a lot of basketballin the off-season,” Butlersaid. “We have guys play-ing AAU basketball. Ithink it helps with mebeing a football coach andbeing around some ofthose guys. You can justsee that we are ahead ofthings and get right intowhat we need to work on.”It is not the only reason

Butler is optimistic aboutthis year’s teams.“I think we can

matchup a lot better withother teams,” he said. “Wecan put different lineupsout there. I feel like we arein a lot better position todo that this year.”The seniors on the team

include three returningletterwinners and onenewcomer.Ryan Hughes, a 6-2

wing and 6-4 post JoshHolfinger were bothstarters last year, while 6-1 guard Luke Karn saw alot of playing time aftercoming back from an in-jury. Joining the team thisyear is 6-foot guard Do-rian Ashe.Holfinger averaged 6.8

points and 4.1 rebounds,while Hughes scored 6points and pulled down4.9 rebounds per game.“I expect Josh (Hughes)

to give us presence in the

post,” Butler said. “Wehave some more size thisyear, which will allow usto move Ryan (Hughes)out to his natural position.Luke (Karn) has a lot ofexperience at the guardposition and came backand played well after theinjury. Dorian is new tothe team this year.”The juniors include two

of the best players off theJV team in 5-foot-9 pointguard Xavier Harrisonand leading scorer DanielMonnin, a 6-1 forward.Also moving up are 6-1guard Jacob Sowry and 5-11 guard Bailey Lyons.“Dan (Monnin) has been

a very good player on theJV team,” Butler said.“Xavier (Harrison) canhandle the ball and is avery athletic player. Hisquickness is going to helpus. Bailey Lyons is alsomoving up from the JVteam. Jacob (Sowry) hasan ACL injury, but we arehoping he is going to beable to play some.”Butler feels very good

about the three youngestplayers on the squad.The sophomores are 6-7

post Erik Vondenhueveland 5-10 guard Tate Hon-eycutt.“Erik gives us another

big body inside,” Butlersaid. “With him and Josh(Holfinger), that is goingto allow us to match upwith teams better. Tate(Honeycutt) is the leadingscorer off the freshmanteam. So, we have the JV(Daniel Monnin) andfreshman leading scorers.”The lone freshman is 6-

3 wing Colton Bachman.“You can see he is ad-

vanced (as a freshman),”Butler said. “He hasplayed a lot of basketballand he has good size.Those things are why he isable to be on varsity.”

Butler said Piqua willbe a little different stylethis year.“We will be more up-

tempo,” he said. “One ofthe reasons for that is wematchup better and weare pretty athletic andquick.”Butler said the GWOC

North could be wide open.“Trotwood-Madison is

always going to be there,”he said. “Troy graduated alot of guys, but Tim(Miller) does a nice jobwith them.“Sidney beat us twice

last year and there coachis doing a nice job up

there. Vandalia-Butlergraduated a lot, but theyare always going to begood. Greenville has afreshman that is going tobe really good. He startedat quarterback for them infootball. So, I expect themto be better.”Butler hopes Piqua can

be right in there.“Right now, we are fo-

cused on the first gamewith Wapakoneta,” hesaid. “Then, we have Tipp,Centerville and then jumpright into North play withButler.“We hope to be right in

there (in the North). I re-

ally think the team thatimproves the most as theseason going on is theteam that is going to winthe North.”One thing Butler is sure

of — Piqua is alreadydoing the right things toturn things around — andhe expects much improve-ment on last year’s 4-17record.

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2012-2013 PIQUA BOYSBASKETBALL SCHEDULE

Date H/A Opponent TimeNov. 30 A Wapakoneta 7:30Dec. 4 A Tippecanoe 7:30Dec. 7 H Centerville 7:30Dec. 11 A Springfield 7:30Dec. 14 A Vandalia-Butler* 7:30Dec. 18 H Stebbins 7:30Dec. 21 H Sidney* 7:30Dec. 27 H WPTW Holiday Classic TBADec. 28 H WPTW Holiday Classic TBAJan. 4 A Greenville* 7:30Jan. 8 A Trotwood-Madison* 7:30Jan. 11 H Troy* 7:30Jan. 15 A Bethel 7:30Jan. 18 H Vandalia-Butler* 7:30Jan. 25 A Sidney* 7:30Jan. 26 A Greeneview 7:30Jan. 29 H Fairborn 7:30Feb. 1 H Greenville* 7:30Feb. 2 H Belmont 7:30Feb. 8 H Trotwood-Madison* 7:30Feb. 9 A Lebanon 7:30Feb. 15 A Troy* 7:30* denotes GWOC North game

What’s Inside2.................................Piqua Boys3.................................Piqua Girls4.............Edison Community College5.........................Lehman Catholic6...................................Bradford7.................................Covington8....................................Houston9......................................Russia10...................................Newton11...............................Miami East12...............................Versailles

ABOUT THE COVERPhotographer: Mike UlleryDesigner: Darla AllenSubject: Piqua’s Luke Karn and Christy Graves aredriving for big senior seasons.

Piqua boys doing right thingsButler hopes off-season work will lead to wins

Piqua seniors Josh Holfinger (left photo) and Ryan Hughes (right photo) right return for their senior seasons. Both were starters last seasonMIKE ULLERY/CALL FILE PHOTO

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2012-2013 PIQUA GIRLSBASKETBALL SCHEDULE

Date H/A Opponent TimeNov. 23 A Graham 7:30Nov. 24 A Thurgood Marshall 1:00Nov. 28 A Fairborn 7:30Dec. 1 H Urbana 7:30Dec. 3 A Bethel 7:00Dec. 5 H Lebanon 7:00Dec. 8 H St. Marys 7:30Dec. 12 A Centerville 7:30Dec. 17 A Stebbins 7:30Dec. 19 H Springfield 7:30Dec. 22 H Vandalia-Butler* 12:30Dec. 27 H WPTW Holiday Classic TBADec. 28 H WPTW Holiday Classic TBAJan. 5 A Sidney* 12:30Jan. 9 A Greenville* 7:30Jan. 16 H Trotwood-Madison* 7:30Jan. 19 A Troy* 7:30Jan. 23 A Vandalia-Butler* 7:30Jan. 30 H Sidney* 7:30Feb. 2 H Greenville* 12:30Feb. 6 A Trotwood-Madison* 7:30Feb. 9 H Troy* 7:30* denotes GWOC North game

MacyYount returns for the Piqua girls.MIKE ULLERY/CALL FILE PHOTO


As Piqua varsity bas-ketball coach Rory Hokelooks to improve on lastyear’s 6-15 record, he usesthe “C” word a lot.Consistency.“If we can be consistent

shooting the ball,” Hokesaid. “If we can be consis-tent handling pressure. Ifwe can consistently playgood defense.Those thingsare all going to be key forus.”The Lady Indians suf-

fered a blow before theseason even started whenHannah Mowery — one ofjust two seniors on theroster — tore her ACL insoccer and will miss theseason.The 5-4 point guard saw

action in 19 games a yearago.“That was a big loss for

us,” Hoke said. “Especially,where are ball handling isconcerned.”The Indians feature a

good mix of veteran play-ers and newcomers off avery good JV team from ayear ago.“Christy (Graves) has

played four years,” Hokesaid. “Macy (Yount) andKatie (Allen) are playingfor the third year. JaniseHummel would be a three-year lettermen if it hadn’tbeen for a knee injury as afreshman.“Tasha (Potts) is play-

ing her second and did alot for us last year (as afreshman).“The thing we will miss

with Maddie (Hilleary),Kelsey (Deal) and Imari(Witten) is the intensitythey brought on defense.”Graves, a four-year

starter, is 6-foot and hasthe versatility to play al-most anywhere on thecourt.She was second on the

team in scoring (6.8) andrebounding (4.6) last yearand led the team inblocked shots.“Christy (Graves) can

do a lot of different thingsfor us,” Hoke said.The Lady Indians have

a huge junior class.Three that figure to

play prominent roles in-clude 5-5 guard MacyYount, 5-5 guard JaniseHummel and 5-7 guardKatie Allen.Yount can be a weapon

with her 3- point shootingability.“She definitely gives us

the ability to score fromthe perimeter,” Hoke said.“We are expecting a lotfrom her.”Hummel looks to have

regained the quicknessfrom a knee injury twoyears ago, while Allen isanother player versatileenough to play inside orout at the point.“If we can keep Janise

(Hummel) healthy, shecan be a great defensiveplayer,” Hoke said. “Shecan really created prob-lems and force turnovers.Katie (Allen) is going tohelp us at the point. Shecan do a lot of differentthings for us.”Rounding out the jun-

iors are 5-3 Teija Davis, 5-10 Chelsea Hill, 5-7 HeidiStrevell, 5-4 DanajhaClemons, 5-5 ConnerBrown and 5-5 AlePainter.“Danajha (Clemons) is

coming off a knee injury,”Hoke said. “Teija (Davis)

gives us a lot of hustle andspark.“Chelsea is a strong

post player. They all willcontribute.”The sophomores include

5-9 Tasha Potts, coming offa strong freshman seasonand three key players offthe JV team that won theGWOC North last year.“Tasha (Potts) really did

a lot for us last year,” Hokesaid. “She is a strongplayer inside and is goingto do a lot for us.”The other sophomores

are 5-9 post MorganGrunkemeyer, 5-5 guardHannah Went and 5-5guard Frannie Haney.“Morgan (Grunke-

meyer) will play mainly inthe post,” Hoke said. “Sheis a good shooter and hasgood quickness.“Frannie (Haney) is a

real good shooter and ball-handler. Hannah (Went) isa girl who is extremelyquick and plays aggres-sive.”Piqua will be part of the

first Buckeye InsuranceGroup Girls Holiday Tour-nament this year, playedat the same time as theboys in Garbry Gymna-sium.“It is great to have that

opportunity,” Hoke said.“We are looking forward tothat. We just have to sur-vive the early scheduleand not get our headsdown.”Piqua opens with road

games against Graham,Thurgood Marshall andFairborn.“Then we come home

and play and Urbanateam that can really shootthe ball,” Hoke said. “It is

a brutal start to the sea-son. We just have to keepour heads up.”Hoke expects the

GWOC North to be ascompetitive as ever.“Sidney has their three

big girls back,” he said.“Troy is probably the mostconfident and they havethe Player of the Yearback in Kristen Wood.That is always a plus tohave a good point guard.Greenville has the Gall-away girl.“Vandalia lost a lot of

people, but they are al-ways strong.“Troy is probably the

team everyone looks at.But, I think Vandalia andSidney can be right inthere and hopefully, wecan too.We need to be ableto play for four quarters.”With consistency.

Looking for improvementConsistency key for Lady Indians

Tasha Potts is shooting for a big sophomore season this year.MIKE ULLERY/CALL FILE PHOTO

Janise Hummel drives to the basket against Trotwood-Madison last year.MIKE ULLERY/CALL FILE PHOTO


Edison women’s basket-ball coach Kim Rank knewhis team would have a dif-ferent makeup this sea-son.That is just a simple

fact when you lose thedominating presence ofBrianna Innocent, a 6-foot-2 post who has goneon to play for WrightState.“We are going to be a

very different team,” Ranksaid. “Last year, we hadBrianna (Innocent), whocould just dominate in thepaint. This is a going to bemore of an-up-an-downthe court team with morequickness.”Inside, the Chargers

will go with a three-headed monster, each ofwho has differentstrengths.They include sopho-

more Jo Steva (St. Marys)and freshman Kelly Tester(Greenville) and Tori Purk(Mechanicsburg).“They all have different

things they do well,” Ranksaid. “Jo (Steva) is proba-bly the most completeplayer.“(Kelly) Tester played

with her back to the bas-ket in high school and is agood defensive player. Tori

(Purk) is a better offensiveplayer.”Rank has Kendra

Brunswick (Fort Recov-ery) and Mackenzie May(Jackson Center) back atthe guard positions.“Kendra (Brunswick)

can score points for us andMackenzie (May) has beenplaying very well,” Ranksaid.

