Basketball conference races heating up
MARION ― The girls basketball season has reached the midway point in the conference races as the second leg of the round robins begin this week in the Mid Ohio Athletic Conference and Knox Morrow Athletic Conference.
The MOAC is a four-team race as River Valley and Shelby are tied atop the standings with 6-1 marks, while Clear Fork and Pleasant are right behind with 5-2 records. This week will tell a lot about the second half of the season as Pleasant hosts Shelby and RV goes to Clear Fork, both games slated for Thursday night.
In the KMAC, it’s an intramural affair in Morrow County. Mount Gilead leads the league at 6-0 after giving Cardington its first loss in the conference over the weekend 53-33. Northmor is stalking at 4-2.
North Union is trying to run away with the Central Buckeye Conference’s Mad River Division at 6-0. Urbana and Benjamin Logan are next at 4-1 and 3-2 respectively.
The Northwest Central Conference doesn’t use a double round-robin. League members just play each other once, but those games are largely played in the second half of the season. Hardin Northern and Waynesfield-Goshen are both 2-0 in NWCC games, while Ridgedale and Elgin are looking for their first conference wins as the calendar moves to 2023.
Here are some other highlights from the last week for area girls winter sports teams and athletes:
∎ Highland’s girls basketball team found itself trailing by two points entering the fourth period, but led by Shelby Conley’s four 3-pointers in the quarter, the Scots earned a 46-43 win over Centerburg. Conley had five 3s and 17 points, while Aubree Bellamy added 10 points. In a 54-26 loss to Clear Fork, no Scot scored more than six points.
∎ Marion Harding’s Kamarice Jackson went for 22 points and eight steals in a 48-43 win over Indian Lake. The Presidents outscored the the Lakers 11-2 in the second quarter. Aniya Mitchell chipped in with 13 points for Harding.
∎ North Union edged Buckeye Valley 44-39 with Abbey Price putting up 10 points and seven rebounds, Allison Price scoring 10 points and Kennedy Harrah getting four steals. In a 44-19 win over Indian Lake, Abbey Price had 14 points and four assists and Audrey Benedict 11 points as eight players scored.
North Union got several big contributions in a 58-28 win over Northwestern. Allison Price had 16 points and three steals, Benedict 13 points, Abbey Price 11 points and seven rebounds, Zoe Wedding nine points and four assists, Jada Davis eight rebounds and Harrah four steals.
∎ Northmor handled Millersport 60-31. Riley Johnson scored 15 points with seven steals for the Golden Knights, while Lauren Johnson had 15 points as the two combined for 5 3-pointers. Emily Zeger hauled in nine rebounds with four assists, and Emilee Jordan had eight boards and five assists.
∎ River Valley took care of Cardington 52-30. Brooklyn Mosher scored 20 points for RV, while Lexie Hecker had 13 and Megan Clausing eight. For Cardington, Genevieve Longsdorf and Lydia Hess both had eight points.
∎ Marion Harding finished 10th at the Buckeye Classic at HP Lanes in Columbus, scoring a 2,707. Hannah Mullennix posted a 226 game and 506 three-game series, while Kenzi Vaught had a 491, Peyton Apthorp a 447 and Megan Adamson a 418.
In a 1,835-1,461 home loss to Lexington at Cooper’s Bowl, Vaught posted a 301 series, Jhmia Windham a 242, Apthrop a 223, Abbey Knight a 213 and Trinity Ficklin a 207. Galion tripped up the Prexies 1,580-1,550. Vaught threw a 173-214 387, Windham a 269, Adamson a 239 and Apthorp a 238.
∎ Highland and Pleasant split a pair of matches with each other last week. At Cooper’s Bowl, the Scots slipped by Pleasant 1,626-1,556 as Elyssa Reigles had a 220 game and 386 series. Following her for Highland was Jo Burson at 302, Grace Hartley at 243, Ryleigh DeWart at 237 and Page Elswick at 226. For Pleasant, Ashlyn Peters had a 293, Emily Seckel 272, Breahna Howard 267, Lindsay Holliday 265, and Isabel Romero 215. In the rematch, the Spartans prevailed 1,692-1,595 as Seckel had a 191 game and Reigles a 338 series.
∎ North Union fell to Graham 2,333-1,688 as Montana Donohue had a 249 series. In a 2,459-1,968 loss to Bellefontaine, Donohue had a 314.
∎ Upper Sandusky beat Marion Harding in a meet that included Centennial and Mansfield Senior at Marion Family YMCA. For the Presidents, Callie Bearly won the 100-yard butterfly and was second in the 100 backstroke; Miana Taylor was third in the 100 freestyle; Shannon Malone fourth in the 500 free; the 200 medley relay second; and the 400 free relays second and fourth.
∎ River Valley won the five-way meet at the Bucyrus Area YMCA, scoring 173 points to beat Buckeye Valley’s 154, Mount Gilead’s 129. Wynford’s 72 and Elgin’s 39.
Picking up wins for the Vikings were Karis Beineke in the 200-yard individual medley at 2:43.03 and 100 breaststroke at 1:24.11 and Regan Hummel in the 500 free in 7:21.15. Taking second for RV was the 200 medley relay in 2:20.8, Abigail Coyan in the 200 free in 2:40.51,…
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