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Newton 2nd year coach Stefanie Landis was pleased with her teams overall performance in their 61-41 WOAC win & snapping Tri-County North's 7-game win streak.

(Photos & Story by Dale Barger)

LEWISBURG - The Tri-County North girls’ basketball season got off to a slow start this year at 1-6 after falling to Twin Valley South 43-40 in the annual St Rt 503 battle. But since they have rattled off 7 straight wins over Bradford, Eaton, Preble Shawnee, Franklin Monroe, Dayton Christian, Dixie and Stivers to improve to 8-6 overall and 5-3 in WOAC league play.

In that stretch senior Nani Garcia has averaged nearly 21 points a game with a couple of big nights including a career high of 34 points and a school record for one game with 8 triples against Stivers and 29 points against Bradford.

Senior guard Nani Garcia was recognized before the game in setting a new school record for 8-triples in a game and scored 34 points against Stivers.

Not only has Garcia picked up her game so has junior guard Bella Cherry who broke two school records for steals and assists in a career.  The current record for assist in a career was 212 by Cassi Stinson and steals was 162 by Kindra Mullins.  Cherry now has over 275 steals and counting.

Bella not only broke the steals career record she also has the single season record, and single game record by swiping 15 against Dayton Christian which also placed her in the OHSAA state record book for steals in a game.

Bella pulled off a rare feat a quad double in her last game against Stivers scoring 25 points, grabbing 11 rebounds, dishing 11 dimes and swiping the ball 11 times in their 76-52 win.

Bella Cherry was recognized before the game with Newton for several career records & OHSAA State records for steals in one game.

The Newton girls’ basketball team comes into the game with an 8-7 overall record and 4-4 in the WOAC. The Indians have been up and down this year and played well against two of the top teams in the conference falling to Arcanum 39-34 and Tri-Village 52-43 with both of those teams along with Mississinawa Valley tied for 1^st place in the league. 

The Indians are led by senior Felicity Harbour at 12 ppg, 8 rpg and 1^st in the WOAC at 50.7% field goal shooting. Sophomore Rylee Hess averages 10 ppg, 6.5 rpg and 3.7 apg.

Both teams enter the game in the middle of the pack looking to gain some momentum down the stretch in the regular season and into post season.

The opening quarter was very competitive with two lead changes and two ties.  North opened with a triple by senior Gracie Hemp and Newton countered on a free throw from Rylee Hess and a stick back offensive rebound by Felicity Harbour tying the game at three.

Rylee and Felicity would figure big into the final outcome as the game progressed.

Tri-County North responded in the quarter getting a triple and five points from Bella Cherry while Hess ended up with seven  points and Harbour four to take a 13-10 lead at the end of the 1^st quarter.

Newton sophomore Rylee Hess was aggressive in attacking the lanes and getting to the rim.  She scored 24 points to lead all scorers in the game.

Both teams traded baskets for much of the 2^nd quarter and deadlocked at 10 points with Newton still holding a 3-point advantage heading into the break.

Cherry and Jordan Pinion each had 4 points in the 2^nd quarter with Hess and Harbour matching them for Newton who held a 23-20 halftime lead.

It was clear from the start the Lady Indians were going to make it tough on Cherry and Garcia.  While Cherry did score 9 points in the first half, Garcia was held to just two and Newton wasn’t going to deviate from what was working in the 2^nd half.

“So, coming in, our game plan was to try to limit the touches for Bella Cherry and Nani Garcia. Obviously, they are two tough guards, very talented, and I felt that if we could limit their touches and keep them from going off, that would give us a bigger chance to come out with the victory,” Newton coach Stefanie Landis said.

The Indians made a run to start the 3^rd quarter going inside to Harbour right away, then got a bucket from Hess and from sophomore guard Mya Denlinger on a drive to the basket jumping ahead 29-20 for what was the biggest lead of the game at that time.

North responded with triples from Nani Garcia and Jordon Pinion to close the gap to 29-26 at 4:24 in the third quarter.

