Not off the Press: Arriving at the midway point of the basketball season
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
Can you believe there have been zero game cancellations this high school basketball season through over a month of the season? With the lack of snow and ice thus far, the halfway or midway point of the season has arrived for teams in Highland County. Some have played even more than 10 games, which means this week is the midway point of the 20-game season. (Next season, teams can add two more games to their schedule if they so please.)[[In-content Ad]]
This past week had a big impact on both the South Central Ohio League and Southern Hills League standings in both boys and girls basketball. (Speaking of the SCOL, I guess we'll find out this week if London and Madison-Plains will stay in the SCOL or pack their bags and go to another league in the near future.)
Back to this season … the Hillsboro boys basketball loss at Miami Trace on Friday night brought teams closer in the SCOL standings. The Clinton-Massie girls basketball win over Miami Trace on Saturday afternoon put them in the driver's seat in the league. (Miami Trace is the defending eight-time SCOL girls basketball champions.) So, as of this coming week, the league title looks to be going in the same direction as the football championship … through Clarksville.
But, there are still plenty games to play, and it could be anyone's league title.
Speaking of league titles, the Southern Hills League boys standings are very interesting. As of games this past weekend, Peebles has a two-game lead in Division I of the SHL with North Adams, Eastern Brown and Lynchburg-Clay all in play with two or three league losses respectively.
If that doesn't interest you … Division II of the boys SHL might as Ripley has just one league loss, while Fairfield has two losses in the league. Manchester and Whiteoak are right there with three losses in the league. This league, though not as strong as last season, still will make for not only great games, but great drama as the winter months continue and teams will shuffle in the standings in the league title.
• The Week In Review
This past week (counting Saturday), I had the opportunity to cover girls basketball, boys basketball, swimming and wrestling, not to mention talking to coaches on phone, email and even Twitter. (Yes, I love technology.)
The week began with the Whiteoak Wildcats gaining a big and important SHL win over the Manchester Greyhounds at WHS on Tuesday. This win was the second time in as many years WHS defeated the Greyhounds at WHS. It was one of those wins that brought the league standings closer in the second division of the SHL.
That same night, the Hillsboro boys team defeated the MP Golden Eagles in an SCOL matchup. It was the first time the Indians played since Dec. 23, and it was no secret it had been that long by watching the first half. In the second half, though, all that rust was blasted away as the Tribe pulled out the win. The end of the week wasn't so kind to the Indians, though, losing at Miami Trace for the second straight season for their first SCOL loss.
In that game, the hustle of the Panthers impressed me, especially the first-half performance of Blake Baldwin (MT) as he made three 3-pointers in the first frame and added one more in the second, changing the entire tone of the game. Actually, MT played one of, if not the most complete team games I have seen this season. The unexpected win by Miami Trace could have added another dimension to the league battle. HHS won't play again until Saturday night (Jan. 14) when they travel all the way to Greenville.
Fast-forward to Friday, where the boys basketball had another turn on the "Road to Athens" with Fairfield gaining a big win over the North Adams Green Devils, Fayetteville defeating Lynchburg-Clay and Eastern Brown gaining a win over Ripley, which was the first league loss for the RHS Blue Jays this season. Honestly, if asked to predict winners of the SHL in each division, I don't know if I could just because though the talent level on teams differs, I don't think any of that matters this year because there is no clear-cut favorite as there has been in past seasons. Another wrinkle that has proved to be a good change is Ripley in Division II and Peebles in Division I … makes for some interesting conversations, at the least.
Also this past week, Friday and Saturday the Tigers boys basketball team went 1-1 with a Friday win against London and a loss on Saturday (non-league) against Zane Trace. For the weekend combined, the Tigers were led by Ryan Faulconer with 26 points (16 points at London), as the Tigers defeated LHS 56-43 and the following night lost at ZT 50-35. Again, I said this last week … this Tiger team reminds me of the way last year's team made games tough for teams in the second half of the season, and this year's group could cause problems for teams in the final half of the year, including the tournament.
Looking at the Lady Tigers' past week, they played twice with wins vs. Unioto (non-league) and Madison-Plains (league) on Thursday and Saturday nights. Every time I watch the Lady Tigers (covered them on Saturday), I like how crisp they play, especially on Saturday where they didn't seem to struggle against MP, who this season have played respectable basketball.
