By John Bombatch
GREENE COUNTY — The 2016-‘17 girls high school basketball season gets officially started tonight, with a handful of area games set to tip-off.
In a matchup between two Greene County teams, the Division I Xenia Buccaneers will head into Jamestown to take on the Division III Greeneview Rams for a 7:30 p.m. contest. Don’t let the school’s sizes fool you. Small school Greeneview went into the Bucs’ home gym and won handily last season. Xenia would like to return the favor.
Other Friday games involving local teams have Xenia Legacy Christian (formerly Xenia Christian) taking on Waynesville for a 7:30 p.m. contest in the Waynesville Tip-Off Classic.
Two area teams also will open up their respective seasons with tournament games: Carroll takes on Marion Pleasant in a tournament held on D-I powerhouse Reynoldsburg’s home floor; while Bellbrook looks to play Waterford, out of SE Ohio, at 2:30 p.m. in a tournament opener down at West Chester Lakota West High School.
Four other Greene County area high schools will get their seasons under way after this weekend.
In a Greater Western Ohio Conference crossover showdown, the Fairborn Skyhawks will invade Beavercreek’s Beavers for a 7:30 p.m. battle on Monday.
Cedarville opens its season on the road with neighboring Enon Greenon on Wednesday, and Yellow Springs doesn’t get its girls high school regular season schedule going until Dec. 3, when they’ll host the GWOC’s Springfield.
In its annual release of the Dayton area’s Top 100 girls high school basketball players, the Dabbelt Report had 18 Greene County area student athletes on its list.
Cedarville’s returning Division IV all-southwest district first team selection Ise “Izzy” Bolender returns for her junior year. Other top 100 players listed were: Cori Dilsavor, Lexi Moore, Bailey Draughn, Haley Hutchins, Michaela Rhoades and Keaira Youngblood of the Beavercreek Beavers; Cassidy Hofacker, Bekah Vine, and Stephanie Dorn of the Bellbrook Golden Eagles; Ellie Rumme, Amanda Schroeder and Morgan King of the Carroll Patriots; Frankie Fife and Faith Strickle of the Greeneview Rams; Liz Smith of the Yellow Springs Bulldogs; Rachel Sweeney of the Legacy Christian Knights; and Ella Welsh of the Xenia Buccaneers.
The Dabbelt Report (jimdabbelt.wordpress.com) also listed five area freshmen to keep an eye on, based on their past performances on club basketball teams. Carroll’s Allie Stefanek and Julia Keller, Bellbrook’s Kayla Paul and Brooklyn Hall, and Beavercreek’s Morgan Rhoades were all listed as freshmen players to watch.
The first official day of the postseason will be on Feb. 13, 2017 when the sectional tournaments get started. Will your area school make a tournament run? Those postseason hopes begin tonight.
