Photos by Steven Wright | Greene County News
Xenia senior Gabby Winegarner (right) gets over Fairborn freshman Aubrey Jones (left) for an early shot attempt in Wednesday’s Miami Valley League matchup. The Buccaneers defeated the Skyhawkes 46-22 at Baker Middle School.
Xenia junior Shelby Collier (15) looks to drive the line against Fairborn.
Controlling the glass was a big part of the Xenia win, with sophomore Nataiya Madison (left) playing a significant role in the Buccaneers’ success.
Fairborn junior Journey Bradford (2) is trapped by Xenia senior Alaiya Meaux (11).
Xenia senior Tayler Elliott brings the ball up the court, connecting on several slashing buckets during the win.
FAIRBORN —A new style yielded positive results in Xenia’s girls basketball season opener.
The Buccaneers won 46-22 Wednesday at Fairborn utilizing an up-tempo system.
Running the floor on offense each time down the floor, the team was all about controlling the game’s tempo.
Better execution may come over time, but for now the general style is what Bucs’ head coach Jessica Threats is pleased with seeing.
“I think toward the end we got a little more relaxed, but they knew we could have have obviously done some much pressuring,” she said. “Our personnel is changing, but it’s all about everybody being ready to go to contribute.”
Xenia used all 11 active players in the rotation with regularity. The fresh bodies on the court were too much for a young Skyhawks squad to overcome as Xenia was able to apply pressure for nearly every second of the game.
“We’re really just trying to focus on executing what we want to introduce right now,” she said. “I think we definitely saw the effort from everybody, and then we’re trying to get them to tap into the skills that they have together.”
An 8-0 to start the game forced a quick timeout by Fairborn. While Xenia found baskets hard to come by for awhile after, its defense made things even tougher on the Skyhawks as they weren’t able to record a made field goal for the first 12 minutes.
“They run the floor really well and we were battling fatigue,” Fairborn head coach Chelsea Nichols said. “… We just don’t have the numbers fo run and it forced us to play through that fatigure and made us ask us to play another minute before we could get a sub.”
Xenia was led by 12 points from Nataiya Madison and had 10 added by Alaiya Meaux. Brooklynn Kimball had 11 for Fairborn.
The Bucs held an 18-6 lead at the half and expanded it by getting to the free throw line more often in the second half.
Threats said she saw an opening left from the Bucs’ three seniors of a year ago graduating and believed a new identity for the team could be formed.
She has been pleased with the player’s willingness to not only fill their void, but also be open to buying into their new philosophy.
“We’ve got a little mantra to get us going,” Threats said. “We’ve got a new team after losing some players, but we really want to build around the girls we have. Everybody’s going to be watching what we’re trying to do.”
Contact Steven Wright at 937-502-4498 and follow on X (formerly Twitter) @Steven_Wright_.