Another team who has been on the winning side as of late is the Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs with three straight wins, including a 51-39 win at Manchester on Wednesday. Not to single anyone out, but this team is led by the duo of Brooke Hertlein and Laney Lewis. Here are their stats from the win … Lewis led with 14 points, making five two-point baskets while going 4-of-6 from the free-throw line. Lewis added another double-double with 12 rebounds, along with seven steals, six blocks and three assists, and Hertlein added 11 points to the LC totals, along with eight steals, seven rebounds, three blocked shots and one assist. That pretty much speaks for itself.
• Previewing the Week Ahead
Let's fast-forward to Tuesday, where the Mustangs boys basketball team will host the West Union Dragons in their second annual Hall of Fame game. This year's inductees are Terry McGinnis and Andy Richmond. Not only is the Hall of Fame important, but the Mustangs will be playing in another league game, and as stated earlier … in this season, especially with no clear-cut favorite, any league game is important in the standings.
Thursday will be an interesting night for girls basketball with LC at Ripley and MHS at Miami Trace. For the LC game (as of Monday), the Lady Blue Jays of Ripley have two league losses in the "small school" division, and LC has three league losses in the "big school" division. Very important game for both teams as they are near the top in their respective SHL divisions.
Friday, Jan. 13 (uh-oh … Friday the 13th) in boys basketball, LC will be at North Adams, Whiteoak will host RHS, Fairfield hosts Peebles and McClain will be at MP. Very good slate of basketball games, but the one that piques my interest is the SHL-leading Peebles Indians at Fairfield. Can't wait for this game for the fact, well, it should be a great atmosphere, and both teams are at the top or as close as a team can be at the top of their SHL divisions. I'm sure fans of high school basketball are excited for the potential prospects of this contest.
• Non-High School Sports Thoughts
- Surprise of the NFL … the Denver Broncos "Tebowed" the Pittsburgh Steelers … wouldn't have guessed that one.
- Just sayin' … the Kansas City Chiefs didn't have the same success in '11 (no playoff appearance) as they did when Mr. Weis was their offensive coordinator in '10.
- I didn't know who new Penn State football coach Bill O'Brien was until a few weeks ago when he was arguing on the sideline with Tom Brady. Not sure on the hire, but he wanted to coach there, while others turned them down. It's a start, I guess.
- The Cincinnati Bengals, though they lost their playoff game at Houston, still had a much better season than I would have ever guessed. At least folks won't be chanting "Who-Dey" for a while. Unfortunately, we still have to hear Saints' fans and their "Who-Dat?"
- The biggest disappointment of the Wild Card NFL Round … two points by the Atlanta Falcons. Two points just looks weird.
- Speaking of the Playoffs … I went 1-3 in predictions for the Wild Card round. I did correctly pick the Saints.
- This coming weekend, here are my picks … Patriots, Ravens, Saints and Packers.
• Stat of the Week
On Saturday at Whiteoak High School, the Lady 'Cats of Whiteoak and Hillsboro Lady Indians combined for 62 free-throw attempts.
• Quote of the Week
"We haven't practiced foul shooting (MHS was 13-of-18) for a few weeks now, when we were shooting below 50 percent. I told the girls we weren't going to shoot the foul shots, and the credit goes to them because when they get the chance during individual or partner shooting, that's their responsibility to get to the foul line and work on their foul shots." — Dennis Overstake, McClain Girls Basketball head coach following their win Saturday vs. MP.
• (A second) Quote of the Week
"We are a team that, I promise, will not make excuses. We will do our best to correct our flaws and move forward. We started sluggish, but our kids came back and fought hard." — Matt Carson, Fairfield boys basketball head coach following their loss Saturday at Manchester.
• (A third and final) Quote of the Week
"We had a great dual against Washington. We knew coming in it was going to be close and had the possibility of coming down to the last match. We won and lost a few matches differently than I thought." — Nate Horne, Hillsboro wrestling coach following their tri-match with Washington and Miami Trace on Thursday.
• One last item of business
As I mentioned at the start of this column … this season is flying by so far. I don't remember the last time the season has gone this long without any type of bad weather, but I'm not complaining … I'll take it.