“They were face guarding Bella and Nani so we told them that anybody Felicity was guarding, you can’t try to get the ball to them, and we needed everyone to look to score with the way they were guarding us,” Tri-County North coach Jessica Spitler said.

However, they would turn it over three straight times doing just what coach said not to do and it would be the start of the big run by the Indians to turn the game in their favor.

In a blink of an eye the wheels came off the track for the Panthers going scoreless the remainder of the period while the Indians ran rough shod for 18 unanswered points creating a huge 45-26 double digit advantage to end the frame.

Coach Landis was pleased with how her team responded after challenging them to focus on the four keys they talk about before every game and reminded them at the break.

“For us, we've been stressing the same things all year, just executing, communicating, taking care of the ball while trying to control the boards and limit teams to one and out,” Landis stated.

“The girls really stepped up and had a fire lit under them, and I was very proud of the way they responded in the third quarter. They started moving better on the press break. They were passing the ball ahead and making better decisions, and we were starting to get the ball inside, which is where our strength is and that kind of opened some things up for us on the perimeter,” Landis explained.

Felicity Harbour scored 8 points, Rylee Hess 7, Mya Denlinger 5 and Layla VanCulin 2 in the third frame and defensively they held Cherry in check giving up just six points on defense.

Newton sophomore Mya Denlinger did a good job running the point.  She knocked down 4 straight free throws including a technical foul called in the 18-point run by the Indians.

For coach Spitler things couldn’t have gone worse in the 3^rd quarter as she tried to challenge her team to overcome a very physical first half.

“I thought our girls looked a little timid, a little scared and I'm like, these are the kind of games you want to play in, you want to be in a hard-fought physical game,” Spitler commented.

In the final stanza Spitler kept pushing to attack the basket where they found success scoring but the deficit was too much to make up with just twos and free throws.

Cherry was successful getting to the charity stripe and ended the game as the high scorer for the Panthers with 19 points.

North junior guard Bella Cherry attacked the basket in the 4th quarter and ended the game with 19 points to lead the Panthers.  

But it was all Newton as they finished the game strong for a 61-41 woac win.

They got a solid performance from Rylee Hess who led all scorers with 24 points.  Felicity Harbour followed with 23 while pulling down a dozen rebounds along with numerous blocked or altered shots drawing praise from coach Landis.

“Felicity stepped up big time.  She is capable of being a big-time performer if we can get her the ball, that's kind of been the key all year, if we can we get her the ball she has been able to produce for us,” Landis complimented.

Newton senior center Felicity Harbour was a game changer on both ends of the floor in their win over Tri-County North.  She had 23 points and 12 rebounds.

But for that to happen the rest of the team had to handle the full court pressure by Tri-County North which they were able to do and was another positive Landis saw in her young squad.

“All season, the games that we have lost, we were beaten by the press by not making good decisions. Once we get in scoring position, we either are not attacking or we're not making smart decisions. But I was very proud of the patience we showed today by working the ball in the back court until we could get a pass ahead,” Stephanie described.

She was also quick to praise all five starters and her freshman coming off the bench.

“Our five starters all played so well, and I thought our freshman Brynn Fiely who came off the bench put in some really quality minutes for a team that's kind of low on numbers. We don't have a deep bench and I’m so proud of what they've been able to accomplish. You know, they're all dead dog tired out there, but I  have two words, “Dig Deep” you got to dig deep here, there's no other option here. I'm just proud of the performance tonight, and I hope we can continue to build on this through the end of the season where it matters the most and heading into the tournament,” Landis concluded.

Newton Lady Indians are all smiles after opening up a large lead late in 3rd quarter.

The Indians improve to 9-7 overall and 5-4 in WOAC.  They will host Emmanuel Christian on Saturday at 12:30pm

For Tri-County North it was an end to a seven-game win streak but also a chance to learn and grow as well.