Also returning on thewing is Dakota Sowders(Jackson Center).Rank has a very tal-

ented group of newcomersthat can play on theperimeter led by BrookeRichards (Jackson Center)and Morgan Huelskamp(Anna).“They are both out-

standing basketball play-

ers,” Rank said. “Brooke iscoming off volleyball, butshe is really good player.She can shoot, handle theball, go to the basket, re-bound.“Morgan (Huelskamp)

is another really goodplayer. She is just a reallysolid player. She won astate championship lastyear with Anna.”Other freshman include

Terra Vanover (MiamiEast), Kia Perrin (Sidney),Paige Newlon (Belle-fontaine), Emily Mowbray(Vandalia-Butler) andChris Johnson (Botkins).

“We have a lot of fresh-man, but we feel like theyare very talented,” Ranksaid. “One of the things wewanted to do was getquicker and more athletic.That’s been a problem forus for several years now.”Rank expects the con-

ference to be as strong asever.“That is one of the rea-

sons we recruited theplayers we did,” he said.“We feel like it will give usa better chance to competewith the top teams likeCincinnati State andOwens.”

Edison is off to a 2-0start.After breezing to a win

in its opener, Edison ral-lied from a 17-2 deficit todefeat Miami-Middletown72-66.Richard had 18 points,

nine rebounds and fourassists; while Brunswickhad 17 points, seven re-bounds, 10 assists andthree steals.Huelskamp had 10

points and six assists,while Purk had 14 pointsand six rebounds andSteva grabbed six re-bounds.


Edison Community Col-lege men’s basketballcoach John Ralph is ex-cited about the new talenthe has recruited.Ralph’s biggest concern

— the new talent he hasrecruited.“We have eight newbies

(freshman),” Ralph saidabout his Chargers team.“So, I think the biggestthing is them adjusting tothe college game and col-lege life. I am excitedabout the players we haveadded.”There has already been

some excitement created.Edison opened the sea-

son with three straightwins, before losing toMiami-Middletown.And after cruising to

two wins in the ChargerClassic to kick off the sea-son one of those freshman,Kelly Kirtz (Troy) made ahalf-court bomb at thebuzzer to give them and80-77 win over Ivy Tech.“That was really some-

thing,” Ralph said with asmile.And Ralph saw the

Charger Classic as a greatway to open the seasonwith a young team.“Definitely,” he said.

“We came out the firstgame and won pretty big.

Then we came back andwon the championshipgame.”Brandon Ervin

(Tippecanoe) is a 6-7freshman who had 26points and 12 rebounds inthe championship gameand was named to the all-tournament team, whilesophomore guard EricBeckstedt (Covington) wasnamed to the all-tourna-ment team, scoring in dou-ble figures in all fourgames this season for theChargers.“Brandon (Ervin) is a

guy who can gives us a

presence inside,” Ralphsaid.And Beckstedt can’t put

up points faster than apinball machine with hisdeadly 3-point shooting.“I think he is shooting

over 40 percent on 3-pointshots,” Ralph said. “He isalways a threat from theperimeter.”Joining them in the

early-season startinglineup are sophomoresNick Tingle (Northmont)and Jacob Benanzer(Houston) and freshmanJordan Taylor (North-mont).

Both scored 20 points inthe loss to Miami-Middle-town.“Nick (Tingle) was our

leading rebounder lastyear,” Ralph said. “We lost30 points in scoring in La-mont Cole and Kyle Dun-can. They both averagedabout 15 points a game.”Rounding out the roster

are sophomores JessieDavis (Tippecanoe) andCorey Decker (Parkway)and freshman MikeHoward (Northmont),Evan Barger (Tri-Village),William Plummer (AkronEllet), Cody Gunckel (Tri-

Village) and Jaron Isaac(Northmont).“I think it was (the win

over Ivy Tech a big win),”Ralph said about a youngteam closing out a tightgame.Ralph said the Charg-

ers will continue to playan up-tempo game, butwhat shouldn’t get lost inthat is defense.“If you are going up and

down the court and givingup a lot of easy shots, thatis not going to work out towell,” Ralph said.Ralph said the OCCAC

will be as competitive asever.“Tough — from top to

bottom,” Ralph said.“Every night will be achallenge. I think you willhave your usual suspectslike Cincinnati State,Columbus State andOwens. We are going tohave to be ready to play.”Ralph is happy with

what he has seen in theearly season.“So far, so good,” he said.But, he understands,

with eight freshman comegrowing pains.

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2012-2013 EDISON MEN’SBASKETBALL SCHEDULE

Date H/A Opponent TimeDec. 1 A Glen Oaks CC 3:00Dec. 4 A Tiffin JVs 6:00Dec. 6 TBA Ivy Tech TBADec. 15 H Lorain CC 3:00Dec. 17 H Wittenberg JVs 7:00Dec. 22 A Lake Michigan CC 3:00Jan. 5 A Clark State CC 1:00Jan. 9 H WSU/Lake Campus 7:00Jan. 16 A Cincinnati State CC* 7:30Jan. 19 H Cuyahoga CC* 3:00Jan. 23 A Sinclair CC* 7:30Jan. 26 H Columbus State CC* 3:00Jan. 30 H Owens CC* 7:30Feb. 2 A Lakeland CC* 3:00Feb. 6 H Cincinnati State CC* 7:30Feb. 13 H Sinclair CC* 7:30Feb. 16 A Cuyahoga CC* 3:00Feb. 20 A Owens CC* 5:30Feb. 23 H Lakeland CC* 3:00March 2 A Columbus State CC* 3:00* denotes OCCAC game

2012-2013 EDISON WOMEN’SBASKETBALL SCHEDULE

Date H/A Opponent TimeNov. 23 A Owens Turkey Shootout TBANov. 24 A Owens Turkey Shootout TBADec. 1 A Glen Oaks CC 1:00Dec. 4 A OSU-Lima 6:00Dec. 11 H Urbana JVs 7:00Dec. 15 H Lorain CC 1:00Dec. 22 A Lake Michigan CC 1:00Jan. 8 A Wittenberg JVs 7:30Jan. 11 H OSU-Lima 6:00Jan. 16 A Cincinnati State CC* 5:30Jan. 19 H Cuyahoga CC* 1:00Jan. 23 A Sinclair CC* 5:30Jan. 26 H Columbus State CC* 1:00Jan. 30 H Owens CC* 5:30Feb. 2 A Lakeland CC* 1:00Feb. 6 H Cincinnati State CC* 5:30Feb. 13 H Sinclair CC* 5:30Feb. 16 A Cuyahoga CC* 1:00Feb. 20 A Owens CC* 5:30Feb. 23 H Lakeland CC* 1:00March 2 A Columbus State CC* 1:00* denotes OCCAC game

Charger team has plenty of new facesEdison offto 3-1 start

The Edison Community College men’s basketball team includes front row (leftto right) Kelly Kirtz, Eric Beckstedt, Nick Tingle, Jacob Benanzer, Jessie Davis,Corey Decker. Back row: Coach John Ralph, Jaron Isaac, Cody Gunckel, EvanBarger, Brandon Ervin, Mike Howard, JordanTaylor,William Plummer, assistantcoach MarcosWhite.

PHOTO PROVIDED

Lady Chargers add speed, athleticismEdison women will be uptempo, off to 2-0 start

The Edison Community College women’s basketball team includes sitting (leftto right): Terra Vanover, Jo Steva, Kendra Brunswick, Mackenzie May, DakotaSowders, Emily Mowbray. Standing: Assistant coach Lance Jackson, KelseyTester, Brooke Richards, Kia Perrin, Tori Purk, Morgan Huelskamp, Chris John-son, Paige Newlon, coach Kim Rank.

PHOTO PROVIDED

previous season was akind of rebuilding year forthe team. So this seasonthey’ve got eight or ninestrong athletic juniors,vets, and three sopho-

mores stepping up.Returning letter win-

ners are senior, MeaganWinner, a Guard whomStonebraker describes as“tall and thin,” and “a

pretty good shooter” at the12-14 ft range.Other returning letter

winners include juniors,Katie Heckman, a go to inthe Post, Chloe, a go to

point guard on the out-side, Amanda Winner atguard, Olivia Schlater,also at guard, CourtneyPrenger, a forward, andthen three more guards,

Kayla McEldowney,Rachel Kremer, andBrooke Pothast.One top newcomer to

the team this year is jun-ior Emily Harman, who

plays post.Other top newcomers

are sophomores, LaurenBruns, at guard, ChristaPuthoff at post, and TaylorWinner, also a guard.

TigersContinued from page 12

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Lehman’s Ava Schmitz (left photo) and Julia Harrelson (right photo) return this season.MIKE ULLERY/CALL FILE PHOTOS

BY ROB KISERSports Editor

[email protected]

SIDNEY — LehmanCatholic first-year girlsbasketball coach KimMiller knows not beinghired until the summerhas put the program be-hind.But, she sees progress

from the Lady Cavalierson a daily basis as theyprepare for the season.“We only had a couple

open gyms in the summerbecause of my late hiring,”she said. “But, we have al-ready seen tremendousgrowth from this team.Wemade a lot of improve-ment from our first scrim-mage and feel like we canhave a lot of success.”Miller admits the first

step will be increasing thenumbers. Lehman hasjust 11 girls in the pro-gram this year.“We are playing a var-

sity only schedule,” shesaid. “We have scheduledsome other (JV) games forour girls to play.”Junior guard Julia Har-

relson probably brings themost experience to a teamthat has no seniors. Shesaw valuable playing timeas a freshman, beforestarting last year.The other juniors in-

clude Jenna Kronnebergand Jordi Emrick.“We probably do (expect

a lot from Julia Harrel-son),” Miller said. “But re-ally, we feel like all thejuniors have given usgreat leadership. Jenna(Kronneberg) missed lastseason with an ACL in-jury.”

The sophomores areBrooke Jones and AvaSchmitz.“Brooke (Jones) andAva

(Schmitz) both saw a lot ofplaying time last year,”Miller said. “Along withJulia, they are the girlsthat saw quite a bit ofplaying time.”Rounding out the roster

are freshman KendallEck, Taylor Schmidt, AllieHall, Emmalae Rego,Mar-ianne Hissong and CassieLee.“With not having a JV

team, they are all going tobe able to get playingtime,” Miller said.Miller said the Lady

Cavaliers have not de-cided on their style of playjust yet.“We want to do some-

thing to play to ourstrengths,” she said. “Wehave a lot of quick, ath-letic girls, so hopefully wecan take advantage of thatto get easy baskets.”As always, Lehman will

play a very strong sched-ule.“We do have a lot of

tough teams on there,”Miller said. “But, we feellike these girls are goingto be ready for it and bevery competitive. Nextyear, we will have achance to compete for aleague title and we are ex-cited about that.”Right now, Miller just

wants to grow the pro-gram.“We want to continue to

build the program andkeep getting better,”Miller said.Something, she has al-

ready seen on a dailybasis.

