Legacy Christian junior Ali Solomon (15) ranks in the MBC’s top-five for assists, blocks, total steals and field goal percentage while leading the 10-1 Knights in scoring this season.
Xenia sophomore Nataiya Madison (40) is nearly averaging a double-double whle shooting better than 47 percent from the field.
Beavercreek senior Liv Walther has been on the best shooters in Greene County making more than a third of her three-point attempts and going 80 percent at the free throw line so far this season.
XENIA — The girls basketball regular season has just crossed the midway point with a little under a month under until tournament play gets underway.
Every team is at least halfway through its schedule as the holiday break wears off and the final run toward potential conference titles begins.
Five of the seven Greene County schools playing this season are in the top-three of their conference standings with six having better than .500 overall records.
Sectional brackets will be released on Feb. 4 and the last day of regular season play is on Feb. 10.
Here’s a look at how it has gone for each area team during the first half of the year:
(Individual and team stats/records are as of Jan. 7)
Beavercreek (7-4, 5-2 GWOC; 46.9-47.3 ppg)
There have not been many off nights against a difficult schedule this season and Beavercreek has pulled out a few nail biters.
Four of the seven wins have been by three points or fewer, including the season opener against traditional power Mason and most recently at Springboro to give the Panthers its only league loss. The Beavers have also beaten Fairmont, the only other team ahead of them in the Greater Western Ohio Conference standings.
Beavercreek may be winning through the best “team” effort night in and night out. All five starters, Larkyn Eysoldt, Lilli Leopard, Mia Patterson, Charlotte Pauling, and Liv Walther, can shoot and no one player has been relied on more than another.
Rematches with Centerville and Fairmont, in addition to games against Carroll, Bellbrook, and Alter still await.
Bellbrook (8-2, 5-0 SWBL; 51.7-38.0 ppg)
Taylor Scohy has been the best player in the area as Bellbrook has continued its dominance of the Southwestern Buckeye League.
Scohy is averaging 20 points per game depending on the night and ranks in the top 10 for blocks and steals in the league.
The supporting cast is still being built up with Jordan Frantz emerging as one of the best rebounders in the SWBL and the team’s second-leading scorer. Alayna Meyer is still a shooting threat from deep, and Lauren Fabrick has begun to take more of a scoring role.
Only three home games make up the final 12 contests with a loaded non-league slate making up most of the road games.
Cedarville (6-3, 5-3 OHC; 37.4-31.8 ppg)
Two players have helped carry the Indians to a good mid-season record.
Molly Mossing and Ayden Rodgers rank first or second for the team in most statistical categories. The guard-forward duo combines to average 24.2 points and 12.5 rebounds per game.
Cedarville has been in a many close games where a big quarter by either side has been the difference. When the Indians have held an opponent under 40 they have won each time but are 0-3 in games they do not.
Currently tied for second in the Ohio Heritage Conference South Division, only three remaining league games come against opponents above .500.
Fairborn (0-10, 0-8 MVL; 25.2-50.5 ppg)
The losing streak is at 58 in a row, but the path this season has been one of marked improvement.
Fairborn has doubled its points average from a year ago and has only allowed one team to reach 60 points. Optimism remains present as more than half of the team’s points this season has been scored by freshman. Brooklynn Kimball ranks in the top-10 in the MVL for scoring average.
Going by upcoming opponent records, Fairborn’s best chances to break the streak may come in a Jan. 24 home game against Piqua, or during a three-game closing stretch from Feb. 3-10 against Greenville and Franklin at home and at Troy to close the regular season.
Greeneview (8-4, 5-3 OHC; 42.9-40.1 ppg)
Quietly going about their way have been the Rams as the team is off to its best start in five seasons.
Greeneview has gone four deep in who it can rely on each night between Kylan Climie, Brooklyn Erisman, Daylee Sandlin, and Monet Vest. All have have scored at least 15 points in a game once this season while sharing the rebounding and distributing roles.
All eight remaining games are against the league, with the three toughest opponents all travelling to Jamestown starting with West Liberty-Salem up first on Thursday.
Legacy Christian (10-1, 4-0 MBC; 54.5-27.4 ppg)
Losing Alli Graves minutes into the season hasn’t slowed down the Knights yet.
Since giving Cincinnati Country Day, a regional finalist last season, a close game early in the year, non-league wins against Stebbins and Northridge have established LCA’s ability to adapt without the reigning Metro Buckeye Conference player of the year being able to take the floor.
Alayna Allport has been a sharpshooter in making nearly half of her attempts from three. Ali Solomon and Audrey Stanley both average more than four rebounds per game, while Ava Combs has stepped in for Graves with a 1.2 assist-to-turnover ratio.