“We're coming off a seven-game winning streak, which makes this loss hard, but I told them, sometimes you need a reality check.  You got to figure out how to get through with the heart. Our last couple games we came out ahead with some big moments … but we didn’t’ get that today,” Spitler concluded.

The Panthers fell to 8-7 overall and 5-4 in the WOAC.  They will host Belmont on Saturday at 12:30pm.

Tri-County North student section tried to pump up their team doing push-ups but was too late to make a difference.  
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Lady Jets came from 12 points down to steal a win from Dayton Christian 48-44. 

(Story & Photos by Dale Barger)

PITSBURG – The Franklin Monroe girls basketball team prevailed in a thrilling 48-44 overtime victory over Dayton Christian who braved the one-hour trip north on a frigid cold night in Darke County.

The Lady Warriors came into the game with just two wins and was determined to make the trip worth it vs the 3-10 Lady Jets.

Franklin Monroe would jump in front and hold a 16-10 first quarter lead and things were looking good. 

Kyra Barnes had 5 points, Presly Cox 4, Caydance Nichols 3 and Ava Figel 2 in the first frame.

Senior Kyra Barnes had 14 points for the Jets and had several strong finishes at the rim.

But it was as if the Hangar door was left open and the cold air from the night rushed in as the Jets scored just four points in the second quarter on fielders from Barnes and Cox. 

They had an opportunity to add two free throws with no time on the clock … but those didn’t fall either, so FM found themselves in a game at the break holding a 20-19 lead.

Dayton Christian must have had a warm locker-room because they came out smoking to start the 3^rd quarter scoring 9 unanswered points including 2 triples for a 28-20 lead giving pause to FM coach Tim Barga to talk about it.


Senior Presly Cox battled hard inside all night & led the Jets with 16 points & 10 rebounds. 

Out of the timeout the Jets on a set play found Cox open inside on a cross screen and she would finish to break the scoring drought but trailed 28-22 at the 5:35 mark.

The Warriors were still feeling it, hit a trey pushing the lead to 36-24 the largest of the game, 12-points at the 3:41 mark.

Coach Barga had seen enough.                                                      

“They went off making their threes, I've watched film, and they didn’t make any … but when they start falling the team builds confidence and suddenly everything was going in. It was hard to sit back in a zone when you know they're going to keep shooting,” Barga stated.

Franklin Monroe switched to a man-to-man, the ball pressure and in your face defense took away shots they were getting … but the 17-point - 3^rd quarter did damage.

To the Lady Jets credit, they battled back closing the gap to 38-31 and had another opportunity to put points on the board with no time on clock at the end of the 3^rd quarter but again came away empty at the line.

The scoring pace slowed in the 4^th quarter as Cox added 4 points in the paint to narrow the gap to 38-35.  The Jets defense went from allowing 17 third quarter points clamping down and giving up just two in the fourth period.

With the Warriors holding a 40-37 lead jr. Ava Figel connected on a big three-point shot in the corner tying the game at 40 and the game would head to overtime.

“Our to man-to-man defense was really good and we stopped them in the 4^th quarter to give ourselves a chance,” Coach Barga commented.

In the overtime period the Jets had opportunities to draw first blood, but shots didn’t fall, and Dayton Christian made the first bucket to take the lead and followed it up with a fast break pass up the floor beating FM back for a lay-up to go up 44-40 with 1:52 to go in OT.

“When they beat us down the floor with the lay-up, which should have never happened I thought to myself it might just be over,” Barga would say after the game.

Franklin Monroe who lost several games this year late, a one-point loss to Emmanuel Christian, two-point loss to Bradford and three-point loss to Preble Shawnee was determined not to let that happen again.


Ava Figel had 8 points in the game but it was her game tying three to send game into overtime and timely triple in OT that gave the Jets the boost they needed.

Figel, the hero sending the game into overtime, drained her second three-pointer from the opposite corner narrowing the gap to 44-43. 

Cadance Nichols redeemed herself after missing free throws earlier by knocking down two tosses to grab the lead 45-44.