Stephen Forsha is the sports editor of The Highland County Press. He can be reached at sforsha@gmail.com. Follow Stephen on Twitter @hcpsportseditor.
This past week had a big impact on both the South Central Ohio League and Southern Hills League standings in both boys and girls basketball. (Speaking of the SCOL, I guess we'll find out this week if London and Madison-Plains will stay in the SCOL or pack their bags and go to another league in the near future.)
Back to this season … the Hillsboro boys basketball loss at Miami Trace on Friday night brought teams closer in the SCOL standings. The Clinton-Massie girls basketball win over Miami Trace on Saturday afternoon put them in the driver's seat in the league. (Miami Trace is the defending eight-time SCOL girls basketball champions.) So, as of this coming week, the league title looks to be going in the same direction as the football championship … through Clarksville.
But, there are still plenty games to play, and it could be anyone's league title.
Speaking of league titles, the Southern Hills League boys standings are very interesting. As of games this past weekend, Peebles has a two-game lead in Division I of the SHL with North Adams, Eastern Brown and Lynchburg-Clay all in play with two or three league losses respectively.
If that doesn't interest you … Division II of the boys SHL might as Ripley has just one league loss, while Fairfield has two losses in the league. Manchester and Whiteoak are right there with three losses in the league. This league, though not as strong as last season, still will make for not only great games, but great drama as the winter months continue and teams will shuffle in the standings in the league title.
• The Week In Review
This past week (counting Saturday), I had the opportunity to cover girls basketball, boys basketball, swimming and wrestling, not to mention talking to coaches on phone, email and even Twitter. (Yes, I love technology.)
The week began with the Whiteoak Wildcats gaining a big and important SHL win over the Manchester Greyhounds at WHS on Tuesday. This win was the second time in as many years WHS defeated the Greyhounds at WHS. It was one of those wins that brought the league standings closer in the second division of the SHL.
That same night, the Hillsboro boys team defeated the MP Golden Eagles in an SCOL matchup. It was the first time the Indians played since Dec. 23, and it was no secret it had been that long by watching the first half. In the second half, though, all that rust was blasted away as the Tribe pulled out the win. The end of the week wasn't so kind to the Indians, though, losing at Miami Trace for the second straight season for their first SCOL loss.
In that game, the hustle of the Panthers impressed me, especially the first-half performance of Blake Baldwin (MT) as he made three 3-pointers in the first frame and added one more in the second, changing the entire tone of the game. Actually, MT played one of, if not the most complete team games I have seen this season. The unexpected win by Miami Trace could have added another dimension to the league battle. HHS won't play again until Saturday night (Jan. 14) when they travel all the way to Greenville.
Fast-forward to Friday, where the boys basketball had another turn on the "Road to Athens" with Fairfield gaining a big win over the North Adams Green Devils, Fayetteville defeating Lynchburg-Clay and Eastern Brown gaining a win over Ripley, which was the first league loss for the RHS Blue Jays this season. Honestly, if asked to predict winners of the SHL in each division, I don't know if I could just because though the talent level on teams differs, I don't think any of that matters this year because there is no clear-cut favorite as there has been in past seasons. Another wrinkle that has proved to be a good change is Ripley in Division II and Peebles in Division I … makes for some interesting conversations, at the least.
Also this past week, Friday and Saturday the Tigers boys basketball team went 1-1 with a Friday win against London and a loss on Saturday (non-league) against Zane Trace. For the weekend combined, the Tigers were led by Ryan Faulconer with 26 points (16 points at London), as the Tigers defeated LHS 56-43 and the following night lost at ZT 50-35. Again, I said this last week … this Tiger team reminds me of the way last year's team made games tough for teams in the second half of the season, and this year's group could cause problems for teams in the final half of the year, including the tournament.
Looking at the Lady Tigers' past week, they played twice with wins vs. Unioto (non-league) and Madison-Plains (league) on Thursday and Saturday nights. Every time I watch the Lady Tigers (covered them on Saturday), I like how crisp they play, especially on Saturday where they didn't seem to struggle against MP, who this season have played respectable basketball.