2012-2013 LEHMAN BOYSBASKETBALL SCHEDULE

Date H/A Opponent TimeNov. 30 H Minster 7:30Dec. 1 A Ridgemont 7:30Dec. 8 A Newton 7:30Dec. 14 A Jackson Center 8:15Dec. 15 A Riverside 7:30Dec. 21 H Versailles 7:30Dec. 22 A Miami East 7:30Dec. 27 A WPTW Holiday Classic TBADec. 28 A WPTW Holiday Classic TBAJan. 4 H Franklin Monroe 7:30Jan. 5 H Catholic Central 7:30Jan. 11 A Fort Loramie 8:00Jan. 12 A Temple Christian 7:30Jan. 19 A Sidney 7:30Jan. 22 H Waynesfield-Goshen 7:30Jan. 26 H Houston 7:30Feb. 1 A Troy Christian 7:30Feb. 8 H Anna 7:30Feb. 9 H Bethel 7:30Feb. 12 H Tri-Village 7:30Feb. 15 A Upper Scioto Valley 7:30Feb. 19 H St. Marys 7:30

2012-2013 LEHMAN GIRLSBASKETBALL SCHEDULE

Date H/A Opponent TimeNov. 23 H Riverside 6:00Nov. 24 A Sidney TBANov. 29 A Houston TBADec. 1 A Minster TBADec. 8 H Fairlawn 1:00Dec. 11 H Marion Local 6:00Dec. 15 H St. Henry 1:00Dec. 18 A Upper Scioto Valley TBADec. 22 H Ridgemont 1:00Dec. 27 A WPTW Holiday Classic TBADec. 28 A WPTW Holiday Classic TBAJan. 3 H Fort Loramie 6:00Jan. 5 H St. Marys 1:00Jan. 12 A Versailles TBAJan. 15 A Catholic Central TBAJan. 17 H Jackson Center 6:00Jan. 19 H Anna 1:00Jan. 26 H New Bremen 1:00Jan. 31 A Troy Christian TBAFeb. 2 A New Knoxville TBAFeb. 5 H Tri-Village 6:00Feb. 9 A Bradford TBA

Miller takes over Lady CavsCoach looks to build Lehman girls program


SIDNEY—This seasonis already a success for theLehman boys basketballteam.The number 4 uniform

is being filled once againby Connor Richard, whowas seriously injured in acar accident last seasonand was told at the timehe might not play again.“It is just great to see

him out here, let aloneplaying basketball,”Lehman coach IsaiahWilliams said. “It is amaz-ing how far he has come.It is definitely a motivatorfor the other kids, becausethey know what he hasbeen through.”In fact, the 5-foot-9 sen-

ior guard who is always athreat from 3-point range,has come back so far he iscurrently in the startinglineup.“Right now, he is 100

percent,” Williams said. “Ithink he is just going toget better. He is gettingbetter every day in prac-tice. It is amazing wherehe is at.”The Lehman starting

lineup will include sopho-mores Jackson Frantz (6-2) and Greg Spearman(6-1); 5-11 junior DrewWesterheide, 6-4 juniorJames Rego and Richard.“Those are the five guys

we are going with rightnow,” Williams said. “But,we don’t have a setlineup.”The remaining seniors

include 6-5 post MichaelJacob, 6-0 guard TharronGoins and 6-1 guardDylan Long; the juniorsoff the bench are 6-0 JohnHusa, 6-2 Josh Smith, 6-7Nathan Hall and 5-8 SethBensman; and roundingthe roster is 6-1 sopho-more Nick Rourke.“The thing is we have a

lot of varsity experience,”Williams said. “We have alot of guys returning whohave played.”But, the Cavaliers did

lose much of their offense,

including the dynamic duoof Alex Baker andSolomon King-White, whocombined for almost 50points a game last year.“We lost a lot of our

scoring,” Williams said. “Iexpect us to be a very bal-anced team last year.”Along with that, King-

White was the floor leaderand it was not unusual forhim to record triple-dou-bles.“We are going to do

point guard by commit-tee,” Williams said. “Ithink we have a lot of goodathletes.”Lehman will still be an

uptempo team.“We are going to get up

and down the floor,”Williams said. “I think wehave pretty good depth.”And once again, pres-

sure defense will be a bigpart of that.“We will play defense

all the way to the bus inthe parking lot after thegame,”Williams said witha smile.While the Cavaliers

don’t play in a league,they face a competitiveschedule and again play inthe B.I.G. Holiday Classicin Piqua.“We like having the op-

portunity to play in thattournament,” Williamssaid. “We play whoevercoach Roll (athletic direc-tor Richard Roll) puts onthe schedule. I am sure itwill be a strong schedulelike it always is.”Next year, Lehman will

become a member of theleague the football teamplayed in this year.“We will be an associate

member,” Williams said.“We will be eligible for all-league awards and thingslike that. The kids are ex-cited about that.”But, for now, the focus is

already on the postseason.“That’s what we are

playing for,”Williams said.“We want to be the bestteam we can be in Febru-ary and March.”Most importantly, No. 4

will again be a big part ofthat.

Good news forLehman boysNo. 4 returns to action

Drew Westerheide goes after a loose ball.MIKE ULLERY/CALL FILE PHOTO

BY JAMES FREEMANCivitas Media

BRADFORD — First-year head coach Jeff Caseis a perfect example forhis players that hard workreally does pay off.After 14 years of work-

ing up the ranks — 11years at Troy Christianand three years at Newtonas a varsity assistant —Case is getting his oppor-tunity at Bradford to bethe man in charge.Consistency is not a

luxury that Bradford hasenjoyed recently. This istheir third coach in asmany years — Jerrel Mor-gan two years ago andCurtis Enis last year. Caseis hoping to end that trendand bring a sense of prideto Bradford basketball.“We are looking to gain

consistency that hasn’tbeen at Bradford,” Casesaid. “I’m looking to getthe guys into a mindsetthat we are going to getreally good at a few thingsand do them well and thenexpand on that.”It won’t be an easy first

year either. Case is takingover a program that lacksany recent tradition, iscoming off of a 3-18 seasonand is losing three keyplayers from last year’steam — Alan Yount,Austin Sell and TravisKnightstep.“(Yount) was a natural

creator on the floor,” Casesaid. “He could create hisown shot and he was aplaymaker.“We are going to miss

that. (Knightstep) was abody inside and (Sell) wasour best post player. Youtake away those attrib-utes, and now we have tofills those roles.”Case will be looking to

three-year starter Bran-donWysong and returningstarter Eric Swabb to helplead the Railroaders.Josh Hoelscher, Bryce

Arnett and BrandonWirrig will be filling theroles of the three depart-ing seniors.“(Hoelscher) will need

to anchor the middle forus,” Case said. “We needhim to rebound the ballwell. (Arnett) is a seniorfor us, and he is a goodshooting guard. (Wirrig) isa utility player, and hisphysical play will helpopen things up for the oth-ers.”In the top-heavy Cross

County Conference, it willbe an uphill challenge forthe rookie coach.“Tri-Village, Miami

East and Covington arealways at the top of ourconference,” Case said.“We want to be able tocompete at that level. Weunderstand that we havesome things to prove, butwe are hoping that we canbuild on the system thatwe put in place and even-tually be able to competewith those elite teams inthe league.”Case is confident that

this group of seniors andthe knowledge he has canhelp take the Railroadersto the next level.“We have a lot of talent,

and we are looking tobuild a program,” Casesaid. “I’m looking forward

to putting together what Ihave learned from coachesthe last 14 years — put-ting my own flavor to it —and we have some skilledathletes who fit my sys-tem well.We are hoping to

turn the program aroundand make basketball atBradford relevant again.”And if anyone knows

how working hard toachieve goals can pay off,it's Case.

BRADFORD6 Wednesday, November 21, 2012 WWW.DAILYCALL.COM • PIQUA DAILY CALL

2012-2013 BRADFORD BOYSBASKETBALL SCHEDULE

Date H/A Opponent TimeDec. 7 H Ansonia* 8:00Dec. 8 H Xenia Christian 7:00Dec. 14 A Tri-Village* 8:00Dec. 15 H Bethel* 7:30Dec. 18 A Newton 7:30Dec. 21 H Mississinawa Valley* 8:00Dec. 22 H Fairlawn 7:30Dec. 28 H Bradford Holiday Tourney TBADec. 29 H Bradford Holiday Tourney TBAJan. 5 A Franklin Monroe* 7:30Jan. 12 A Houston 7:30Jan. 15 H Arcanum* 7:30Jan. 18 A Twin Valley South* 7:30Jan. 19 A Union City (Ind) 7:30Jan. 25 H Tri-County North* 7:30Jan. 26 A Emmanuel Christian 7:30Feb. 1 A National Trail* 8:00Feb. 2 H Cedarville 7:30Feb. 5 A Mechanicsburg 7:30Feb. 8 H Miami East* 8:00Feb. 9 H Newton* 7:30Feb. 15 A Covington* 8:00* denotes CCC game

BY JAMES FREEMANCivitas Media

BRADFORD — It wasonly two years ago whenBradford went 3-18 andhad only one win in theCross County Conference.The Railroaders are

now coming off of a seasonwhere they won theirfirst-round playoff gameover Emmanuel Chris-tian, and under first-yearhead coach PatrickMcKee, Bradford is hopingto build on that successand take it to the nextlevel.“One of our focuses is to

go .500 this season,”McKee said. “Another oneof our goals is to win a sec-tional championship. Thathas never been done inschool history.”If Bradford reaches

their goal to go .500, it willbe the first time the teamhas done that since 1995.Last season the Rail-

roaders had an 8-12record.“We are going to go as

far as our offense takesus,” McKee said. “We aregoing to have to play ag-gressive defense — butnot overly aggressive tothe point where we arefouling. Smart and team-oriented defense.”Bradford has not had

much continuity in the re-cent past when it comes totheir head coach.This is McKee’s first

year coaching the varistygirls after spending sometime in the Defiance areacoaching and being theBradford boys reservecoach last season.With a new coach at the

helm, expect to see somedifferences from lastyear’s team.“We are going to be a lit-

tle more aggressive withthe ball this year,” McKeesaid. “We are hoping thatthey will make smarter

decisions offensively,being patient and waitingfor plays to develop.”McKee will have to

build on a team that is los-ing five seniors. AlishaPatty, Chelsea Brough-man, Katie and CourtneyMiller and Peyton Shuffall graduated, opening thedoor for a group of tal-ented juniors.Haley Patty and

Michayla Barga are juniorguards hoping to help theRailroaders reach theirgoals. Small forwardBrooke Dunlevy and postplayer Bree Bates areboth juniors and alsogoing to be key to Brad-ford’s success.McKee is also hoping to

get contributions fromjunior guard CiaraBroughman and sopho-more centers MindyBrewer and Brooke

Brower.The team will get their

first test the second gameof the season when theytake on Cross CountyConference rival Coving-ton.“We are looking forward

to Covington with thatbeing our rivalry game,”McKee said. “We are alsolooking forward to Tri-Vil-lage. That is our seniornight, but we are alsohosting a Coaches vs. Can-cer game that night.”McKee feels as if his

team is up to the chal-lenge and can take Brad-ford to levels they havenot been.“It’s going to take a lot

of focus,” McKee said. “Nomatter what we are doing,from stretching to drills tobeing in our positions. Alot of hard work when thedoors are closed.”