The defense then held off Dayton Christian and made enough free throws to win the game 48-44 for an exciting win for the lady Jets.

Cadence Nichols had 10 points and handled the ball most of the game ... but it was her free throws in OT that led a lead and eventual win. 

“It was great to see the girls keep their heads up when things got tough and battle through some adversity and a positive thing to see us come back for 12 points. I tell our kids, you know, whenever you give 100% on the defensive end, the offense is going to come, and it did,” Barga explained.

“Foul shots will win or lose you games. We missed a lot of foul shots and was fortunate enough to get the into overtime and make them towards the end,” Barga concluded.

Presly Cox led the Jets with 16 points, Kyra Barnes who had several good drives to the basket had 14, Cadance Nichols 10 and Ava Figel 8 in the win.

Franklin Monroe improved to 4-10 overall, they are 1-7 in WOAC and will host Tri-Village on Thursday in a league game.

The Junior High girls basketball team were waiting to start practice and on-hand to cheer the varsity to a big win.  They got to witness firsthand the importance of making free throws to win games.

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It was a physical & sometimes emotional battle in the annual Route 47 shootout between Mississinawa Valley & Ansonia.  The Hawks won 6-of-8 games for bragging rights in 2025. 

Photos & Story by Dale Barger

ANSONIA – The Mississinawa Valley Blackhawks reign supreme garnering annual bragging rights in the Route 47 Shootout with the Ansonia Tigers.  The Hawks won 6-of-8 games that included 7^th, 8^th, JV and Varsity boys and girls contests.

In Jr. High action Mississinawa 8^th grade boys defeated Ansonia 53-25, 7^th grade girls won 32-20 and 8^th grade girls won 48-8.  The Ansonia 7^th grade boys defeated the Hawks 30-27.

The Lady Tigers Junior Varsity defeated Mississinawa Valley 13-9 in two quarters, while the Hawks boy JV team beat the Tigers 58-40.

It was the 2^nd time Mississinawa and Ansonia would meet-up this season with the first contest counting in the league standings.  The Mississinawa boys won the league battle 48-40 back on December 3^rd and they would win the 2^nd match-up with a similar score 52-42.

The Lady Hawks won their league battle with the Tigers on January 2^nd 63-29.  Ansonia would show improvement in their latest match-up before falling 68-46.

The Mississinawa boys jumped all over Ansonia in the opening quarter with Cing Scott scoring 12 of the teams 18 points. 

The Tigers struggled a bit out the gate and were playing without a couple of starters.

Ansonia showed spine winning the 2^nd quarter 14-10 with senior Cooper Riffle leading the way to close the gap to 28-20 at the break.


Ansonia Senior Cooper Riffle knocks down triple and led the Tigers with 14 points.

Mississinawa executed their offense and played under control in the 3^rd period and gradually extended their lead to 39-26 heading into the final frame.

The Tigers once again roared back and did it with aggressive defense and scoring in the open floor fighting their way back into the game.  After trailing 44-29 the Tigers scored 8 unanswered points to close the gap to 44-37 on a Shellhaas fast-break lay-up prompting a timeout by Mississinawa Valley with 3:51 to play.

Ansonia’s defense was doing work giving the Tigers a chance, but they would miss a number of shots in the next couple of minutes and eventually forced to gamble and foul.

The Hawks closed the game out strong at the free throw line to secure the 52-42 victory.

Freshman Ben Hamilton pulls down a big rebound, he had 13 points in win over the Tigers.

Mississinawa was led by Cing Scott with 26 and Ben Hamilton 13 points.  They improve to 5-7 overall and 3-4 in WOAC.  They will host Bradford on Friday, January 24^th.

Ansonia was led by senior Cooper Riffle with 14 points and freshman Graham Coppess who also had 14 in the game.  The Tigers are still in search of that first win this season and won’t find it any easier when they host Minster on Tuesday January 21^st.