Another team who has been on the winning side as of late is the Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs with three straight wins, including a 51-39 win at Manchester on Wednesday. Not to single anyone out, but this team is led by the duo of Brooke Hertlein and Laney Lewis. Here are their stats from the win … Lewis led with 14 points, making five two-point baskets while going 4-of-6 from the free-throw line. Lewis added another double-double with 12 rebounds, along with seven steals, six blocks and three assists, and Hertlein added 11 points to the LC totals, along with eight steals, seven rebounds, three blocked shots and one assist. That pretty much speaks for itself.
• Previewing the Week Ahead
Let's fast-forward to Tuesday, where the Mustangs boys basketball team will host the West Union Dragons in their second annual Hall of Fame game. This year's inductees are Terry McGinnis and Andy Richmond. Not only is the Hall of Fame important, but the Mustangs will be playing in another league game, and as stated earlier … in this season, especially with no clear-cut favorite, any league game is important in the standings.
Thursday will be an interesting night for girls basketball with LC at Ripley and MHS at Miami Trace. For the LC game (as of Monday), the Lady Blue Jays of Ripley have two league losses in the "small school" division, and LC has three league losses in the "big school" division. Very important game for both teams as they are near the top in their respective SHL divisions.
Friday, Jan. 13 (uh-oh … Friday the 13th) in boys basketball, LC will be at North Adams, Whiteoak will host RHS, Fairfield hosts Peebles and McClain will be at MP. Very good slate of basketball games, but the one that piques my interest is the SHL-leading Peebles Indians at Fairfield. Can't wait for this game for the fact, well, it should be a great atmosphere, and both teams are at the top or as close as a team can be at the top of their SHL divisions. I'm sure fans of high school basketball are excited for the potential prospects of this contest.
• Non-High School Sports Thoughts
- Surprise of the NFL … the Denver Broncos "Tebowed" the Pittsburgh Steelers … wouldn't have guessed that one.
- Just sayin' … the Kansas City Chiefs didn't have the same success in '11 (no playoff appearance) as they did when Mr. Weis was their offensive coordinator in '10.
- I didn't know who new Penn State football coach Bill O'Brien was until a few weeks ago when he was arguing on the sideline with Tom Brady. Not sure on the hire, but he wanted to coach there, while others turned them down. It's a start, I guess.
- The Cincinnati Bengals, though they lost their playoff game at Houston, still had a much better season than I would have ever guessed. At least folks won't be chanting "Who-Dey" for a while. Unfortunately, we still have to hear Saints' fans and their "Who-Dat?"
- The biggest disappointment of the Wild Card NFL Round … two points by the Atlanta Falcons. Two points just looks weird.
- Speaking of the Playoffs … I went 1-3 in predictions for the Wild Card round. I did correctly pick the Saints.
- This coming weekend, here are my picks … Patriots, Ravens, Saints and Packers.
• Stat of the Week
On Saturday at Whiteoak High School, the Lady 'Cats of Whiteoak and Hillsboro Lady Indians combined for 62 free-throw attempts.
• Quote of the Week
"We haven't practiced foul shooting (MHS was 13-of-18) for a few weeks now, when we were shooting below 50 percent. I told the girls we weren't going to shoot the foul shots, and the credit goes to them because when they get the chance during individual or partner shooting, that's their responsibility to get to the foul line and work on their foul shots." — Dennis Overstake, McClain Girls Basketball head coach following their win Saturday vs. MP.
• (A second) Quote of the Week
"We are a team that, I promise, will not make excuses. We will do our best to correct our flaws and move forward. We started sluggish, but our kids came back and fought hard." — Matt Carson, Fairfield boys basketball head coach following their loss Saturday at Manchester.
• (A third and final) Quote of the Week
"We had a great dual against Washington. We knew coming in it was going to be close and had the possibility of coming down to the last match. We won and lost a few matches differently than I thought." — Nate Horne, Hillsboro wrestling coach following their tri-match with Washington and Miami Trace on Thursday.
• One last item of business
As I mentioned at the start of this column … this season is flying by so far. I don't remember the last time the season has gone this long without any type of bad weather, but I'm not complaining … I'll take it.
Stephen Forsha is the sports editor of The Highland County Press. He can be reached at sforsha@gmail.com. Follow Stephen on Twitter @hcpsportseditor.