Opening Weekend in Southwest Ohio

After the top two national ranked teams in the country were defeated at the Journey to the Tourney by two teams from Southwest Ohio, it set the tone for what was a memorable opening weekend in this area for girls basketball teams. <strong>The mighty have fallen</strong> The highlight of the weekend were the victories by Mount Notre Dame over #1 nationally ranked New Hope Academy 61-59 on Saturday, and Kettering Fairmont knocking off the #2 team in the country Hamilton Heights 53-46 in overtime on Sunday afternoon. Both games were part of the prestigious Journey to the Tourney two-day event at Lakota West High School. In the Sunday game, Fairmont senior [player_tooltip player_id="89318" first="Madeline" last="Westbeld"], who verballed to Notre Dame and is the #1 ranked 2020 in the state according to PGH Ohio, dominated the game with a 36-point performance, She was unstoppable and hit the clutch shot with seconds left to send the game into overtime. Anyone who saw that game knows she left no doubt as to being the best senior in Ohio, and immediately set herself in the drivers seat for Ohio Ms. Basketball. <strong>Tough game for the champs</strong> After battling for a tough opening night win against Wapakoneta on Friday night, the back-to-back defending state champs from Minster had a tough home opener against their rivals from Fort Loramie. I call them the "regional rivals" since it seems recently they battled in the regionals to advance to the state final four. Loramie flexed some muscle on Saturday with a 47-19 victory over Minster. The dominance came after a close first period, and Minster didn’t score in the second. Loramie is loaded with everyone back, and Minster lost some key seniors, but return the backcourt of [player_tooltip player_id="32556" first="Ivy" last="Wolf"] and Janae Hoying, but they will need some of the inexperienced kids to continue to get better through the season and they will be fine. Loramie has so many weapons and can come at you from everywhere. Sophomore [player_tooltip player_id="159381" first="Ava" last="Sholtis"] was their leading scorer in this game. <strong>It is their Legacy</strong> Another team who had a great opening win was Legacy Christian, as they defeated the Division Three state runnerup Waynesville Spartans 55-39 in the opener for both teams on Saturday. [player_tooltip player_id="32589" first="Kathleen" last="Ahner"] got off to a fast start and ended with 21 points on the day for Legacy. Her teammate and fellow junior [player_tooltip player_id="32575" first="Emma" last="Hess"] came on strong in the second half and ended with 24 points. Waynesville lost some key seniors but returns Leah Butterbaugh who scored 14 points for the Spartans. Newcomer Isabella Cassoni led them with 19 as she made the move over from Springboro. Butterbaugh also scored 14 in their Friday win against Greeneview 55-51. <strong>No longer a hidden gem</strong> What an opener for sophomore Lonna Heath, a guard from Fairlawn High School in Sidney as she scored a career high 32 points and opened some eyes with a 61-45 victory over Covington. One game does not make a season, but one game does build confidence for the future. It was good to hear that Makenzee Maschino was back on the court for Covington, as she suffered an ACL injury in the spring and is back earlier than expected. The sophomore had 7 points, all free throws and 8 rebounds.