Bree Bates leaps to save the ball in a game last season.MIKE ULLERY/CALL FILE PHOTO

Something to buildon for Lady RoadersBradford girls coming off successful season

2012-2013 BRADFORD GIRLSBASKETBALL SCHEDULE

Date H/A Opponent TimeNov. 23 A Newton 7:30Nov. 29 H Covington* 7:00Dec. 6 A Miami East* 7:00Dec. 8 H Xenia Christian 5:00Dec. 11 H Mechanicsburg 7:00Dec. 13 H National Trail* 7:00Dec. 15 A Tri-County North* 1:30Dec. 17 A Arcanum* 7:00Dec. 20 H Twin Valley South* 7:00Dec. 22 A St. Henry 1:30Dec. 28 H Bradford Holiday Tourney TBADec. 29 H Bradford Holiday Tourney TBAJan. 5 H Houston 1:30Jan. 7 H Parkway 7:00Jan. 10 H Franklin Monroe* 7:00Jan. 12 A Mississinawa Valley* 12:30Jan. 17 H Newton* 7:00Jan. 24 H Tri-Village* 7:00Jan. 31 A Ansonia* 7:00Feb. 2 A Fairlawn NoonFeb. 7 A Bethel* 7:00Feb. 9 H Lehman Noon* denotes CCC game

Bradford coach ‘Case’in patience paying offTakes over Railroaders boys program

BrandonWysong will be a key player for Bradford.BEN ROBINSON/GOBUCCS.COM PHOTO

Josh Hoelscher is back for the Bradford boys.BEN ROBINSON/GOBUCCS.COM PHOTO

working kids at Ver-sailles,” McEldowney wenton to say. “Good at moti-vating themselves.”According to McEl-

downey, his team has “re-ally good athletes.” Andthat “the chemistry ispretty good.” They are“good at acceptingyounger players.” Youngerplayers that come on tothe team to help them out.McEldowney said that

two of the kids, seniorChad Winner, and Sopho-more Kyle Ahrens, are “inthe gym whenever it’sopen; 24/7.”They are both second

and third in scoring andsecond and third in re-bounding.The Tigers top scorer

and rebounder, first andsecond in those categories,was Mitchel Campbell. Hegraduated and went on to

Findley, Ohio on a footballscholarship where he isplaying Division II foot-ball.With the loss of impact

players, come challengesand areas for growth andimprovement. The pointguard position is a littlebit of a concern, and McEl-downey also has his Tigersworking hard defensively.This year, McEldowney

plans on having his squad

open the floor: up tempo,half and full court pres-sure, get the ball out, andrun the floor. He wants to“take advantage of (histeam’s) athleticism andquickness.”“So many teams in the

MAC are more ball con-trolled,” McEldowney said.They are “trying to slowthe game down. We try tospeed it up.”Even though McEl-

downey’s team got beatenlast year in the senior re-gional finals by SummitCountry Day, they takepride in knowing that theteam that knocked themout went on to actuallywin state, and no otherteam played them as closeas Versailles.“We had a sub par night

shooting,” McEldowneysaid. “It’s a game we hada good shot to get there

and win it.”One of the go to people

this season will be juniorDamian Richard.Top newcomers this

season are seniors Do-minic Richard and CraigPothast, and juniors, NickCampbell, JacobWenning,Evan Philpot, and RyanKnapke.Jacob Heitkamp is an-

other returning letter win-ner.

VersaillesContinued from page 12

PIQUA DAILY CALL • WWW.DAILYCALL.COM COVINGTON Wednesday, November 21, 2012 7

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BY JOSH BROWNCivitas Media

COVINGTON —Foryears, Roger Craft hasbeen Covington basket-ball.And when he stepped

down in the offseason, hewanted to make sure theprogram maintained theexcellence and integrity ithad enjoyed under histenure.So he tapped former

Tippecanoe coach andlongtime Covington resi-dent Matt Pond."That's something I

want to continue on. He(Craft) did things theright way, and that'ssomething I want to buildon," Pond said. "He and Iare both good friends, andhe really helped make it asmooth transition."It's good to be home. I

was at Tipp for around 20years, and I lived heremost of that time. It willbe exciting for us."And one thing that has

made Pond feel right athome in practice leadingup to the winter season?Missing players due to a

lengthy football postsea-son run."A little bit," he said

when asked how used to ithe was from his time atTippecanoe —which has alengthy streak of reachingthe playoffs, as well. "Themajority of our kids hereare in football. We had todo this some over at Tippas well, so it's not shock-ing. I have a couple ofplayers right now, but veryfew."Pond doesn't mind,

though. He knows thatgoing far in the playoffswill translate to the bas-ketball floor."The success we're hav-

ing in football right now isonly going to help us," hesaid. "Those pressure situ-ations these kids get intoin football will pay divi-dends for us come Janu-ary, February and March."And when those players

return, Pond will have avery veteran lineup towork with.Seniors Dylan and Cole

Owens, Alex Baskerville,Ryan Craft, Troy Cron,Austin Angle, GabeMohler, Cody Adams andTrent Tobias all return forthe Buccaneers. JuniorsBobby Alexander, AndreBenedict, Tyler and SethClark and Tyler Henrywill also compete for play-ing time."It's a senior-loaded

team, for sure," Pond said."I'll know more once I getthem in the gym. I hadthem for a while over thesummer, too, but it's beenfive months."But anyone that's seen

a Tippecanoe basketball inthe last decade plus willknow what to expect fromthe Buccs this year."My style isn't going to

change, just the colors onthe uniform," Pond said."We'll have a lot of pres-sure on defense, and thebig kids will fall right intoour motion philosophy of-fensively. We had small,quick teams there, and wehad big kids there. Thekids here will fit exactlyinto what we want to do."We'll do that (transi-

tion from defense to of-fense quickly) as much aspossible, but if there's nogood, easy looks, we'll runour offense until we getwhat we want."And what the Buccs

want to do is improve on a10-11 season that sawthem get bounced in thefirst round of the playoffsby a fellow Cross CountyConference rival, Bethel.And while Pond is fa-

miliar with the league,he's been more of an ob-server -- and is excitedabout the chance to be a

part of it."I've viewed it from the

outside looking in," hesaid of the CCC. "I thinkit's an excellent basketballleague from top to bottom.There's a lot of greatcoaches, a lot of great ath-letes, and it's exciting tocome in and be a part of it."Every night is going to

be a challenge. We'll justhave to take it one gameat a time."And while replacing a

legend like Craft may be atall order, the Buccs canrest assured that they've

found the person that isready for the challenge."It's good to be home,"

Pond said.

Buccs boys programleft in good handsPond takes over as Covington coach

Troy Cron will be back for Covington.MIKE ULLERY/CALL FILE PHOTO


COVINGTON — Forthe first time in more than20 years, the Covingtongirls basketball team willhave new face at the endof the bench leading theteam.Gene Gooding has re-

placed long-time LadyBucc coach ChrisBesecker, who won 344games in 23 years.“Coach Besecker did an

outstanding job with thisprogram,” Gooding said.“They have a great tradi-tion. That is one of thethings that excited meabout the job.”And in his short time at

Covington, it has beeneverything Gooding ex-pected.“Everyone has wel-

comed me and been verypositive,” Gooding said. “Ican’t say enough aboutthat.”The Lady Buccs are

coming off two districtfinal appearances in thelast three years, but goneare much of the offense indouble figure scorers Ju-lianna Simon and ShelbyKihm and four starters.Combine that with

Gooding getting the job inJune and it made for avery busy summer.“They were already in a

summer league and wehad a week of camp,”Gooding said. “I got toknow the girls veryquickly.”And he admits, both for

him and the players, thatprocess in still ongoing.“I will know a lot better

in a couple weeks, who isgoing to be playingwhere,” Gooding said in apre-season interview. “Ithink we are getting bet-ter every day in practiceand I am excited about theseason.”Covington will be a mix

of experience and youth.Along with returning

point guard Heidi Snipes,a 5-6 senior; the other sen-iors included returninglettermen Jessie Shilt, a 5-8 wing; 5-5 Rachel Carder,5-5 Kayleigh Cecil, 5-4Brittanie Flora, 5-4 JamieCrowell and 5-4 Ashley Al-bright.“We don’t have a lot of

experience, but we havegreat senior leaderships,”Gooding said.The juniors include

Jackie Siefring, a 5-10transfer from Russia; and

5-8 Morgan McReynolds.“Jackie (Siefring) is a

girl that is going to helpus a lot,” Gooding said.“We are excited aboutwhat she can do.”The sophomores are 5-8

Cassidy Cain, 5-2 HeidiCron, 5-1 JessicaDammeyer and 5-5 ArielRobinson.Rounding out the roster

is 5-3 freshman JessieCrowell.Cain started some

games for the Lady Buccslast year, before beingslowed by an injury.“Cass (Cassidy Cain) is

going to be a good playerfor us,” Gooding said. “Wehave some good young tal-ent. Jessie Crowell is avery talented player.”This will be a different

Covington team for anumber of reasons.With two 6-1 players

(Shelby Kihm, CaitlynCrawford) graduating,along with 5-11 JuliannaSimon, this Lady Buccsteam is very different size-wise.And because of that it

will be a very differentstyle of basketball.“We will play uptempo,”

Gooding said. “We will tryand get some easy basketsin transition. We will playmostly man defense.”And he said the transi-

tion has not been as diffi-cult as you might think.“When we have the Hei-

dis (Heidi Snipes, Heidi

Cron) at guard, we arevery quick and have beenable to get some easy bas-kets,” he said. “We gradu-ated a lot of our scoring.That is one thing we havetalked with the girlsabout. Some girls aregoing to have to step up.And we have some girlsthat have done that.”Another change this

year is the Lady Buccswill play in the BuckeyeInsurance Group HolidayClassic at Piqua, playingthe host Lady Indians inthe first round.“I think the kids are ex-

cited about it,” Goodingsaid. “Usually, you don’tget the chance to win achampionship until theend of the season and wewill have a chance mid-year.“And there is nothing

worse than going the holi-day break without playingany games. So, that is an-other good thing.”Along with a strong

conference that includesstate semifinalist Tri-Vil-lage and regional finalistMiami East from last year,the Lady Buccs will con-tinue to play a strong non-conference schedule.“We have Versailles

early and we play JacksonCenter,” Gooding said. “Weare definitely going to betested.”With a new coach who

is very excited about thefuture of the program.

