20-21 League Previews- MVL Miami Division

The Miami Valley League returns some quality teams in the Miami Division this season, and everyone will be coming for the title currently held by Tippecanoe High School. The other teams in the division are Butler, Greenville, Piqua and Troy. <span style="font-family: ’arial black’, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"><strong>5 Players to Watch</strong></span> [player_tooltip player_id="212902" first="Evan" last="Neely"], 6-0 2021, Vandalia Butler [player_tooltip player_id="91110" first="Ashleigh" last="Mader"], 5-8 2021, Tippecanoe [player_tooltip player_id="32622" first="Macie" last="Taylor"], 5-8 2022, Troy <em>(feature photo)</em> [player_tooltip player_id="93536" first="Sami" last="Bardonaro"], 5-8 2022, Vandalia Butler Aubree Schrubb, 5-11 2022, Piqua <strong><span style="font-family: ’arial black’, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">5 Sleepers</span></strong> Skylar Fletcher, 5-7 2023, Greenville Makenzee Maschino, 5-9 2022, Troy Katie Hemmelgarn, 6-2 2021, Tippecanoe Kenzie Anderson, 5-7 2022, Piqua Blair Kindrick, 5-8 2021, Vandalia Butler <span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: ’arial black’, sans-serif;"><strong>4 Thoughts</strong></span> It’s Tipp’s conference to lose, as they return three of their top four players from last season. [player_tooltip player_id="91110" first="Ashleigh" last="Mader"] (5-8 2021) is their leader as the top senior in the league with a variety of moves. Katie Hemmelgarn (6-2 2021) and Rachel Wildermuth (6-0 2021) return to handle the paint, and a variety of younger players look to gain more experience as the season progresses. Troy has the top player returning in the league with [player_tooltip player_id="32622" first="Macie" last="Taylor"], ranked #11 in the latest PGH ’22 rankings), and her game has just elevated to another level. She lost her main post player to graduation, but newcomer Makenzee Maschino (5-9 2022 from Covington) hopes to stay healthy and make an impact after she returns in January from an ACL injury. Piqua won more games last season than they have in the last several years with 15 victories as they continue to make progress as a program.  Greenville also won 14 games last year, the second time in three years they have reached that mark. It will be interesting to see who steps up with the graduation of first-team all-Ohio guard Haleigh Behnken. Butler continues to make great strides to the top of the conference. [player_tooltip player_id="212902" first="Evan" last="Neely"] is back after missing time with an injury last season, while senior Blair Kindrick (headed to Wilmington) hopes for an injury free season. Sophomore [player_tooltip player_id="93536" first="Sami" last="Bardonaro"] is the league’s best ’23 and is just getting better. <strong><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: ’arial black’, sans-serif;">3 Games to Watch</span></strong> Troy @ Tipp- January 27 Piqua @ Butler- January 8 Tipp @ Butler- January 6 <strong><span style="font-family: ’arial black’, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">2 Fun Facts</span></strong> Tippecanoe has a 38-game winning streak against this group of teams in the Miami Division, all the way back to when they were all together in the GWOC. They have controlled the league for years and only had 4 single-digit victories, an 88-81 OT win against Sidney in 2017, a 45-43 win against Troy in 2019, and two single-digit wins last season. Jeremy Hughes (Troy) and Christina Pentaudi (Tippecanoe) are the two new head coaches in the conference this season. Hughes was on staff last season at Troy and moves up after Aaron Johnson left, and Pentaudi has been a successful 8th grade coach at Tipp for years and the former Tipp player replaces Andy Holderman. <strong><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: ’arial black’, sans-serif;">1 League Champion</span></strong> Tipp gets the edge here, but the door to the championship could be knocked on many times this season.