Bulldog Sports Round-Up | Jan. 24, 2025
- Published: February 6, 2025
Basketball
Two wins and a loss for varsity boys
The Varsity Bulldogs slipped to sixth place in the Metro Buckeye Conference after four losses over the last several weeks. The team’s current conference record is 1–4, with an overall season record of 3–10.
The boys nabbed a decisive 61–20 victory away over East Dayton Christian Tuesday, Jan. 14. Freshman Brayden Trimbach led the team in scoring, netting 23 points, followed by seven from senior Landon Harris and two each from seniors Kaveeyon Wagner and Mateen Sajabi. Freshman Maddox Buster led for rebounds with 10, followed closely by Trimbach with eight. Wagner nabbed five steals.
A dramatic home game against conference rivals Legacy Christian Friday, Jan. 17, saw the boys keep a close scoring match with their opponents up until the final quarter of the game, which ended in a 47–62 loss. Freshman Luke Mikesell sank the first two points of the game, setting up Buster for the next two-pointer and a consecutive eight for Trimbach. Harris and Sajabi each scored two just ahead of the buzzer, bringing the Bulldogs ahead 16–15 at the close of the first quarter.
The second quarter saw early scoring for the Bulldogs, but a foul on Trimbach gave the Knights a scoring edge, putting them three points ahead. Trimbach later made an elegant no-look pass to Harris, who handed the ball off to Wagner to score and bring the Bulldogs within a point of the Knights. At a minute until halftime, Yellow Springs trailed Legacy 23–26, but a late steal from Sajabi and a score by Buster nearly tied the score again at under a minute left in the first half. Two points from Harris from the corner at 17 seconds put the Bulldogs a point ahead, but two foul shots for the Knights gave the opposition a one-point lead.
The Knights scored two at the top of the third quarter, but a rebound from Buster netted the Bulldogs another two points, and a three-pointer from Trimbach tied the game up. The Knights soon took a narrow lead, chased by a three-pointer from Harris and a foul shot from Dylan Reed, but four more foul shots for the Knights and a two-pointer in the last six seconds of the third put the Knights decisively ahead.
A layup from Buster at the top of the fourth brought the Bulldogs up to 40, followed by two points from Trimbach and a foul shot from Wagner. Near the end of the game, Harris executed a steal and ran down the court to bring the Bulldogs to 45 — but four more for the Knights brought them to their final score of 62. Two foul shots from Trimbach ended the action for the Bulldogs at 47.
The loss was soothed, however, by a Tuesday, Jan. 21 victory over Blanchester away, 59–40. Individual stats for the game were not available at press time.
Trimbach slipped into second place for scoring in the Metro Buckeye Conference, with an updated average of 20.8 points per game; Legacy’s Jacob Thompson moved into the lead position following last week’s win over the Bulldogs. Wagner continues to lead the conference in steals, netting an average of 3.4 per game.
Three home games for McKinney girls
The team is mid-season and has a three-game, home-game streak that started on Thursday, Jan. 16 against a tough Legacy Christian team. Our record is now three wins, five losses. Our goal for Legacy on the 16th was to focus on active defense, keep them under 42 points and to score more points than we did against them last month. While we lost to Legacy, we achieved all but one of our goals — we kept them at 42 points, but not less than. Achieving our “defensive stops” goal resulted in the team being rewarded with a team meal from Raising Canes!
Back on Monday, Jan. 13, we traveled to Emmanuel Christian, and jumped out to a quick lead that we maintained throughout the game. Our focus has been on playing a strong defensive game which is leading to scoring opportunities for us. We won this game 38–29!
We are working hard on the mental aspects of the game and learning to better manage the things that we can control, such as how we respond to events outside our control — including the refereeing and the physicality of our opponents. Events, plus our response to them, equals the outcome — E+R=O; a common athletics motto.
Every player has a role, and at times their role will change in games when the team needs them to adjust. We are gaining more understanding of this. In addition, we have more players getting more fouls which can be an indicator that we are becoming more assertive in our playing style — we take this as a positive sign, as long as it is balanced with body control. We are making good progress!
Come on out and watch your middle school girls basketball Bulldogs play the next available home game on Saturday, Jan. 25 at 1 p.m. vs. East Dayton Christian — we will have already played on Jan. 23 by the time this week’s paper is published.
—Coach Rena Balzer
Bowling
Another win for boys
The varsity boys remain second in the Metro Buckeye Conference after a big win over nonconference team Dayton Dunbar Thursday, Jan. 16, 2,169 pins to 1,468.
Senior Lucas Price led the team for scoring, with 419 pins across two regular games, followed closely by senior Zander Baisden with 409. Junior Noah Diamond scored 396, junior Jaxyn Fletcher 366 and senior Stephon Royalston 285; the team collectively scored 294 in a Baker game.
Junior Noah Diamond slipped to fourth in scoring leaders for the Metro Buckeye Conference, with an average of 188.7 pins per game; Fletcher moved from seventh place to sixth, with an average of 182.4 pins per game.
Results from a Tuesday, Jan. 21 match against Legacy Christian were not available at press time.
The boys currently hold a conference record of 3–1, with an overall record of 9–1. Undefeated Dayton Christian still leads the conference in first place.
Girls prevail again
The Bulldogs varsity girls were victorious over nonconference rivals Dayton Dunbar Thursday, Jan. 16, winning 1,321 pins to 1,046.
Senior Gini Meekin led the Bulldogs in scoring, with 253 pins across two regular games, netting a one-point lead over teammate, freshman Avery Tobias, with 252. Sophomore Kennedy Stroebel scored 236, sophomore Emery Fodal 231 and sophomore Quinn Murray 119. The team collectively scored 225 in a Baker game to round out the win.
Tobias slipped to third in ranking for scoring in the Metro Buckeye Conference, with an average per-game score of 143.6.
The Bulldogs’ current conference record is 0–3, with an overall season record of 3–5.
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