BASKETBALL

Boys notch first victory

The Yellow Springs High School boys varsity basketball team got its first win of the season at Southeastern on Saturday, Dec. 5. The final score was 62–58. Yellow Springs was led by DeAndre Cowen with 33 points and 15 rebounds. Malik Thomas chipped in with six points and eight rebounds. Cameron Harris hit three straight deep balls and contributed nine points. Javas McNair hit a buzzer beater at the end of the third quarter to put the Bulldogs up by six. Nate Curtis iced the game at the line with nine seconds to go to put YS up by four. He also scored six points in the game.

—Coach Nick Trimbach

Girls face first loss at Legacy

The YSHS girls basketball team traveled to Legacy Christian on Monday, Dec. 7, and came up just shy, 63–61. The team came out slow and were down 19–9 at the end of the first quarter. Legacy was hot from outside the first quarter and that continued in the second quarter. Legacy took a 40–21 lead into halftime.

But the Bulldogs did not stop playing. After coaches and players made halftime adjustments, YSHS outscored Legacy 22–9 and cut the lead to six. The Bulldogs this year have outscored opponents by 33 points in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, YS took a three-point lead with two minutes left. Legacy hit some big shots down the stretch, but nothing bigger than Kat Ahner hitting a two-point jump shot with five seconds left. Angie Smith had a 35-foot shot to win the game as the clock expired, but missed. Legacy was a pre-season, top 5 ranked team in the Dayton area. This was the closest game that YS and Legacy have had since 2014.

Angie Smith, Haneefah Jones, Aaliyah Longshaw, Corinne Totty and Annlyn Foster all played the whole game. Smith led with 38 points and four assists, Totty contributed 12 points and Annlyn Foster recorded 13 rebounds on the night.

—Coach Nick Minnich

McKinney falls in season opener

On Monday, Dec. 7, the McKinney Middle School boys and girls basketball team suffered a tough 27–22 loss for its first game of the season at neighboring Metro Buckeye Conference Legacy Christian. It was an outstanding team effort coached by Trey Anderson and Hayley Melton. The middle school boys and girls combined teams to form a full roster just under two weeks ago.

With only a few solid practices under their belt, players are still working on reading each other and finding team chemistry, but they certainly did not show it to the few spectators allowed to attend the match. The team played exceptional defense, working hard to force double digit turnovers against the Knights, with hard work from Alex VanAusdal and Ephram Naeve.

Leading the team in points on Monday was Landon Harris with 10 hard-fought points. Kaveeyon Wagner added four points to the Bulldog total as well. Lacey Longshaw added eight points on the evening, including an outstanding four-point play when fouled on and made a three-point shot. Longshaw kept her composure at the foul line to put the Bulldogs ahead by one with under three minutes to play. Unfortunately, the Bulldogs could not hold on to the lead and fell short in their first game. Their efforts made for an exciting game and we anticipate a great season from the team.  There were terrific supporting efforts from other players in the contest on Monday, including Payton Horton, Maggie Wright and Addison Shafeek.

—Angela Harris

BOWLING

Bowling team captures 2nd win

Yellow Springs High School varsity bowling team captured its second win of the season as bowlers competed against Dayton Christian on Tuesday, Dec. 1, at Poelking Lanes South. The Bulldogs bowled two games and two Baker games to end the match with a 1,721 pin count compared to a 1,414 pin count for Dayton Christian, winning by 307 pins.

YSHS bowlers had to make quick adjustments as the lane’s oil patterns were very different from what they were used to. They were frustrated at first as they couldn’t get their ball to travel as they normally could. The highlight of the match came during the second Baker game. The team bowled a clean game by scoring a 254. This was the highest Baker score ever scored by the Bulldogs.

Individual scores from the match were:

Finn Bledsoe — 145 and 163; 154 average

Max Sturgeon — 103 and 140; 121.5 average

Krishan Miller — 130 and 143; 136.5 average

Ivan Spar — 149 and 146; 147.5 averageLuka Sage-Frabotta — 114 and 92; 103 average

—Coach Jeff Eyrich