2012-2013 COVINGTON GIRLSBASKETBALL SCHEDULE

Date H/A Opponent TimeNov. 23 H Houston 7:30Nov. 24 A Fairlawn 6:00Nov. 29 A Bradford* 7:00Dec. 1 H Versailles 1:30Dec. 6 H Franklin Monroe* 7:00Dec. 13 A Mississinawa Valley* 7:00Dec. 15 H Ansonia* 1:30Dec. 20 A Tri-Village* 7:00Dec. 22 H Newton* 6:00Dec. 27 A WPTW Classic TBADec. 28 A WPTW Classic TBAJan. 3 A Bethel* 7:00Jan. 5 A Jackson Center 2:30Jan. 7 H Milton-Union 7:00Jan. 12 H Miami East* 1:30Jan. 17 A National Trail* 7:00Jan. 19 A Marion Local 1:30Jan. 24 A Tri-County North* 7:00Jan. 28 H Russia 7:00Jan. 31 H Twin Valley South* 7:00Feb. 2 A Newton 1:30Feb. 7 H Arcanum* 7:00* denotes CCC game

New face in chargeof Covington girlsGooding excited about opportunity

Heidi Snipes returns for the Covington girls this season.BEN ROBINSON/GOBUCCS.COM FILE PHOTO

2012-2013 COVINGTON BOYSBASKETBALL SCHEDULE

Date H/A Opponent TimeDec. 8 H Versailles 8:00Dec. 14 H Tri-County North* 8:00Dec. 18 H National Trail* 7:30Dec. 21 A Miami East* 8:00Dec. 22 H Newton 7:30Dec. 27 A WPTW Holiday Classic TBADec. 28 A WPTW Holiday Classic TBAJan. 5 H Milton-Union 8:00Jan. 11 H Bethel* 8:00Jan. 12 H New Bremen 8:00Jan. 15 A Ansonia* 7:30Jan. 18 H Tri-Village* 8:00Jan. 19 A Houston 7:30Jan. 22 A Marion Local 7:30Jan. 25 A Newton* 7:30Jan. 26 A Twin Valley South* 7:30Jan. 29 A Arcanum* 7:30Feb. 1 H Mississinawa Valley* 8:00Feb. 2 H Coldwater 7:30Feb. 8 A Franklin Monroe* 8:00Feb. 9 A Anna 8:00Feb. 15 H Bradford* 8:00* denotes CCC game

Dylan Owens returns for Covington boys.BEN ROBINSON/GOBUCCS.COM PHOTO

HOUSTON8 Wednesday, November 21, 2012 WWW.DAILYCALL.COM • PIQUA DAILY CALL

BY TONY ARNOLDCivitas Media

HOUSTON – LongtimeHouston coach JohnWilloughby became justthe third county coach toreach the 300 career winmilestone a season ago.Willoughby’s Wildcatswent 11-11 a season ago –giving the Houston coach308 career wins.“Even though we are

still young — 7 of our top8 players are juniors —the three returning play-ers were major contribu-tors and statistical leaderson last year’s squad. Welook to be a competitiveteam in our league and inthe area,” explainedWilloughby.Last season Houston

was strong defensively –finishing second in thearea limiting opponents to45.8 points a game andalso shot the ball well con-necting on 46.2 percent oftheir attempts.“We must begin the sea-

son with that same defen-sive attitude and play;then get even tougher asthe season moves on. Wedo have some very gooddefenders; plus the armlength to make shootingand passing challenging,”said Willoughby.Leading the way for

Houston this year will bea trio of returning letter-men.“Key performers must

play at their high levelconsistently game-in andgame-out,” Willoughbysaid. “As always, teamplay and togetherness willdetermine this team’s suc-cess.”Junior Jesse Phlipot —

a 6-4 wing-player is awell-rounded player whoearned first-team allcounty honors a seasonago.Phlipot scored 13.1 a

game last season while

canning 54 percent fromthe field and grabbingnearly 8 rebounds a game.“Jesse has worked hard

on his game,” Willoughbysaid. “He has become moreexplosive on the perime-ter, able to get by the de-fender with a quick move.“He has become a more

rounded player by improv-ing his post moves.“He has learned to

enjoy the contact in thepost area and has ex-panded his game to takeadvantage of the physicalplay.“Where Jesse has im-

proved as a player is byhis leadership.“He leads by his exem-

plary effort and conditionand his love for playingbasketball.”Jake Braun is a key for

the Wildcats.The 5-11 guard was a

sturdy performer a seasonago — leading the Wild-cats in steals, assists, andthree-pointers.“Jake may be our best

on-ball defender,”Willoughby said. “He isstronger this year, and weare looking for Jake to bea big threat for us.”Rounding out the re-

turning letter winners isNate Ritchie a 6-2 wingplayer.The Wildcats will lean

on Ritchie for his presencein the paint along with hisability to help clean theclass on the boards.“Nate is one of our top

athletes,” Willoughbysaid. “He has a uniqueknack for offensive re-bounding. Last seasonNate was second in all re-bounding categories.“We look for Nate to

continue his rebounding

skills; along with lettinghis natural ability toscore,.”The Wildcat roster is

lined up with plenty ofother capable players.TJ Martin stands 6-3,

and is a senior whoWilloughby points tobeing an X-factor for the

Wildcats.“TJ has the capability of

being a dominate player.He has to learn to play upto his abilities every timehe steps on the court,”Willoughby said. “He canguard multi positions onthe floor and is an activerebounder.

“Offensively, TJ mustuse his deceptive quick-ness to his advantage inthe post.Junior Evan Winner is

a junior guard whoWilloughby describes ashaving plenty of quicknessand brings excitement tothe team.Winner will be the point

guard and will be reliedupon to help create oppor-tunities on the offensiveend.“He is a threat from

deep and able to shootfrom well beyond thethree-point point line. Akey will be getting consis-tent performance fromEvan,” said Willoughby ofWinner.Additionally, Austin

Sarver is a junior postplayer who Willoughbysays is a strength inside— with the ability to scorein a variety of differentways including fromdowntown.Jamie Riffel is a junior

who Willoughby describesas a streaky shooter whoat times is capable of hit-ting four or five shots in arow.David Nagel is a junior

post player who is quick toaction when going after aloose ball.“It’s imperative that we

get steady and reliableplay from the new-com-ers,” explainedWilloughby.A d d i t i o n a l l y ,

Willoughby points to theimportance of being readyto go right out of the gate,with the season openercoming against JacksonCenter.“Since we do have some

experience back and ourschedule is loaded at thebeginning, we must beready to play at a top levelat the beginning of theseason,” Willoughby con-cluded.

Willoughby has high hopes for WildcatsHouston boys have young, experienced team

2012-2013 HOUSTON BOYSBASKETBALL SCHEDULE

Date H/A Opponent TimeNov. 30 A Jackson Center* 8:00Dec. 1 H Newton 7:30Dec. 7 H Anna* 8:00Dec. 8 A Franklin Monroe 7:30Dec. 11 A Fort Loramie* 7:30Dec. 14 H Fairlawn* 8:30Dec. 18 A Russia* 7:30Dec. 28 H Minster 8:00Dec. 29 A Ansonia 7:30Jan. 4 H Botkins* 8:00Jan. 5 H Mississinawa Valley 7:30Jan. 11 H Jackson Center* 8:00Jan. 12 H Bradford 7:30Jan. 18 A Anna* 8:00Jan. 19 H Covington 7:30Jan. 22 H Fort Loramie* 7:30Jan. 25 A Fairlawn* 8:00Jan. 26 A Lehman Catholic 7:30Feb. 2 H Troy Christian 7:30Feb. 8 H Russia* 8:00Feb. 9 A Riverside 7:30Feb. 15 A Botkins* 8:00* denotes SCL game


HOUSTON — GregWard and the HoustonLady Wildcats are a littleshort on numbers headinginto the basketball seasonthis year. Ward knows hisWildcats and their for-tunes will rely heavily onthe ability of differentplayers stepping up thisseason.Three players return for

theWildcats including Ko-rtney Phipps, AlyssaStang, and MoniqueBooher. Senior center Ko-rtney Phipps will becounted upon heavily forher experience and leader-ship. Phipps providesleadership and a proventrack record of playingvarsity basketball.“Kortney will be a third

year starter, her experi-ence will be relied upon tohelp develop our youngerplayers and will be a quickshot blocking presence inthe post,” said Ward.TheWildcats return an-

other senior — AlyssaStang — who will play theforward and center posi-tion.“She will be called upon

to provide inside defenseand scoring. The scoring,defense, and reboundingshe can provide will be im-portant for our success,”said Ward.Monique Booher is a

junior forward for theWildcats who will likelyplay a versatile role thisyear.“Monique will provide

us with help inside andoutside. Her size will beneeded as a post presenceand her ability to score

outside will give muchneeded scoring,” saidWard.While the role of the re-

turning players will becritical — several newplayers to the varsityteam will need to step-upas well.Angela Gilkeson is a

Wildcat senior forwardwho features plenty ofspeed and a strong workethic.“Angela will provide

quickness and an eagerpositive attitude,” saidWard.Nicole Maier is a sopho-

more point guard whocould play a significantrole for the Wildcats.Maier’s development as asophomore throughout theseason could prove to be adifference-maker.“There are big shoes to

fill with the departure oflast year’s seniors. She(Nicole) has shown great

promise during our sum-mer shootouts,” saidWard.A couple juniors will

very much be in the mixfor the Wildcats. HeidiCox is a forward for theWildcats and Terri Powellis a guard.“Heidi is a quick in-

stinctive player that cancover a lot of ground be-cause of the space she cancover. Terri will be neededas an outside shooter, es-pecially after losing our 3

shooters from last year,”said Ward.The Wildcats could see

a variety of different play-ers fill their roster thisyear.“Because of our lack of

numbers we will be usingmost everyone in the pro-gram at sometime duringthe season. The otherplayers that can see play-ing time this season are:Morgan Ferryman, Madi-son Young,Ashley Peeples,Amber Meyer, MaceyStang, Micalah Hensley,Kayla New and JennaWinner,” said Ward.With the departure of

some key players to grad-

uation the Wildcats antic-ipate some early growingpains — butWard is quickto point out that the wayhis team responds will becritical this year.“We will be a young

team looking to replaceour scoring from lastyear,” Ward said. “If wecan survive early growingpains and the players buyinto how hard we willhave to work and play wewill see tremendous im-provement this season.“Our success will de-

pend on finding thoseplayers who are going tostep up and score this sea-son.”

Lady Wildcats short on numbers this yearWard expects returners to step up for Houston girls

2012-2013 HOUSTON GIRLSBASKETBALL SCHEDULE

Date H/A Opponent TimeNov. 23 A Covington 7:30Nov. 27 A Jackson Center* 7:30Nov. 29 H Lehman Catholic 7:30Dec. 1 H Anna* 2:30Dec. 4 A Tri-Village 7:00Dec. 6 A Fort Loramie* 7:30Dec. 8 H Sidney 1:30Dec. 13 H Fairlawn* 7:30Dec. 20 A Russia* 7:30Dec. 27 H Botkins* 7:30Dec. 29 H New Bremen 2:30Jan. 3 H Jackson Center* 6:00Jan. 5 A Bradford 1:30Jan. 8 A Anna* 7:30Jan. 12 H Fort Loramie* 2:30Jan. 17 A Fairlawn* 7:30Jan. 19 H Newton 1:30Jan. 24 A Mississinawa Valley 7:00Jan. 31 A Russia* 7:30Feb. 2 A Riverside 1:30Feb. 5 H New Knoxville 7:30Feb. 7 A Botkins* 7:30* denotes SCL game

Houston girls basketball seniors Angela Gilkeson, Kortney Phipps and AlyssaStang are ready for a big season.