In the girls featured nightcap game Mississinawa Valley got out to a fast 10-0 run before Ansonia would dig in to cut the lead to 10-5.

Syenna Purdin opened up with a triple and fielder inside followed up by a trey from Brooklynn Seubert and a lay-up from Paige Emrick.

The Tigers got off to a cold start and didn’t score until 3:52 on a 10’ jumper from Olivia Schmitmeyer, followed by a triple from Gabby Leeper to close to 10-5.

The Hawks pushed the lead back 19-5 on the strength of Paige Emrick who scored 9 points in the opening frame. 

Ansonia finished out the scoring on free throws and a buzzer beater from Schmitmeyer trailing 19-10 at the end of the 1^st quarter.

The Blackhawks won the 2nd quarter 12-11 but would work hard to do that taking a 31-21 lead at the half.

Paige Emrick scored 6 more points in the 2^nd quarter and had 15 at the half to lead MV

The Tigers under coach Connor Custenborder are quickly gaining respect from opposing coaches for their aggressive defensive pressure and never back down mentality as they battled against the more experienced Mississinawa team in the 3^rd quarter.

After building up a 15-point lead the Tiger would claw back and got a boost from fr. Guard Charlotte Barga who’s 3-point goal at 2:34 cut the lead down to 7, trailing 41-34 as Barga scored 8 points in the frame.

Freshman Charlotte Barga gave the Tigers a lift with some outside shooting in 3rd qtr.

After Ansonia held Taylee Woodbury in check in the first half to just 5 points the senior point guard scored 6 in the 3^rd quarter to compliment 4 from Purdin and 3 from Emrick to take a 47-34 lead heading into the final quarter.

The Blackhawks finished the game strong with Brooklynn Seubert going for 8 points, Emerick 6, Purdin 4 and Woodbury 3 in the final frame to run away from Ansonia for a 68-46 non-conference win.

“They started out 10, nothing. I believe that was a big run. And late third, early fourth, they went on another run that was around 14 to 16 points in their favor, and that was the difference in the game. Those two runs, right there. They're a great team. They can score the ball at will, and to beat teams like that, you got to limit those runs. And two runs in double digits just isn't going to work,” Ansonia coach Connor Custenborder said after the game.

Although the Tigers allowed those big runs they were able to battle back several times and is a positive thing that will serve them well in close games as the season goes along.

“They played hard and showed him they can play that style of basketball, and that's only going to help us, and we’ve got one coming up on Monday that's going to be very a similar style of basketball … and then if we want to go far in the tournament, we're going to face teams for that style of basketball.  We just got to work as a team to put it together for a full game,” Custenborder explained.

Custenborder praised the play of London Reichert and Charlotte Barga.

London Reichert battled hard inside for the Tigers and nearly registered a double/double.

“I thought London did good for us on the inside. She nearly had a double/double and did a great job contesting on the inside. And Charlotte there in the second half, got her outside shot going, and that helped us a lot as well, Custenborder praised.

For the game the Tigers were led by Charlotte Barga with 14 points, London Reichert had 8 points and 8 rebounds.

Ansonia falls to 8-7 overall, 5-3 in WOAC.  They will play in the Versailles Showcase and square off against Brookville on Monday.

Mississinawa coach gave credit to Ansonia and the effort they gave in the game.

“Rivalry games are always rough. I mean, you can throw records out the window. We knew it would be a physical game. Ansonia is an aggressive, defensive team, so we knew it wouldn't be a situation where we can just pull away and keep pulling away. It was, hey, we made a run, they're going to make a run, they're going to come back, they're going to keep fighting. So, we just got to try to stay under control, play focused and run our stuff,” Coach Michael Paige said after the game.

Coach Paige talked about the number of options his team has to score the ball, and it showed with 4-players scoring in double figures.

