Principals Athletic Conference Preview

The Principal’s Athletic Conference is an athletic conference spanning schools from Wayne, Summit and Stark Counties. The high schools comprising the league include Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy, Fairless, Manchester, Northwest, Orrville, Triway and Tuslaw. <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> <a class="pn-player-link" href="https://prepgirlshoops.com/player/gia-casalinova/"><span class="name-pointer">[player_tooltip player_id="160419" first="Gia" last="Casalinova"]</span></a> – 5’8 Guard – CVCA Grace Lyon – 6’1 Post – Fairless [player_tooltip player_id="270506" first="Lily" last="Bottomley"] - 6’2 Post - Northwest [player_tooltip player_id="217348" first="Aaliyah" last="Wirth"] - 5’8 Wing - Triway Bri Fitzgerald - 5’10 Forward - Tuslaw <strong>4 Thoughts:</strong> The Principals Athletic Conference has been one of the most balanced and wide-open leagues in Northeast Ohio over the past handful of seasons. You could argue that CVCA, Northwest, Triway and Tuslaw all have the personnel to knock off anyone in the league this winter. Fairless, Orrville and Manchester should be much improved and do have some senior standouts that could make things interesting, as well. Canal Fulton Northwest is probably the favorite in the PAC this year, as they enter the season with a mix of incredible depth and size in the frontcourt and skill in the back-court. Carly Spradling is a scholarship-level senior and [player_tooltip player_id="270506" first="Lily" last="Bottomley"] could be the most talented big in the conference. Gianna Kuhn and Ashley Cudnik are guard with experience and athleticism. The key for Coach Lower’s team will be whether or not they can make shots from the perimeter when teams pack it in on the bigs. A few key transfers could prevent CVCA and Tuslaw from grabbing a piece of the league crown. [player_tooltip player_id="214497" first="Nina" last="Shaffer"], a 2x All-Ohio selection for CVCA has transferred to Green. Brook Stookey, Tuslaw’s go-to-girl in the post for the past few years, is departed to Tusky Valley. With that being said, CVCA still returns arguably the league’s best player in [player_tooltip player_id="160419" first="Gia" last="Casalinova"] and sharp-shooter [player_tooltip player_id="214503" first="Kylie" last="Bettinger"], to go with a good young piece in [player_tooltip player_id="217304" first="Hadley" last="Hajdu"]. Tuslaw will be lead by an experienced group including Bri Fitzgerald, Vanessa Frascone, Abby Hoiles and Kasi Tully. Triway has some outstanding young pieces on the perimeter in [player_tooltip player_id="217348" first="Aaliyah" last="Wirth"] and [player_tooltip player_id="217347" first="Caitlin" last="Titler"]. However, the Titans are not very deep and missing some front-court players who decided not to play this season. It will be interesting to see if they can ride a short rotation to some key victories in-conference. <strong>3 Big Games:</strong> CVCA @ Northwest on December 1st Fairless @ Tuslaw on December 15th Triway @ Orrville on January 12th <strong>2 Fun Facts:</strong> Orrville’s girls have a very late start to their basketball season, as the Red Rider volleyball team advanced all the way to the Regional Finals in the fall. Once girls like Amari Slaughter and Averi Haley get integrated, Orrville could give some teams fits on the defensive side of the floor. The Red Riders have added a key transfer in Sophia Pertee - who was a top player at Central Christian a season ago. With the new tournament bracketing process in the Northeast District, a number of different teams in the PAC could avoid each other until the Regionals. The talent in the conference makes this a legitimate possibility at the end of the year. <strong>1 League Champion Prediction:</strong> Northwest &nbsp;