TODD B. ACKER/CIVITAS PHOTO

Houston’s Jessie Phlipot (42) returns this season.MIKE ULLERY/CALL FILE PHOTO

PIQUA DAILY CALL • WWW.DAILYCALL.COM RUSSIA Wednesday, November 21, 2012 9


RUSSIA — Allan Kingenters his third year asthe varsity girls coach atRussia and this yearpromises to be a memo-rable one.The Raiders have expe-

rience by the buckets — asthey were crowned the Di-vision IV District champi-ons a season ago with noseniors on the roster. Lastyear marked the first dis-trict title in 11 years forthe Russia girls.“We expect to continue

to build the foundation ofa successful program,something these seniorswere charged with assophomores when I cameto Russia,” King said.“Our effort and attentionto detail will determineour success in doing so.“The keys for us taking

the next step will be to im-prove in three main areas,rebounding, turnovermargin, and scoring.”Russia fills the roster

with a formidable bunch.Senior post player

Shana Meyer is a two-year starter who averaged6.9 points, 8.1 rebounds,and an impressive 1.3blocked shots a seasonago.Senior guard Ashley

Borchers tossed in 6.0 agame, grabbed 4.6 boards,and swatted 1.4 shots, andrecorded 1.9 steals a sea-son ago.“Shana and Ashley are

a pair of seniors with theability to score, rebound,and play defense,” Kingsaid. “Shana and Ashleyare solid leaders. They dothe work in the offseason,they come and practicehard every day and theyalways show up on gameday.“They do most of their

leading by example, whichis the best kind.”A big lift this season

will be the return of seniorBethany York — a power-ful post player and excel-lent defender for theRaiders.After missing all of last

season due to injury Yorkreturns this season.A cou-ple seasons ago as a soph-omore — York was anAll-District performerwhile leading the Raidersin points, rebounds, steals,and blocked shots.“It will be interesting to

see how Bethany fits intothis group,” King said.“The last time she playedtwo years ago we were acompletely different team.“She only really had the

opportunity to play abouta week with this group

last year, and it was soearly on it is hard to tellhow things will shake out.“She has yet to practice

with this group and I amreally anxious to see howher athleticism and abili-ties mesh with those onthe court. I think it opensup options for us all overthe court and I plan ondoing some things to high-light her abilities.”Also returning for the

Raiders is junior CamillePuthoff who serves as asteady point guard forRussia.Puthoff was a second

team All-SCL performerlast season averaging 8.0points, 4.5 assists, 1.6steals, and 4.0 rebounds agame.“Camille has been our

starting point guard sincea few games into herfreshmen year,” King said.“In our system we ask alot of her. We give her nohelp against pressure andjust expect her to makeplays.“She has grown so much

in her first two years and Isee her growing even morethis season.“She has the ability to

be one of the best pointguards in our area. I thinkthis year you will reallysee her come into her ownmaking plays for others aswell as herself. I think sheis a player to watch thisseason.”Last year’s leading

scorer is also back for theBlue and Gold.Sophomore Kylie Wil-

son was a source of consis-

tency last season, startingevery-game and producingsome glossy numbers.Wilson tallied an aver-

age of eleven points andseven rebounds a game.“Kylie jumped out to a

great start last year andby six to seven games intoour season everyone keyedon her inside,” King said.“She saw double teams,denials, etc. from thatpoint on. It slowed herscoring down some but Ithink it really helped herlearn the game as a wholeand she will be better offfor it.“She will have a target

on her back in every gamefor the next 3 years, but Ifeel like she is used to it atthis point and has learnedhow to have success inspite of it.”Sophomore Taylor

Daniel saw varsity actionin every game a seasonago and averaged 4.6points, 3.4 rebounds, and apair of assists last year.King points to a Claire

Sherman and ClaudiaMonnin as a couple ofplayers who played keyroles coming off the bencha season ago as beingplayers pushing for play-ing time.“It is great to have a

large group returning be-cause you feel like youhave a jumping off pointfor the season,” King said.“However I’ve learned inthe past that each year isindependent of the pastand even if you have thesame players that dynam-ics on a team change fromyear to year.”

Lady Raiders hopefor memorable yearRussia coach expects big things

2012-2013 RUSSIA GIRLSBASKETBALL SCHEDULE

Date H/A Opponent TimeNov. 23 H Sidney 7:30Nov. 24 H Mississinawa Valley 7:00Nov. 27 A Botkins* 7:30Dec. 1 H Jackson Center* 2:30Dec. 6 A Anna* 7:30Dec. 8 H Marion Local 2:30Dec. 13 H Fort Loramie* 7:30Dec. 15 A Fairlawn* 2:30Dec. 20 H Houston* 7:30Dec. 22 A New Knoxville 2:30Dec. 27 A WPTW Holiday Classic TBADec. 28 A WPTW Holiday Classic TBAJan. 8 A Jackson Center* 7:30Jan. 12 A Minster 2:30Jan. 17 A Fort Loramie* 7:30Jan. 19 A Versailles 2:30Jan. 21 H Botkins* 7:30Jan. 24 H Fairlawn* 7:30Jan. 28 A Covington 7:00Jan. 31 A Houston* 7:30Feb. 2 H Franklin Monroe 2:30Feb. 5 H Anna* 7:30* denotes SCL game

Ashley Brochers chases the ball against Troy Christian.LUKE GRONNEBERG/CIVITAS FILE PHOTO


RUSSIA— Raider headcoach Paul Bremigan lostsix seniors from last year’steam that finished 14-9and advanced to the Divi-sion IV district final.However, Russia re-

turns plenty of solid per-formers including threeletter-winners and a deeproster of players compet-ing for minutes at the var-sity level.Leading the way among

the returning players isTreg Francis, a secondteam all county performera season ago.Francis tallied 13.1 a

game while canning 38triples in the regular sea-son.“Treg will have to be

multi-dimensional for usthis year,” Bremigan said.“We know that he will bethe focal point of oppo-nents defenses and he re-alizes that he will have tohelp us in all parts of thegame and be a leader forus.Treg’s ability to lead byexample will be importantto us this year.”Trevor Sherman re-

turns for the Raiders afterrunning the offense a sea-son ago at the point guardposition.“He will be used in that

spot again this year butwill also be playing on theperimeter,” Bremigansaid. “We are looking forTrevor to continue to be agood defender and aleader on the floor. The ex-perience he gained lastyear will help us tremen-dously.”Bryce Dues returns for

the Raiders as an athleticplayer with plenty of ca-pabilities.Dues, is a versatile

threat for the Raiderswith the ability to playstrong in the paint butalso flexible enough toroam the perimeter for theBlue and Gold.“Bryce is an athletic kid

with exceptional jumpingability and has good courtsense,” Bremigan said.“He is able to guard theperimeter as well as thepost. His post presence isimportant to us this year.”The Raiders should fea-

ture plenty of depth and anumber of players compet-ing for minutes on the var-sity team.Senior Austin Gariety is

a player Bremigan de-scribes as a good shooterwho had a good summerbefore his final year.“He’s a hard worker

that wants to make themost of his senior season.We are hoping he can helpus on the boards and alsoon defense,” said Bremi-gan of Gariety.The Raider roster in-

cludes four juniors whocould be critical to the suc-cess of the Raiders.Isaiah Counts had

elbow surgery in July andhis status still remainsunsure.“Isaiah is a good aggres-

sive defender who playshard,” Bremigan said. “Weare hoping he gets to playthis year. His aggressivestyle would really helpus.”Classmate Chase Ham-

monds has shown ademonstrated capabilityto shoot from outside forthe Raiders.“Chase is a good shooter

and aggressive defender.His shooting can help uswhen we see zone from op-ponents,” said Bremigan.Additionally, the

Raiders are looking tolean on Kyle Poling —particularly when itcomes to post play andbattling for boards.“Kyle is a very good re-

bounder who is also phys-ical. With our lack of size

this year, he could defi-nitely help us,” saidBremigan.Austin Tebbe is a player

who plays with plenty ofenergy and has the abilityto play a either the wingor post position for theRaiders.“He makes a lot of hus-

tle plays that make a dif-ference in a game. He is atough kid who plays witha lot of heart,” said Bremi-gan.Nolan Francis and

AdamHoying are a pair ofsophomore players on thevarsity roster this year.Francis has proven to

be a capable ball handlerwhile Hoying providesversatility.“Nolan is a good ball

handler who gets to thebasket quickly,” Bremigansaid. “He is also a goodshooter which is a good in-side out combination forus. He will play point orwing for us this year.

“Adam is a smart playerwho can play inside or out.He will play post for usthis year and has reallyimproved from last year.“He is a good defender

with the ability to guardposts and wings.”Despite losing six play-

ers to graduation – an up-and-coming rosterprovides Russia withdepth again this year. “Iusually like to play a lot ofplayers.This will create a great

atmosphere for improve-ment.We don’t have much

size but will be able to useour quickness and athleti-cism at both ends of thefloor. Our posts are ath-letic kids.A lot depends onhow well we rebound anddefend. I think the ShelbyCounty League will be im-proved this year and verycompetitive with JacksonCenter being the favorite,”concluded Bremigan.

2012-2013 RUSSIA BOYSBASKETBALL SCHEDULE

Date H/A Opponent TimeDec. 1 H St. Henry 8:00Dec. 4 A Botkins* 7:30Dec. 7 H Jackson Center* 8:00Dec. 8 A Minster 8:00Dec. 11 A Anna* 7:30Dec. 14 H Fort Loramie* 8:00Dec. 18 H Houston* 7:30Dec. 21 A Fairlawn* 8:00Dec. 27 A WPTW Holiday Classic TBADec. 28 A WPTW Holiday Classic 8:00Jan. 5 H Ansonia 8:00Jan. 11 H Botkins* 8:00Jan. 12 A Catholic Central 7:30Jan. 18 A Jackson Center* 8:00Jan. 19 A New Bremen 8:00Jan. 22 H Anna* 7:30Jan. 25 A Fort Loramie* 8:00Jan. 26 A Versailles 8:00Feb. 1 H Fairlawn* 8:00Feb. 8 A Houston* 8:00Feb. 12 H Newton 7:30Feb. 16 H Marion Local 7:30* denotes SCL game

Russia boys returntalented groupFrancis will be multi-dimensional player

Treg Francis returns for the Russia boys.MIKE ULLERY/CALL FILE PHOTO

BY COLIN FOSTERCivitas Media

PLEASANT HILL —Having been around bas-ketball for as long as hehas, Newton coach SteveFisher — who has alsocoached at Covington andwon a Division IV Statetitle at Bethel in 2003? —has learned a thing or twoabout winning games.One key aspect that he

knows about winning isthat it starts with confi-dence, and that’s some-thing Fisher wants hisplayers to grasp going for-ward.“The first thing we need

to do is develop confi-dence,” Fisher said. “Imean we talked aboutchanging the culture atNewton — and I thinkconfidence to win is thefirst thing we really needto develop.”And with several sen-

iors back, including three-year starting point guardDaniel Vance, this may bethe group to get Newton incontention again.Vance has been both-

ered by a knee injury thathe suffered during soccerseason. He is expected tobe back soon enough, andFisher hopes he can pickright up where he left offduring the summer.“He had a really, really

good summer,” Fishersaid. “I thought he wasone of the best players inthe area during the sum-mer and I thought he wasthe best player at ourteam camp. I feel he’s re-ally starting to take on theleadership role.“He was going to be a

focal point of offense, butwe haven’t had him dur-ing preseason. I think he’sreally going to be a bigboost when he gets back.”The other key seniors

are Bobby Gerodimos, whohas started for threeyears, Cole Adams, whoalso has starting experi-ence, and David Brauer.

“Those four kids havereally got to step up andplay,” Fisher said. “If we’regoing to have a good sea-son, which were capable ofhaving, these four need totake charge and lead.“Cole had a really good

summer.“He was probably the

second best player for usduring the summer. Healso needs to work on hisconsistency.“Bobby struggled with

some knee issues when hewas younger.“But I think with those

two, how good we are re-ally depends on how theydevelop consistency. Theyhave shown flashes in thelast two years, but justneed to show consistency.”The Indians also have a

senior in 6-foot-5 postplayer Branden Walters.“He has lots of poten-

tial,” Fisher said. “He’s bigand he gives us a postpresence. I think he willbe hard to guard in thepost. He just needs to con-vince himself he can be abig contributor for us.”Junior Ryan Hines will

start for the Indians, andgives the team an elementthey haven’t had in awhile.“Ryan finally gives us

someone who can spreadthe floor and make peopleguard the perimeter,”Fisher said. “He’s a very,very good shooter on theperimeter.”