“We  have four girls averaging double figures. So, we got multiple ways we can score. We know people are going to key in on Taylee. We kind of expect that going into games, and in those moments, we want Syenna, Paige, Brooklyn, and other girls to step up and make shots. Tonight, it was Paige who stepped up big time, with 26 points.  When they're able to step up and score, it take pressure off Taylee and she still ended up with 15 points,” Paige stated.

MV Jr. Paige Emrick had a monster game with 26 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists.

Early on it was Paige Emrick and Syenna Purdin providing the bulk of the scoring and I caught up with senior guard Syenna after the game.

“Coming into this game after we had a nine-day break we had to come in pretty focused and getting off to a good start was important,” Syenna said referring to the 10-0 start.

“If we don't have a big quarter, we would have to work much harder defensively the rest of the game and that’s what we've been working on most of this week, was our defense,” Purdin added.

Sr. Syenna Purdin doing work, she scored 16 points, worked the boards hard for a solid performance in the Blackhawks win.

Mississinawa only had 4 players score in the game but each of them reached double figures, led by Paige Emrick with 26 points 10 rebounds and 5 assists.  Syenna Purdin with 16, Taylee Woodbury 15 and Brooklynn Seubert 11.

Mississinawa improves to 13-2 overall, 7-1 in WOAC.  They will play in the Versailles Showcase on Monday at 1pm where they will take on 13-1 Marion Local.

Brooklynn Seubert goes hard to the basket for a lay-up in win over the Tigers.
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Arcanum coach Kevin Brackman gives instructions to Jr. Cole Kessler & Sr. Landon Flatter.  The Trojans came from behind to pick up a 57-41 win over Bradford.  

Photos & Story by Dale Barger

ARCANUM – The Trojans boys basketball team trailed 38-35 heading into the 4^th quarter but leaned on their defense to stymie the Railroaders in the 4^th quarter then finished strong offensively to hand Bradford a disappointing 57-41 WOAC defeat.

“I felt like I was screaming the whole night but finally our offense caught up to our defense,” Arcanum Coach said after the game.

Bradford led early in the first quarter behind the play of senior point guard Owen Canan who scored the first 9 points of the game for the Roaders.  He would end up with 11 of their 13 points in the 1^st quarter.

Owen Canan 2nd leading scorer in WOAC at 19.5 ppg had 11 in 1st quarter but shut down by Arcanum defense the rest of way ending the game 6 under his average with 13 points.

Arcanum trailed 13-11 heading into the 2^nd quarter got a boost from Matthew McCans with 7 points and 9 at the half to give the Trojans a one-point lead 27-26 at the break.

Bradford would take advantage of getting to the free throw line in the 2^nd quarter shooting 9-for-11.  Rallie Wirrig had 5 points off free throws and Zage Harleman scored 6 points for the Roaders.

Arcanum coach Kevin Brackman wasn’t happy with the flow of the game in the first half but was pleased with contributions from a number of younger guys.

Coach Brackman was pleased with contributions from younger players when saddled by fouls early in game.  So. Jace Mote knocks down a corner three ball to help the Trojans.

“The flow of the game was not ideal, in that first half, a lot of fouls were called. We fought through a little light adversity and at one time, we had, I think, three starters and a solid role player off the bench all two fouls there in the second quarter.  So, they sat there for a while, but we had guys step up. Our JV point guard, Jace Smote, played significant minutes tonight, and even saw one go down from deep. And so, we leaned on our bench, and they were able to kind of keep us around, that’s a testament to our kids,”

Bradford would regain the lead 30-29 in the 3^rd quarter on a lay-up from jr. guard Avery Felver and then expanded their lead to 38-29 with 3:38 to play in the 3^rd quarter.

But the Trojans defense shut the Roaders out the rest of the quarter and buckets from Cole Kessler and Cameron Ball inside helped narrow the gap to 38-35 heading into the final frame.

Cameron Ball rebounded and scored well for Arcanum to help get win over Bradford.

Bradford’s offense would all but disappear in the 4^th quarter with Arcanum hedging ball screens strong doubling up on Canan not allowing the Railroaders to get into any kind of offense.

