Fort Loramie senior Carissa Meyer drained ten 3-pointers last season for Carla Siegel’s Redskins and would have eclipsed the 50 percent mark on triples had her final shot of the year stayed inside the cylinder.
Meyer’s 38-footer at the buzzer in the regional championship was, in fact, Fort Loramie’s closing shot of the entire season last March. The basketball went in, it went out, it went in, and it went out. One official was “signaling the shot good” and another was “waving it off.”
Tri-Village, the eventual state champ, was declared the winner after being slightly outplayed by the Redskins, who finished 21-3.
Division IV Fort Loramie is a three-time state champ and was a state semifinalist and tourney favorite in 2020 when the health crisis halted the season. The Redskins return better than 40 points in scoring on Friday night when the 2023 campaign commences.
ScoresBroadcast.com will cover Fort Loramie’s opener versus Div. III Miami East this Friday. Air time online is at approximately 6:50 p.m. The D-IV Minster girls travel to D-IV Russia on Saturday. That contest, too, is covered by SCORES, the Shelby County Online Radio Entertainment System. Again, the pregame segment begins at about 6:50.
Jack Kramer and Chuck McBee are on the call to lift the curtain on the new girls hoops campaign. Friday night marks the start of their 18th basketball season online since WMVR-FM ended 50 years of local sports coverage nearly two decades ago.
Lacal Equipment in Jackson Center is SCORES founding sponsor and continues today as the “anchor” for the free, online, play-by- play service.
Five additional sponsors of 16 to 17 years in length are Barker Insurance, north of Sidney on Route 25-A; Dickman Supply on Route 29 on the north edge of town; and three Fort Loramie businesses — Gaier’s Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram, Tom and Jerry’s Plumbing Electric Heating and Air Conditioning, and M & A Muffler and Tires. All five remain on the air today.
“We can’t say enough about our nearly 30 sponsors. We offer great thanks to them all,” Kramer said. “Lacal Equipment got us off the ground and gave us a head start. We would not be here today without Lacal.”
McBee added, “If our opening games this weekend have just ‘some’ of the excitement that the last March D-IV region final offered, we are in for a real treat to start the season,” said McBee. “That game-winner by Carissa was dead center.”
Fort Loramie began last year with a hard-fought 32-30 victory at East. Returning letter winners for the Vikings are McKayah Musselman, 9 points per game; Camryn Francis, 8 ppg; Jacqueline Kadel, 7 ppg; Logan Phillips, 5 ppg; Katie Paulus, 4 ppg; and Mara Fine.
No major contributors graduated from last year’s Vikings squad, which was 19-6 and is directed by second-year mentor Kevin Evans. He has coached 23 years, including eleven as head man of the Miami East junior varsity boys program, four as head coach of the varsity boys, and three as a varsity girls assistant.
Fort Loramie graduated first team all-state performer Ava Turner, but returns junior Avery Brandewie, who was honorable mention all-Ohio and averaged 11.5 points per game. Senior Skyler Albers at 8.5 ppg and junior Victoria Mescher at 8 ppg are also back. Meyer averaged 4 points per outing, and Summer Hoying and Jaden Rose, three each. Alex Rose and Ariel Heitkmap also expect to see a lot of playing time.
The Redskins’ point production dropped off a little to 51 per game last season. But the defense remained extremely stingy and limited the opposition to seven points per period.
Brandewie paced the Redskins in field goal shooting at 49 percent and free throw shooting at 74 percent.
Minster and Russia have had a couple tough tussles and a pair of blow outs on the hardwood over the last several campaigns. In 2020-21, Minster won, 61-56, at home. Russia, a 20-6 team the next season, thumped Minster, 57-30. Last year, the 22-5 Russia squad clipped the Wildcats, 43-37. Minster’s state final four team crushed Russia by 29 points in the 2019-20 year.
Michael Bashore replaces Paul Bremigan as head coach for the Russia girls. He brings more than 10 years of coaching experience to Russia.
In 2015 at Greenville, Bashore was named Coach of the Year in the Greater Western Ohio Conference and COY for the southwest district. He has also had stints as an assistant at Versailles and as the head boys coach at Fort Recovery.
From the 2023 regional semifinal team, the Russia girls graduated Cece Borchers, a second team all-Ohio player, and Kate Sherman, who was honorable mention. Numerous departing seniors last spring require Bashore to rebuild some of the starting five.
Current seniors are Carley Scott, Roni Poling, Jaela Shappie and Laci Phlipot. Shay Hammonds and Addison Shappie comprise a thin junior class. Claudia Hoehne is a 6-2 sophomore. Callie Goubeaux, Kylie Doseck, Faith York and Kourtney Phlipot are additional sophs on the varsity roster.
The Minster girls finished 14-11 last year and 6-3 in the Midwest Athletic Conference. Head coach Mike Wiss begins his eighth year at the helm.
A strong returning letter winner is Lilly Barhorst, who last season totaled 12 points per contest and nine rebounds per game. Barhorst was honorable mention all-Ohio.
Additional letterwinners on this year’s roster are seniors Lydia Mescher, Anna Larger and Kayla Lamm, who all will provide experienced leadership. Junior letterwinners are forward Addi Inskeep and point guard Sadie Niemeyer. Ava Stammen at a wing and Avery Wilges in the post are other juniors who will play significant roles.
The Wildcats feature excellent depth and hope to score points in transition.
As always, Minster sports a stringent non-conference schedule that includes Anna, Arcanum, Fort Loramie, Kalida, Ottoville, Wapakoneta, Tri-Village, and Findlay Liberty-Benton. The girls programs in the MAC should also be stronger.
An early season date to keep in mind is Saturday afternoon, Dec. 16, when the Fort Loramie girls take the short jaunt up Route 66 to Minster. Last year, the two clubs played a double overtime thriller, won by the Redskins.
Russia and Fort Loramie meet on Jan. 4 and Feb. 8.
