Opening Weekend in Northeast Ohio

Opening Weekend in Northeast Ohio provided area basketball fans with some early insights for the 2019-2020 season. Here are 5 thoughts about Northeast Ohio hoops after the first weekend of games: <ol> <li>Medina is the real deal.</li> </ol> The Battling Bees – led by head coach Karen Kase – shocked many in the area with a 71-52 opening-season victory over Jackson – who a number of basketball fans consider to be the early-season favorites in the Federal League. With that being said – maybe we shouldn’t be surprised, because the Bees won 23 games last season and return a large core of that successful group. Duquesne commit Lindsey Linard and her teammate Sarah McKee are a devastating front-court duo. Alyson Dwyer, Elizabeth Stuart and a host of others are more than formidable handling the ball and initiating the offense. <ol start="2"> <li>Canton McKinley is ready for some new faces to emerge.</li> </ol> The Lady Pups may have lost 3x Miss Basketball Kierstan Bell (now at Ohio State University) and state championship winning head coach Pam Davis – now at Hoban, but they return some serious talent and seem to be gelling nicely. New bench boss <strong>Bryant Bowden (pictured above; Photo Credit - Canton Repository)</strong> is a legend at McKinley – the former DePaul standout has helped both the boys and girls programs over the past decade. The Bulldogs return a trio of guards in Nakyah Terrell, Kyla Foster and Kenedy Flinn. A 54-47 season-opening loss to Sylvania Southview at the Bulldog Battle was avenged with a huge 65-47 win over Eastlake North. <ol start="3"> <li>The hype is real for Laurel.</li> </ol> The Gators defeated Lutheran East by an 87-44 margin on opening night. Mari Bickley – perhaps the top freshman in Ohio – had 19 points and 5 assists, while her fellow 9^th graders Autumn Taylor (13 points) and Kendall Braaten (5 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists) were also impressive. The returners were not too shabby either – Taylor Thierry had 18 points and Giuliana Marinozzi had 15 points and 10 assists. Laurel (Division II) should be in Columbus at the end of the year. <ol start="4"> <li>Nordonia is balanced (and healthy).</li> </ol> While talent is certainly important – in Nordonia’s case it is even more important that all of their talent is finally healthy. They were ravaged by injuries a year ago, but seem ready to make a run in the Suburban League. A 52-47 victory over North Canton Hoover was definitely an impressive way to start the season. Hallie Majoros (Wisconsin Milwaukee commit), Ella Gorta and Madison Cluse each had 9 points and Lizzie Imrie and Kennedy Syllaba had 8 a piece. <ol start="5"> <li>Wadsworth may not be healthy – but they are still Wadsworth.</li> </ol> Unfortunately for Andy Booth and the Grizzlies – they have already been bitten by the injury bug. Sienna Heights commit E’Anna Won and junior Steph Andrews are injured – the return timetables for them are both up in the air. Wadsworth is happy to have Maggie Long returning from her knee-injury though, Long made 4 3-pointers and finished with 17 tallies in her team’s season-opening 45-26 victory over Norton. Taylor Leather – an all-district performer – added 13 in the win.