Arcanum senior Landon Flatter would do what he has done many times late in the game scoring on back-to-back buckets by getting to the rim to re-capture the lead for the Trojans 40-39.

Landon Flatter goes strong to the hoop and scored 14 points in win over Bradford.

The Trojans kept hammering away with Ball getting a bucket off a turnover followed by a free throw to go up 43-39.  Wirrig answered with a fielder in the paint to close to 43-41 but Bradford would get shut out in the final 4:15 of the game.

Wirrig picked up his 4^th foul and eventually fouled out taking away a scoring threat and outlet for when Canan when he was double or triple teamed.

Rallie Wirrig had a double double scoring and rebounding, pulls down a rebound in game with Arcanum.  

Coach Brackman talked about the key to winning was keeping Owen Canan in check who ended the game with 13 points after scoring 11 in the 1^st quarter.

“In a game like this anytime he touches the ball, he's a tremendous player and does tremendous things. And for him to come out and score the first nine points of the game, 11 in the first quarter, we knew we were kind of in for it. I felt like our defense stepped up. We were able to force some deflections, which led to turnovers and then allowed us to kind of separate ourselves especially late in the game,”

Brackman gave credit to jr. Cole Kessler for helping contain and slow down Owen Canan which would be a big key in slowing down the Bradford offense.

Coach Brackman praised Jr. Cole Kessler & noted it was his best performance this year and key in helping the Trojans to a win over Bradford.

Kessler would be one of four Arcanum players scoring in double figures for the game.  Landon Flatter and Matthew McCans each had 14 points, Cameron Ball 12 and Kessler 10 in the game.

Bradford was led by Canan’s 13 points and Rallie Wirrig had 11.

The Railroaders fall to 5-8 overall and 3-3 in the WOAC.  They will play at Mississinawa Valley next Friday.

Arcanum improves to 8-5 and 4-2 in the WOAC, they’ll play at Riverside Saturday night.

Bradford senior Zage Harleman scored 8 points for Bradford in game at Arcanum.
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Tri-Village coach Brad Gray and Lady Patriots Team wear t-shirts to display his 400th career victory.  (All Feature photos by Dale Barger)

NEW MADISON - Congratulations to Tri-Village coach Brad Gray for achieving his 400^th career victory in a WOAC win over National Trail.  He becomes the 48^th coach to reach 400 wins in OHSAA girls basketball history.

The Lady Patriots offense was firing away in the opening quarter as they raced out to a huge 24-0 lead and 35-5 at the half.

Coach Gray’s 400^th win appeared to be a foregone conclusion heading into the 2^nd half as the Patriots finished the game with a running clock for a 52-14 win over the Blazers.

Gray now in his 19^th year as the girls’ varsity head coach has averaged just over 20 wins a year … an incredible standard for that length of time.

Coach Gray took a moment after the game to reflect on the 400 milestone.

“This is a team accomplishment, every time you kind of reach milestones like this, whether it was 200, 300, 400 you reflect on everybody that's had an impact. From all the really good players we've had and there's been a ton of them, you know.  All the kids that buy into being the role players who are committed to what we do, to the families that allow us to coach these kids really hard,” Gray stated.

Coach Gray continued.

“Looking further back, my upbringing and the people who impacted me as a kid growing up, all those things come flooding back and the appreciation for the coaches who mentored me. You know, it starts with guys like you probably heard me talk about Bug Thompson back in Wellsville, who was, without question, the biggest coaching impact on me as a kid, growing up,” Gray reflected.

“Then being fortunate enough when I came to Tri-Village, having Bill Moore here and share a room at the TV boot camp and have “Papa Fro” (Matt Renfro) and Lee Falknor take me under their wing, those are a good memory,” Gray stated.