While Vance has beenout, freshman BradyMcBride and junior TylerFilbrun have been split-ting the duties at point.The duo has performed

well in Vance’s absence,and Fisher thinks theywill both be solid contrib-utors this season.“Brady is a really good

shooter and a good ballhandler. He’s done a goodjob filling in, but he’s justa freshman.“I think he will be excel-

lent player for us as yearprogresses. Tyler Filbrun

has had a very nice pre-season. He has been apleasant surprise for us.He played really well infirst scrimmage.“But once we get Vance

back, I think those guyscan come off bench.”Fisher thinks this team

has more depth than New-ton squads in the past.And having more depththis season will allow theIndians to play the styleFisher wants to play.“We would like to get

the ball down the floorfaster and be more of an

uptempo team,” Fishersaid. “We felt last yearthat we just kind ofbanged our heads upagainst the wall and wereforced to play in the halfcourt. We just weren’tgood enough to run lastyear.“This year we’ll run

some zone and a littleman to man. We wouldlike to pressure certainteams, because now wecan go seven or eight deep,and we haven’t been ableto do that the last fewyears.”

NEWTON10 Wednesday, November 21, 2012 WWW.DAILYCALL.COM • PIQUA DAILY CALL

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2012-2013 NEWTON BOYSBASKETBALL SCHEDULE

Date H/A Opponent TimeDec. 1 A Houston 7:30Dec. 7 A Mississinawa Valley* 8:00Dec. 8 H Lehman Catholic 7:30Dec. 14 A Franklin Monroe* 8:00Dec. 15 H Fairlawn 7:30Dec. 18 H Bradford 7:30Dec. 21 A Arcanum* 8:00Dec. 22 A Covington 7:30Dec. 29 H Dixie 7:30Jan. 4 H Twin Valley South* 8:00Jan. 5 A Xenia Christian 7:30Jan. 11 A Tri-County North* 8:00Jan. 15 H National Trail* 7:30Jan. 18 A Miami East* 8:00Jan. 19 H Stivers 7:30Jan. 25 H Covington* 7:30Feb. 1 H Bethel* 8:00Feb. 2 H Milton-Union 7:30Feb. 8 A Ansonia* 8:00Feb. 9 A Bradford* 7:30Feb. 12 A Russia 7:30Feb. 15 H Tri-Village* 8:00* denotes CCC game

2012-2013 NEWTON GIRLSBASKETBALL SCHEDULE

Date H/A Opponent TimeNov. 23 H Bradford 8:00Nov. 27 A Troy Christian 7:00Nov. 29 A Tri-Village* 7:00Dec. 1 H Xenia Christian 1:30Dec. 4 A Northridge 7:00Dec. 6 H Ansonia* 7:00Dec. 8 H Dixie 1:30Dec. 13 A Bethel* 7:00Dec. 20 H Miami East* 7:00Dec. 22 A Covington* 6:00Dec. 27 A National Trail* 7:00Jan. 3 H Tri-County North* 7:00Jan. 5 A Fairlawn 12:30Jan. 8 A Stivers 7:00Jan. 10 A Twin Valley South* 7:00Jan. 17 A Bradford* 7:00Jan. 19 A Houston 1:30Jan. 24 H Franklin Monroe* 7:00Jan. 29 H Arcanum* 7:00Jan. 31 H Mississinawa Valley 7:00Feb. 2 H Covington 1:30Feb. 5 H Milton-Union 7:00* denotes CCC game

Newton boys looking ‘C’ wordFisher says confidence will be key for Indians

Getting Daniel Vance healty will be a key for the Newton boys basketball team.BEN ROBINSON/GOBUCCS.COM PHOTO

BY COLIN FOSTERCivitas Media

PLEASANT HILL —It’s Neal Hans’ first yearas Newton girls headcoach. But Hans, whoserved as the schools headboys coach for five yearsand has spent the last twoseasons as a girls assis-tant to Ken Ford, is nostranger to Newton bas-ketball.In his debut as girls

coach, he will be coachinga group that has little var-sity experience collec-tively.The nucleus of the

team, however, does con-sist of a few upperclass-men and a bevy ofunderclassmen withpromising potential.“We’re pretty young,”

Hans said. “We’ve gotsome good girls coming upthrough the program.“If we can keep them all

in the program, I mean wegot six sophomores andseven freshmen, we onlyhave four girls in theupper two grades, weshould be able to com-pete.”The Indians most expe-

rienced player is seniorpoint guard Trista Lavy,while seniors Marissa Kle-man and Kasey Thompsonalso bring experience tothe table.“Trista basically has

handled the point sincethe middle of her fresh-man year,” Hans said. “Soshe’s really experienced atthe point guard position.She’s a good ball handler.“We can count on her

and Marissa Kleman to begood senior leaders be-cause they have moretime on varsity. Both willprovide good leadershipfor the team.”Still, with a slew of

young players, Hans ex-pects playing time to beup for grabs.Sophomore Trelissa

Lavy, who split time be-tween JV and varsity lastseason, is one of thosevying for a spot in the top

seven.Hans said sophomore

Madison Tebics is ex-pected to be the teams de-fensive-stopper.“She’s a defensive wiz,”

Hans said. “She is toughon defense. She’s not big,she is small — but asquick as can be. She willgive people trouble on ‘D’.“She also can be one of ourbetter offensive playerstoo.”Those in contention for

playing time in the postare Megan Rutledge andAllison Wise.Rounding out the girls

who could see time in therotation are sophomoreLaura Burden, who Hanssaid “could be a goodplayer for us”, juniorguard Halee Mollette andMadison Mollette.Hans hopes his team

can gain experience andwinning habits goingagainst the always com-petitive Cross CountyConference, which in-cludes good teams fromtop-to-bottom, includingCovington,Tri Village andMiami East, who finishedas Division III regionalrunnerup last year.“Miami East has got to

be the front runner,” Hanssaid. “They are so big. TriVillage lost a really goodplayer, but they still havea lot of good girls in theprogram. Those two aredefinitely the class of theleague.“I think we can compete

with everybody. I thinkwe’re going to win ourshare. We’ll have to try toget up and down the floorand put pressure on peo-ple.“If we aren’t successful

at those two things, weprobably won’t be per-forming at the level we’recapable of. I hope we’re inthe upper-third of ourleague.”The Indians get a shot

at CCC competition rightaway, hosting the Brad-ford Railroaders on Nov.23 to open the season.

Newton girlslack experienceHans sees bright future

Trelissa Lavy returns for the Newton girlsMIKE ULLERY/CALL FILE PHOTO


CASSTOWN—The dayafter the Miami East vol-leyball team won its statechampionship, the playerswere told that they couldtake a few days off beforegoing to basketball prac-tice.The next day, they were

on the practice court."That's just the type of

kids they are," MiamiEast girls basketballcoach Preston Elifritzsaid. "They want more."After a run to the re-

gional championshipgame last season, theVikings have the potentialto claim the hardware inanother sport. And afterlosing no seniors off ofthat team that went 24-2last season, including aCross County Conferencetitle, Miami East knowsthat its goal is withinreach."That feeling is conta-

gious," Elifritz said. "Theyknow the potential wehave, and they want to bea part of that.“They know we're going

to have to work for it thisyear. We're going to haveto fight tooth and nail forevery point we get. Wewon't be surprising any-one this year."We have a big target on

our back, and we'll have towork hard. So here theyare. They just got doneplaying 30 volleyballmatches, and they showedup Monday ready for anew season."But the Vikings have

become accustomed to thisroutine now."Last year, it (winning a

first volleyball state title)was a shock to the wholeprogram. Not a shock thatthey did so well, but ashock in that we didn't getthem in practice until themiddle of November,"Elifritz said. "We wereprepared for them to dowell again this year, andwe had some younger girlsin their absence that wereable to improve on somethings and get some one-

on-one coaching time."Then come Monday,

they were all at practiceand ready to go. So it wasgood to see those two unitsgel right away."But it's not just the re-

turning volleyball playersthat are bringing an atti-tude of success to thecourt."Across the board, we

have athletes coming fromeverywhere that have thatmentality," Elifritz said."The soccer team went tothe regional last year andmade it to the sectionaltitle game this year, thecross country team wentto the regional level. Thisentire junior and seniorclass has had this mental-ity their entire careers."And it all starts with

the senior captains, AbbyCash, Madison Linn andLeah Dunivan."Abby does a little of

everything. She's smart,talented and consistent,"Elifritz said. "Leah is oneof the most raw athleticindividuals I've had theprivilege of coaching. She'sa defensive presence, andshe does a lot of littlethings that may not getnoticed.“Maddie, we asked her

to play point guard lastyear, a role she had notplayed before. She a goodshooter — shot 37.3 per-cent from 3-point range,second on the team— anddistributes the ball well."Juniors Trina and Ash-

ley Current are a force tobe reckoned with in the

paint, and fellow juniorsAngie Mack and EmilyKindell are deadly fromthe outside."Trina averaged

roughly 13 points andseven rebounds a gamelast year, and everyoneknows about her now,"Elifritz said. "The chal-lenge for her will be tak-ing what the defense givesher.“And Ashley is the same

way inside. The both canscore around the basketand rebound the ball."Angie shot 45.3 per-

cent from 3 last year andis a real threat outside.And Emily averaged 7.3points per game last year,too. When she's on, she'son."Junior guard Sam Skid-

more will add depth to theteam, as will seniors ToriNuss and Hannah David-son.The first step for the

Vikings to building on lastyear's success will be de-fending their CCC title."The league was young

last year," Elifritz said."Tri-Village is going tokeep coming at you withathletes.“They may have gradu-

ated CCC Player of theYear Kayla Linkous, butshe was their only senior.“And Covington has a

new coach that will carryon their tradition, Brad-ford has got some athletesand will surprise a lot ofpeople. There are someteams that were battlingfor second, third, fourthplace last year that areready to step up to thenext level and compete."The Vikings also will

take advantage of the twoextra games this season—teams can play a 22-gameschedule instead of thetraditional 20-game one— picking up the team

that knocked them out inthe regional title game,Anna."The state gave us two

extra games, so we'regoing to look for gamesthat will make us better,"Elifritz said. "We're goingto Anna — a hostile envi-ronment, a tournamentatmosphere. We want toget the girls that kind ofexperience. We're alsogoing toWayne, a DivisionI school that will throwsome bigger girls at you."Miami East's girls ex-

pect to win, and when thatdoesn't happen, it doesn'tsit well.And they haven't forgot-

ten what it's like to win astate title in one sport —or what it's like to comeclose in another."(Losing in the regional

final) definitely left a bit-tersweet taste in ourmouth," Elifritz said."Tying the second-bestrecord in Miami East his-tory, realizing how closewe came … the girls saythey have some unfin-ished business."

