Principals Athletic Conference Preview
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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. 5 Players to Watch: (schools are…
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Continue ReadingThe 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.
5 Players to Watch:
(schools are as of last year – unless PGH is 100% certain that a player has enrolled elsewhere)
Gia Casalinova Gia Casalinova 5'7" | CG Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy | 2023 State OH – 5’8 Guard – CVCA
Grace Lyon – 6’1 Post – Fairless
Lily Bottomley – 6’2 Post – Northwest
Aaliyah Wirth Aaliyah Wirth 5'8" | CG Triway | 2024 OH – 5’8 Wing – Triway
Bri Fitzgerald – 5’10 Forward – Tuslaw
4 Thoughts:
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 Lily 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. Nina Shaffer Nina Shaffer 5'6" | PG Green | 2023 State OH , 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 Gia Casalinova Gia Casalinova 5'7" | CG Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy | 2023 State OH and sharp-shooter Kylie Bettinger Kylie Bettinger 5'10" | SG CVCA | 2023 OH , to go with a good young piece in Hadley Hajdu Hadley Hajdu 5'8" | SG Revere | 2024 State OH . 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 Aaliyah Wirth Aaliyah Wirth 5'8" | CG Triway | 2024 OH and Caitlin Titler Caitlin Titler 5'8" | CG Triway | 2024 OH . 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.
3 Big Games:
CVCA @ Northwest on December 1st
Fairless @ Tuslaw on December 15th
Triway @ Orrville on January 12th
2 Fun Facts:
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.
1 League Champion Prediction:
Northwest