“It’s with great appreciation for the guys who took a young kid right out of college and let me be a part of their staff and made me feel like my input mattered. I think sometimes that's hard for veteran coaches to allow a young guy to come in and actually speak his mind and try to grow and really appreciative for those guys. And then, of course, now the relationship between Josh (Sagester) and I, where it's just two guys who are very like-minded when it comes to our vision for our programs. And him being the superintendent and me being the Athletic Director, we can bounce things off each other and both of our programs have benefited from that relationship,” Gray explained.

“So, yeah, all those things just come flooding in when you're approaching stuff like this. But it's not me. I mean, it's the kids, they have won every game, I've not won a single game here. I’ve just been very lucky to be in the right place at the right time.  I'm the guy that kind of gets to be the figurehead … but, man, there's a lot of people that have had huge hands on what's going on, including all my assistants through the years,” Gray added.

“Like Mike Fisherback and my current staff, Scott Howell and Doug Mize.  Greg Ely, when I first started, helped us, I mean, we've had a lot of people Christy Sarver,  Mackenzie Taylor, Laden DeLawder, I can just go on with all the people who've been a part of our staff. They have all been huge help to me in this program as a whole,” Gray praised.

Coach Gray leads the break out of the timeout huddle.  

In coach Gray’s 19 years at the helm, he has had just one losing season, 10-11 the first year and he was asked if he could have foreseen 400 wins at that time.

“Honestly, it's hard doing this. It's even harder doing it at one place. For as long as I've been fortunate enough to do it, a lot of places won't commit to a coach for as long as Tri-Village is committed to myself, and again to Coach Josh Sagester. I mean, we've had two coaches that have been here for a really long time, and I think that speaks volumes about the commitment of our administration and our Board of Education, for allowing coaches to come in here and have a vision.  Even if it's not successful right from the start, as an AD, I try to give our coaches time, you can't just keep having a constant turnaround of coaches. I think when schools do that, their programs suffer because of it. And we've been really fortunate to have a ton of support here. So, to answer your question, that was a long answer, but no, if you would have told me back then that I'd still be the head girls coach here,” Gray described.

“I’ve been fortunate and maybe had a little luck going back to when we kind of started making some of our first runs I remember coach Richard Klein and Neil Hans, I ran into them I think maybe the second year that we went to the regional finals. And they said, you know, because I was young, we hope you're enjoying this, because we've coached for years, and we've never got to experience like what you've experienced. And hearing that from older coaches made me realize like, you better soak it in a little bit and not just expect it's going to keep happening,” Gray admired.

But for coach Gray in his 19 years has got to experience success with many teams more often than not allowing him to join 47 other coaches who have achieved 400 wins in girls’ basketball.

That’s a lot of wins and coach Gray can tell about some of the most painful losses ... but struggle a little bit more trying to identify the most memorable wins.

He immediately reflected on one of his most painful losses to Miami East back in the early years and at the time the Vikings were a perennial power winning league titles every year.

The Patriots were knocking at the door with a shot at winning a league title but got rocked by the Vikings prompting Gray to write on the board that they would never get beat like that again.

“Yes, I was young and maybe didn’t even know what to say at the time, but that loss was painful, we came in with an opportunity to topple the king pin and fell hard … it was the kind of game we can point to now that turned things around for us and became the motivation we needed to get over the hump,” Gray exclaimed.

And it would be the very next season that Tri-Village would take down Miami East to win a league title and catapulted Gray and the Lady Patriots program to another level and put them on a path to future success.

“I really believe that win against Miami East is the win that got our kids and our program believing we could compete at an elite level,” Gray said.

And it’s no surprise that it also would become one of his top 5 most memorable wins.

1. State Championship game vs Toledo Christian in 2023
2. Regional Final vs Fort Loramie in 2012
3. Regional Final vs Fort Loramie in 2023
4. State Semi-final vs Hiland in 2023
5. Miami East in 2010

Congratulations to coach Brad Gray and the Lady Patriots Basketball Program.  I’m sure in the years to come we might have to ask coach Gray to extend his list of most memorable wins.


400 wins and counting for Lady Patriots coach Brad Gray.  
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