PIQUA DAILY CALL • WWW.DAILYCALL.COM MIAMI EAST Wednesday, November 21, 2012 11

2012-2013 MIAMI EAST GIRLSBASKETBALL SCHEDULE

Date H/A Opponent TimeNov. 24 H Vandalia-Butler 7:30Nov. 29 A Arcanum* 7:00Dec. 1 H Troy 7:30Dec. 6 H Bradford* 7:00Dec. 8 H Fort Loramie 7:30Dec. 10 H Greenon 7:30Dec. 13 A Franklin Monroe* 7:00Dec. 15 H Mississinawa Valley* 1:30Dec. 20 A Newton* 7:00Dec. 22 A Anna 2:30Dec. 27 H Tri-Village* 7:00Jan. 3 A Ansonia* 7:00Jan. 7 H Urbana 7:30Jan. 10 H Bethel* 7:00Jan. 12 A Covington* 1:30Jan. 16 A Graham 7:30Jan. 19 A Tippecanoe 2:30Jan. 24 H National Trail* 7:00Jan. 26 A Wayne 2:30Jan. 31 H Tri-County North* 7:00Feb. 2 A Versailles 2:30Feb. 7 A Twin Valley South* 7:00* denotes CCC game

Abby Cash and the Miami East girls are shooting for another big year.MIKE ULLERY/CALL FILE PHOTO

No break needed for Lady VikingsMiami East girls ready to take care of unfinished business


CASSTOWN — MiamiEast will spend the earlypart of the season dealingwith loss.The loss of a talented

senior class that had beenkey to who the Vikingswere.The Vikings graduated

five seniors — three ofthem three-year starters— and lost a lot of ballhandling, shooting andscoring in the process,leaving three returningplayers this season thatwill be leaned on heavilyfor their talent and expe-rience.How the Vikings move

on without Gunner Shirk— who was the teamMVPthe past two seasons —point guard Josh Snyderand shooter BradleyCoomes, as well as role-players Colton Bowlingand Luke Clark, will de-fine how well they playthis season.“We lost a tremendous

senior class, and a lot ofguards,”Miami East coachAllen Mack said. “Gunnerwas our leading scorerand team MVP two yearsin a row, Josh has been theteam’s point guard andBradley led us in field goalpercentage. They led us ina lot of ways.”And that leadership

took the Vikings far, too —they went 21-3 last sea-

son, were Cross CountyConference champions forthe second straight yearand reached the districtchampionship game,where they lost to even-tual state champion Sum-mit Country Day.“It was our second

straight undefeated runthrough the CCC, and thedistrict final was a stronggame for us to close outon,”Mack said.That was agame that we led at half-time. They were just a lit-

tle better.”And while the Vikings

said goodbye to most oftheir experienced guards,their returners’ strengthis definitely on the inside.Garrett Mitchell — a 6-

foot-4 senior — will moveout to the wing positionand will be looked at toprovide a bit of everything— especially veteran lead-ership — and 6-3 sopho-more A.J. Hickmanreturns after starting inthe post as a freshman.

Also returning is 6-4junior Luke House, whowas the first player off thebench last season.“We have players to

build around,” Mack said.“Garrett will move out towing and hopefully pro-vide scoring, ballhandling,defense — he’s very versa-tile, and he’ll have to do itall.He was also the CCC

Player of the Year duringbaseball season, so he’sjust a great athlete.“A.J. can stretch a de-

fense and be one of ourbetter outside shooters in

addition to his skills in-side.“Both he and Garrett

shot better than 50 per-cent from the field lastseason. All three of thoseguys have capabilitiesboth inside and outside.”Beyond those three,

though, it will be an opencompetition for playingtime that is still ongoing.Seniors Michael Har-

mon and Kevin Jacksonwill compete for time inthe post, while fellow sen-ior Ross Snodgrass willcompete for time at guard.Junior Franco Villella

and freshman BrandonMack will be vying for thepoint guard position, andsophomores ConnerHellyer, Nick Beard andZack Ostendorf and fresh-man Braxton Donaldsonwill add depth to the ros-ter.“We have a lot of new

faces, so we’ll rely heavilyon our veterans, our tworeturning starters, forleadership, scoring, re-bounding … and the otherguys will all be looking tocompete and contribute,”Mack said. “Hopefully ourexperience and havingsome of our top guys com-ing back will help carryus.”And with the strength

of the CCC this season, athree-peat will be a tallorder for the Vikings.“Tri-Village lost to Jack-

son Center in overtime inthe district final last yearthe night after us, andthey only lost one senior,”Mack said. “They’re ateam that’s pushing hardto compete at the top ofthe league.“And Covington returns

its top eight or nine guysand has a lot of experi-ence, Franklin Monroe re-turns four of its fivestarters, Bethel returnsits top two scorers andTwin Valley South, webeat them in overtime inthe last game of the sea-son, and they’ll be in con-tention.“We’re going to have our

work cut out for us, that’sfor sure.”

East boys hit hard by graduationVikings strengthwill be inside

2012-2013 MIAMI EAST BOYSBASKETBALL SCHEDULE

Date H/A Opponent TimeNov. 30 A Northwestern 7:30Dec. 4 A Oakwood 7:30Dec. 7 A Tri-County North* 8:00Dec. 14 A National Trail* 8:00Dec. 21 H Covington* 8:00Dec. 22 H Lehman Catholic 7:30Dec. 28 A Versailles Tournament TBADec. 29 A Versailles Tournament TBAJan. 4 A Bethel* 8:00Jan. 5 A Troy Christian 7:30Jan. 11 H Ansonia* 8:00Jan. 15 A Tri-Village* 7:30Jan. 18 H Newton* 7:30Jan. 19 H Twin Valley South* 8:00Jan. 25 A Mississinawa Valley* 8:00Jan. 26 H Fairlawn 7:30Feb. 1 H Franklin Monroe* 8:00Feb. 2 A Graham 7:30Feb. 8 A Bradford* 7:30Feb. 9 H Troy 7:30Feb. 12 A Milton-Union 7:30Feb. 15 H Arcanum* 8:00* denotes CCC game

A.J. Hickman returns in the post for Miami East.MIKE ULLERY/CALL FILE PHOTO

VERSAILLES12 Wednesday, November 21, 2012 WWW.DAILYCALL.COM • PIQUA DAILY CALL

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BY FRED HERRONCivitas Media

VERSAILLES — “I’mlooking forward to thisseason,” says Scott McEl-downey, coach of the Ver-sailles boys varsitybasketball team. “We’rehoping to repeat a betterlast year.”McEldowney is refer-

ring to his team’s impres-sive 22-3 overall run lastyear. They also went 7-2in the MAC and placedsecond overall.“We again have high

expectations for the up-coming season,” McEl-downey explained.“Although we lost threestarters to graduation,we have four lettermencoming back, includingour second-and-third-leading scorers and re-bounders: Chad Winner14 points per game, 5 re-bounds, and Kyle Ahrens13 per game, 6 rebounds.“We also have a lot of

good newcomers comingfrom a highly successfulJV team last year. This isone of the most athleticteams we’ve had at Ver-sailles, and we hope toagain make a deep run intournament.”In reference to the

Tiger’s place in the MAC,McEldowney further ex-plained, “The MAC willagain be very difficultwith Ft. Recovery, St.Henry, and Delphos St.John’s returning keyplayers.We hope to put our-

selves in this mix, alongwith all the other highlycompetitive teams in theconference.”

This will be McEl-downey’s seventh year ashead coach of the VarsityBoys basketball team, sohe no doubt has a goodhandle on the Tiger’s po-tentials this season.McEldowney has been atVersailles for 23 yearswhere he was the fresh-man coach for two years,Junior Varsity coach fortwelve years, and than avarsity assistant for twomore years.In fact, McEldowney

seems to have been aboutbasketball for most of hislife. One year out of HighSchool, he played at Edi-son, and then startedcoaching the second year.

One change to McEl-downey’s staff this year isthe loss of one of his twoassistants, MichaelBashere.Bashere took on a

head-coaching job over atGreenville. McEldowneyhas decided to remainwith only one assistant,Kevin Ahrens.“The kids are typically

self motivated,” McEl-downey said. He tries toget the kids to “stay posi-tive on the floor thewhole time” and to “trynot to show negativeemotion. To put the teambefore self.“We’ve got really hard

Versailles boys stillhave big expectationsComing off 22-win season

2012-2013 VERSAILLES BOYSBASKETBALL SCHEDULE

Date H/A Opponent TimeDec. 1 A Celina 7:30Dec. 7 H New Bremen* 8:00Dec. 8 H Covington 8:00Dec. 14 A New Knoxville* 8:00Dec. 21 A Lehman Catholic 8:00Dec. 28 H Versailles Tournament TBADec. 29 H Versailles Tournament TBAJan. 4 H Parkway* 8:00Jan. 5 A Fort Loramie 8:00Jan. 11 A St. Henry* 8:00Jan. 12 H Mississinawa Valley 8:00Jan. 18 H Fort Recovery* 8:00Jan. 19 A Tippecanoe 7:30Jan. 25 A Marion Local* 8:00Jan. 26 H Russia 8:00Feb. 1 H Coldwater* 8:00Feb. 2 H Franklin Monroe 8:00Feb. 8 H Delphos St. John’s* 8:00Feb. 9 A Ansonia 7:30Feb. 15 A Minster* 8:00Feb. 16 A Greenville 7:30* denotes MAC game

See VERSAILLES/Page 6

BY FRED HERRONCivitas Media

Jacki Stonebraker,Coach of the varsity girlsbasketball squad at Ver-sailles, believes, “it will beanother tough race for anyteam to stay undefeated inthe MAC. New Knoxville,Minster, and Marion Localshould be at the top! (We)lost one senior, a shootingguard, from the outside,but I think we have somegirls that can step up.”Namely, Danielle

Langston.This will be Stone-

braker’s 10th year as headcoach.She emphasizes to her

players to “play with anaggressive attitude.Never say die.” She saidthat when playing everygame in the MAC, “youhave to have to have a de-termined attitude or you’llget beat.”However, even though

Stonebraker emphasizesthis tough and deter-mined, “never say die” at-titude on the court, shestrongly emphasized thatthe team’s attitude is also“very family oriented,”that they are “like sisters.They do a lot together.”Stonebraker went on to

say that “getting along offthe court can help the onthe court,” and that the“coaching staff does a lotto develop the whole kid,and do a lot for the com-munity.”When it comes to the

Lady Tigers strengths andareas that need improve-ment, Stonebraker com-mented, “we are veryversatile this year.“We hope to improve de-

fensively and play withmore pressure.”

She said that theyneeded to work on theirpost play.“They are going to “con-

centrate on getting theball inside.She also hopes to im-

prove her squads outsideshooting.Stonebraker’s emphasis

will be on keeping themidrange game, thosetwelve to fourteen footshots, going strong. “We’rereally strong there.”Stonebraker mentioned

that sometimes the girlswill want to go all out andtry to shoot 3-point buck-ets.But Stonebraker feels

that those mid-rangeshots are where they are

strong and can garnermore potential points. Ad-ditionally, Stonebrakerwill focus on “a lot ofposts.”Last year was a good

season for the LadyTigers, even though theywere knocked out early inthe tournament.They went 14-7 overall

and 5-4 in the MAC. As totheir disappointing tour-nament showing, Stone-braker said that it was“one of those upsets whenyou show up not ready toplay.”But even with such a

good season, Stonebrakercommented that the

Another challengefor Lady TigersVersailles girls ready for always-tough MAC

2012-2013 VERSAILLES GIRLSBASKETBALL SCHEDULE

Date H/A Opponent TimeNov. 23 A Celina Tournament TBANov. 24 A Celina Tournamet TBANov. 29 A Tippecanoe 7:30Dec. 1 A Covington 1:30Dec. 6 A New Bremen* 6:00Dec. 8 H Arcanum 2:30Dec. 11 A Franklin Monroe 7:00Dec. 13 H New Knoxville* 7:30Dec. 18 H Lima Bath 7:30Dec. 20 H Minster* 7:30Dec. 29 A Fort Loramie 2:30Jan. 3 A Parkway* 7:30Jan. 10 H St. Henry* 7:30Jan. 12 H Lehman Catholic TBAJan. 17 A Fort Recovery* 7:30Jan. 19 H Russia 2:30Jan. 24 H Marion Local* 7:30Jan. 26 H Greenville 2:30Jan. 31 A Coldwater* 7:30Feb. 2 H Miami East 2:30Feb. 7 A Delphos St. John’s* 7:30Feb. 9 A Jackson Center 2:30* denotes MAC game

See TIGERS/Page 4

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PDC Winter Sports Preview 2012