Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference Preview

The Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference is an athletic conference spanning schools from Crawford, Marion, Morrow and Richland Counties. The high schools comprising the league include Clear Fork, Galion, Sparta Highland, Marion Harding, Ontario, Pleasant, River Valley and Shelby. <strong>5 Players to Watch:</strong> <strong>(schools are as of last year – unless PGH is 100% certain that a player has enrolled elsewhere)</strong> [player_tooltip player_id="159376" first="Olivia" last="Baker"] - 5’8 Guard - Shelby Bekah Conrad - 6’4 Post - Clear Fork [player_tooltip player_id="32616" first="Sophia" last="Niese"] - 5’7 Guard - Shelby [player_tooltip player_id="270516" first="Justice" last="Steinman-Ross"] - 6’2 Forward - Marion Harding Hannah Logan - 5’10 Guard - River Valley <strong>4 Thoughts:</strong> Shelby has to be the pre-season favorite in the MOAC, as we enter this season. [player_tooltip player_id="159376" first="Olivia" last="Baker"], Haylee Baker and [player_tooltip player_id="32616" first="Sophia" last="Niese"] form a well-known trio for area basketball fans - as the seniors enter their final season, hoping to make it their best one yet. Audi Albert will need to score some points this year and provide another option for the Whippets. Demi Hipp is a solid guard who can take some of the ball-handling pressure off Niese. It’s far from a certainty that Shelby wins the league. One of the teams who is expected to contend with them is Clear Fork. The Colts - who got better as last season progressed - return a bulk of their roster. 6’4 All-Ohio candidate Bekah Conrad is a one-man wrecking crew around the rim, on both sides of the floor. Lyvia Davis is a formidable ball-handler and scorer, while Annika Labaki, Pacey Chrastina and Trinity Cook are all outstanding athletes. The Colts may be the deepest team in the league. Another outstanding team with a bulk of their offense back is River Valley. Hannah Logan could end up as the league’s leading scorer this winter. Brooklyn Mosher is a true inside-out mismatch and players like Lexie Hecker and Halle Snyder make the Vikings a legitimate threat to any team in the league. Although their teams may not have enough surrounding talent or depth to win the league - there are some outstanding individual players back in the MOAC. [player_tooltip player_id="270516" first="Justice" last="Steinman-Ross"] (Harding) and Kyla Columber (Pleasant) are more than capable of taking over games on any given night. <strong>3 Big Games:</strong> River Valley @ Shelby on December 18th Shelby @ Clear Fork on December 30th Marion Harding @ Pleasant on February 10th <strong>2 Fun Facts:</strong> At 6’4, Clear Fork’s Bekah Conrad is one of the state’s most imposing girls basketball players. Not only is she a standout on the hardwood in the winter, but she holds the school record for the shot put and is also an outstanding volleyball player. After competing in the Knox-Morrow Athletic Conference for a handful of years, Sparta Highland returns to the MOAC for all sports (with football being the exception - starting next year) in 2021-2022. <strong>1 League Champion Prediction:</strong> Shelby