It’s time to hoop it up at Ohio University Eastern.
With an exciting semifinal round out of the way, Saturday’s OVAC Girls Basketball Championships are slated to get underway at 10 a.m. inside the gymnasium on the campus of Ohio University Eastern. All games will be broadcast on The Watchdog, 98.1 FM WKKX and 97.7 FM WVLY.
Three classes are guaranteed new champions while Beallsville in Class A and Beaver Local in Class AAAA are back to defend their crowns. Come night’s end, five teams will be able to add another notch to their conference championship banners.
Class AAAA, 10 a.m.
Martins Ferry used a balanced attack Monday to take care of visiting Oak Glen.
The Riders are a physical defensive team and boast a balanced offensive attack with the post play of Richella Spielvogel complemented by a trio of perimeter deep threats that can strike at any time. Spielvogel had a big game against the Beavers earlier this season, totaling 23 points in the Buckeye 8’s third-fourth place game. She’ll battle a fourth time this season—Ferry is 2-1 against Beaver in three previous meetings—against West Liberty University signee Jenna Riccardo.
Beaver can’t focus too much on post defense as Madison Ging, Jaden Stalder and Maria Clark all can catch fire from the outside, with the sophomore Clark having the hot hand and team lead in triples. For Beaver, which is 11-9 and playing its best basketball at the right time, Riccardo’s 20-plus points per game is the straw that stirs the drink. But Madison Cline is no slouch from the perimeter and Elizabeth Kolkowski had eight points and 10 rebounds against St. Clairsville in the opposite semifinal.
Class AAAAA, Noon
These two teams have a combined three losses. Indian Creek’s only loss came against undefeated Union Local and Wheeling Park’s first of two losses came against Creek. This figures to be a good one.
Wheeling Park’s offense can do damage from anywhere inside the timeline. Senior Shanley Woods is deadly from behind the arc and paced the PAtriots with 26 points against University. Lindsey Garrison is quite capable of matching Woods bucket for bucket on the outside. Moving closer to the basket, Bella Abernathy and Asia Roby form a solid duo. Roby had 14 vs. the Hawks and Abernathy had eight points and seven boards. The win against University avenged a semifinal round loss in 2019 to the Hawks.
Indian Creek wasted little time punching its ticket to Saturday’s finale, jumping out early in a commanding 64-23 win against Weir. Taylor Jones was dominant, scoring 24 points against the Red Riders while Kylie Kiger had 16 and Mazkenzie Taylor 10.
The previous meeting saw Park get up early only to watch Indian Creek race back for a 67-57 win.
Class A, 2 p.m.
Beallsville is back to defend its title against a team that’s no stranger to coach Tori Jarrett’s Blue Devils. Last season, the Devils dropped Cameron 58-50 in the semifinal round before knocking off Madonna in the finals.
This season, Beallsville has defeated Cameron twice already, though the scores have been competitive. Devils senior Ashlie Louden is in prime form after igniting for 31 points against Hundred in a game her team led 35-5 at the break. Teammate Ashley Howell supplied 15 points and her post presence and quickness can be a matchup problem.
The Dragons limited the Blue Dons to 36 points and bolstered their own cause with a 14-1 run in the first quarter. Lili Neely leads Cameron in scoring and posted 17 points against Madonna. She was backed by Madelyn Canada with 12 and Kendra Dobbs with nine.
Class AA, 4 p.m.
It’s not often that the words Wheeling Central and upset are used in the same sentence—at least when they win. But that’s just what happened Monday when a spirited effort led to a 66-62 overtime victory against top-seeded Shadyside. Down two of their big three, Central’s prospects further diminished with a nagging hip injury for Hannah White flared up.
But White battled through it, scoring 14 points before fouling out in overtime. But it was the play of junior Marissa Horan that really stole the show. Horan led the Knights with 23 points, including 14 between the fourth quarter and overtime. Freshman Abbey Jones got into the act as well, muscling her way to 10 points off the bench. It avenged a loss last season to Shadyside in the semifinal round.
The Knights’ opponent, Steubenville Catholic Central, advanced with a 51-34 verdict against Shenandoah, one in which the Crusaderettes limited the Zeps to three third-quarter points. Bella Oliver led the way with 15 points and Katie Zatta added nine.
Class AAA, 6 p.m.
Fittingly, the best game is saved for last, or at least the one many are penciling in as the best. Undefeated Union Local battled the “can’t beat a team three times” mantra along with a sickness ran rampant through its lineup to hold off Monroe Central and keep its record unblemished at 21-0.
With a few of their starters struggling through the game with illnesses, backups Baylee Rex and Alleigh Cheatham came through in a big way per coach Rob Barr. Hannah Merritt led the way with 20 points, while Reagan Vinskovich had 14, Torre Kildow 13 and Casey Kildow 11.
They will meet Fort Frye, one of the more dominant programs the last few decades in the Ohio Valley. Fort Frye has two losses, one to Wheeling Park and the other to Class 5A Warren, both by competitive scores. The Cadets are led by sophomore Hannah Archer, who nailed six 3-pointers and finished with 22 points against Bellaire. Lexie Huck is also a capable scorer and had 11 vs. the Big Reds.
