This week the Shelby County Athletic League girls hoops standings could experience some shuffling in the middle of the pack and at the top.
ScoresBroadcast.com will cover the Russia at Fort Loramie tilt on Thursday and the Jackson Center at Anna contest on Tuesday. Air time is 6:55 p.m. both nights. Jack Kramer and Chuck McBee will describe the action.
As a result of Jackson Center’s one-point win over the Raiders last week, Russia is a game behind Fort Loramie, which is undefeated in the SCAL at 6-0 and is 11-1 on the season. The Redskins were beaten last Saturday for the first time in more than 50 straight home games.
The Russia girls are 5-1 in the SCAL and 11-3 overall. The Raiders were topped by Marion Local over the weekend.
Interestingly, Thursday marks the only meeting between the Russia and Fort Loramie girls before the sectional tournament draw at the end of the month.
Behind the Redskins and Raiders, Botkins stands 4-2 in the league and 8-6 on the season. Meanwhile, Jackson Center is 4-3 and also 8-6. Anna is 2-5 in the SCAL and 7-6 for the year. Houston has the same league mark as Anna and is 5-8 overall. Fairlawn sits at the bottom of the league standings.
With a win at Anna on Tuesday, Jackson Center might inch ahead of Botkins into third place. The Anna-Jackson Center contest is a rematch of the Nov. 29 game won by the Tigers at home, 40-34.
Jackson Center’s McKinley Reichert, the team’s leading scorer at nearly 12 points per game, pumped in 13 to pace the Tigers to the early season triumph over the Rockets. Addie Biederman added 10 points and Macy Klopfenstein nine more. Biederman drained a couple three-pointers.
Anna’s Brenna Cobb paced her team with 16 points and Jenna Wolters chipped in with eight. Cobb sank two triples.
The Rockets are coming off a victory over New Bremen on Saturday. In the two meetings with Fort Loramie, Anna outscored the Redskins in both second halves. The Tigers’ four-game win streak ended Saturday with a one-point setback to Versailles.
A full slate of SCAL girls contests is set for Tuesday night. Fairlawn plays at Russia, and Botkins hosts Fort Loramie. The Russia-Fort Loramie battle is the only SCAL game on Thursday.
Tiffany Brown, the Jackson Center head coach, and Randy Huber, mentor for the Anna girls program, are both in their initial seasons coaching varsity hoops at their schools. Each has numerous years of experience coaching basketball at lower grade levels. Brown previously coached several seasons at Troy.
Huber’s daughter Erica played for the state champion Division III Rockets in 2011 and 2013. Anna finished as state runner-up in 2012. Jack Billing coached the Rockets to those state titles.
Jeff Maurer’s Anna girls team advanced to the state tournament in 2020 after knocking off Purcell-Marian in the regional final. The pandemic prevented the tourney from concluding.
D-IV Jackson Center reached the state semifinals in 2016 under head coach Scott Doseck and again in 2017 when Jeff Reese was at the helm.
The success of area D-IV girls programs continued in 2018 and 2019 when Minster led by head coach Mike Wiss earned state crowns. Both Minster and Fort Loramie advanced to Columbus in 2020 when play was halted. Carla Siegel’s Redskins breezed through the state championship two years ago and also garnered state titles back in 2013 and 2015.
Siegel coached her 500th victory in less than 24 seasons when Fort Loramie won at Houston on December 22.