In the middle of a 10-game stretch of road games, LCA has won the first five and still has games at Middletown Christian and Urbana to come. Home games against Waynesville and Southeastern will be a difficult pair of matchups to close out the regular season.
Xenia (7-5, 4-5 MVL; 41.9-39.8 ppg)
It has been a solid year for the Buccaneers while being stuck in the more difficult division of the MVL. They are righly positioned in the league standings having defeated all of the teams below .500 in league play, while taking losses to all of the above .500 squads.
The defense has been the bright spot. Xenia is averaging under 40 points allowed per game but hasn’t had the offensive support to irradiate their play on the other end of the floor more. No team in the league has taken more shot attempts than the Bucs, but they’re shooting under 30 percent and aren’t helping themselves at the free throw line with a 49 percent mark.
Nataiya Madison leads the team in scoring and ranks second in the league in rebounding. Alaiya Meaux has been one of the best point guards in the league ranking second in assists and steals. Tayler Elliott is second in made threes with 24.
In addition to its nine remaining league rematches, Xenia has an out of league home game remaining against Miamisburg near the end of its schedule.
GREENE COUNTY STATISTICAL LEADERS
(Through games of Jan. 7)
(Per game averages)
Points
1. Taylor Scohy (Sr.), Bellbrook — 19.3
2. Molly Mossing (Sr.), Cedarville — 12.6
3. Daylee Sandlin (So.), Greeneview — 12.2
4. Ayden Rodgers (Jr.), Cedarville — 11.6
5. Ali Solomon (Jr.), Legacy Christian — 10.9
Rebounds
1. Nataiya Madison (So.), Xenia — 9.8
2. Monet Vest (So.), Greeneview — 7.5
3. Ayden Rodgers (Jr.), Cedarville — 7.4
4. Ali Solomon (Jr.), Legacy Christian — 6.8
5. Jordan Frantz (Jr.), Bellbrook — 6.7
Assists
1. Ali Solomon (Jr.), Legacy Christian — 4.7
2. Alaiya Meaux (Sr.), Xenia — 4.1
3. Alayna Meyer (Sr.), Bellbrook — 3.7
4. Daylee Sandlin (So.), Greeneview — 3.6
5. Mia Patterson (Sr.), Beavercreek — 2.9
Steals
1. Alaiya Meaux (Sr.), Xenia — 4.1
2. Brooklynn Kimball (Fr.), Fairborn — 3.8
3. Ava Combs (Fr.), Legacy Christian — 3.7
4. Taylor Scohy (Sr.), Bellbrook — 3.3
5. Audrey Stanley (Sr.), Legacy Christian — 2.9
Blocks
1. Monet Vest (So.), Greeneview — 2.7
t2. Taylor Scohy (Sr.), Bellbrook — 1.0
t2. Ali Solomon (Jr.), Legacy Christian — 1.0
4. Jordan Frantz (Jr.), Bellbrook — 0.8
5. Morgan Hollon (Sr.), Fairborn — 0.7
FG% (min. 2.5 attempts per game)
1. Taylor Scohy (Sr.), Bellbrook — 58.3 (74-127)
2. Jordan Frantz (Jr.), Bellbrook — 56.4 (31-55)
3. Mallory Fields (So.), Beavercreek — 52.8 (19-36)
4. Audrey Stanley (Sr.), Legacy Christian — 48.1 (38-79)
5. Nataiya Madison (So.), Xenia — 47.7 (51-107)
3pt% (min. 1 attempt per game)
1. Alayna Allport (Sr.), Legacy Christian — 47.7 (21-44)
2. Taylor Scohy (Sr.), Bellbrook — 45.2 (14-31)
3. Liv Walther (Sr.), Beavercreek — 36.6 (15-41)
4. Jaida Mills (Fr.), Fairborn — 35.7 (5-14)
5. Molly Mossing (Sr.), Cedarville — 34.4 (11-32)
FT% (min. 1 attempt per game)
1. Molly Mossing (Sr.), Cedarville — 87.5 (14-16)
2. Liv Walther (Sr.), Beavercreek — 80.0 (12-15)
3. Ayden Rodgers (Jr.), Cedarville — 79.4 (27-34)
4. Lilli Leopard (Sr.), Beavercreek — 76.2 (32-42)
5. Ryleigh Burnett (Sr.), Cedarville — 75.0 (12-16)
Contact Steven Wright at 937-502-4498 and follow on X (formerly Twitter) @Steven_Wright_.
