The high school girls basketball season opened for many local teams last night.

Host West Liberty-Salem ran past Bellefontaine 46-24.

Senior guard Christine Park powered the Tigers with 21 points.

Becka Peterson dropped in 8 points and Tyler Lane added 7.

For BHS, senior Kara Morrison scored a team-high ten.

West Liberty-Salem won the JV game 39-20.

Kelsey Helms poured in 20 points.

The Tigers will host Indian Lake tonight at six o’clock.

Bellefontaine will host Marysville on Tuesday night.

Benjamin Logan fell at Marion Elgin 57-29.

Sarah Yoder paced the Raiders with 7 points and Caroline Lehmon added 5.

Benjamin Logan shot just 26 percent from the field.

Marion Elgin won the JV game 21-20.

The Raiders will try to bounce back tonight at North Union.

Lehman defeated host Riverside 66-58.

The first quarter was the difference; the Cavs outscored the Pirates 20-5.

Senior Amelia Carter paced the Pirates with 25 points and 17 rebounds.

Junior Erica Snapp followed with 15.

Riverside will host Houston next Thursday.

Elsewhere:

Miami East beat Graham 58-51.

Kenton Ridge handled Southeastern 63-39.

Northwestern edged Greeneview 39-35.

Vandalia-Butler beat Tipp City 47-34.

Wayne knocked off Tecumseh 58-34.

Springfield Catholic defeated Springfield Emmanuel Christian 66-52.

Fairbanks outscored Mechanicsburg 58-52.

Sidney edged Russia 49-47.

Anna trounced New Knoxville 55-23.

Houston stifled Covington 50-20.

Troy defeated Dayton Stebbins 43-30.

The boys season opens next Friday.

The Division II, III, and V state semifinal playoff football games were played across Ohio last night.

In Division V, Coldwater outscored Patrick Henry 35-24 at Findlay’s Donnell Stadium.

The Cavs (13-1) exploded for 28 points in the second half to advance to the state championship.

In the other Division V semifinal, Youngstown Ursuline blasted West Lafayette Ridgewood 48-6.

In Division III, Columbus DeSales defeated Cincinnati Wyoming 24-7.

Youngstown Mooney steamrolled perennial power Steubenville 45-7.

In Division II, Cincinnati Winton Woods ran past Columbus Marion-Franklin 69-35.

Maple Heights edged Mentor Lake Catholic 21-17.

The Division I, IV, and VI state semifinal games will be played Saturday night.

In Division VI, defending state champ Delphos St. John’s (13-0) will battle league rival Marion Local (8-5) at Wapakoneta’s Harmon Field at 7 p.m.

Many local high school girls basketball teams will open their season tonight.

West Liberty-Salem will host Bellefontaine. The JV game will start at six o’clock.

The Lady Tigers will host Indian Lake tomorrow night.

Benjamin Logan opens their season with two road games this weekend.

Tonight, the Lady Raiders will travel to Marion Elgin.

Saturday night, Benjamin Logan will visit North Union.

Riverside will host Lehman tonight. The JV game starts at six o’clock.

Urbana will travel to Kenton on Saturday night. The JV game tips at six o’clock.

Graham will visit Miami East tonight at six o’clock.

Triad welcomes West Jefferson Saturday night. The JV game will start at six o’clock.

Ridgemont will open at Mt. Gilead Saturday night at six o’clock.

Jackson Center will visit Minster tomorrow night. The JV game begins at 6:30.

The Urbana University men’s basketball team entered Tuesday night’s home game with the University of Indianapolis having won 2 straight by 30-plus points, including a 73-43 Saturday night win over Gannon, an Elite 8 participant from last season. The visiting Greyhounds rolled into town having just upset the defending national champions from the University of Findlay on Saturday night. They also had an exhibition game win over Division I Valparaiso to their credit. Both the Blue Knights and Greyhounds have been surprise teams in Division II in the early season.

When the dust finally settled, it was the Blue Knights who stood victorious, outracing the Greyhounds 87-77. With the win, the Blue Knights improve to 4-1 for the first time since the 1996-97 season. Urbana finished 26-8 that season and advanced all the way to the NAIA Sweet 16. Indy drops to 2-2, with their only losses coming to D-I Southern Illinois and Urbana.

Urbana trailed early, falling behind by as many as 11 in the first 9 minutes, but the Blue Knights battled back and cut the deficit to 47-40 at the half. Urbana returned with the momentum in the second half, scoring the first 11 points after the break.

The Blue Knight lead grew to 11 on a Robert Wilson (pictured) jumper with 10:55 remaining, but the Greyhounds ran off 11 straight points of their own to tie the game at 66 with 6 minutes to play. Urbana’s Justin Tyson returned the lead to the home team with a lay-up. After back-to-back Indy buckets, Tyson again answered, this time with a 3-point play in the paint. The basket sparked the Blue Knights to a 10-0 run, and Urbana never trailed again.

Four Blue Knights finished in double-figures, led by Clint Nicholson’s 19 points. Charlton Conner notched 16. Wilson chipped in 15, and senior co-captain T.R. Ellis added 11. Wilson led the team with 9 rebounds, and Nicholson, Conner and Ellis all had 6 boards. Ellis also had a team-high 7 assists and 6 steals. Urbana outscored Indy by 17 points in the decisive 2nd half, shooting 51.6% from the field, compared to Indy’s 32%.

Urbana has won its last 3 games by a combined 76 points.

The Blue Knights will visit Ashland Saturday night at 7:30. 

The Urbana University women’s basketball team dropped their 4th straight to start the season, falling 70-57 to 11th ranked Cedarville University. Urbana outscored the Yellow Jackets in the 2nd half but could not overcome a 15-point halftime deficit. Cedarville improves to 4-1 on the season, while Urbana drops to 0-4.

Cedarville was paced by 4 players in double figures, led by Aubrey Siemon’s double-double (16 points, 19 rebounds).  Urbana’s Unique Lane poured in 19 points in just 19 minutes on a perfect 6-for-6 shooting and 4-for-4 from the foul line.

The Lady Blue Knights are off until Saturday afternoon when they travel to St. Joseph’s College to take on the Pumas at 4:00 p.m.

Several area cross country runners have received postseason honors after their successful seasons.

West Liberty-Salem junior Sarah Murphy (pictured, left) was named to the DIII Girls Academic All-Ohio Team. The award is given to runners in their sophomore through senior year with a 3.5 or better GPA who participate in the state cross country meet.

Alliance Running recently  named the All-Southwest Ohio team with West Liberty-Salem freshmen Shawnda Henault and Meghan Vogel receiving All-Southwest Ohio DIII 1st Team honors. Jasmine Smith, another WLS freshman, received All-Southwest Ohio DIII 2nd Team honors. Receiving Special Mention All-Southwest Ohio for DII girls were Indian Lake's Rachel Watt and Kayla Beltz and Bellefontaine's Katie King.

Complete All-Southwest Ohio Cross Country Team honors can be found on www.alliancerunning.com.

Pictured below from L to R: Katie King, Meghan Vogel, Jasmine Smith, and Shawnda Henault at the Logan County Meet earlier this year.

The Urbana University men's basketball team has made great strides since posting just 1 win in their first 15 games last season. The Blue Knights showed improvement with a 5-7 finish last year and a 2-1 start in 2009. Urbana landed a statement win over national powerhouse Gannon University Saturday night. The Blue Knights led wire-to-wire in a 73-43 victory, spoiling the Golden Knights' home opener in the Hammermill Center.

Gannon entered the contest having won 32 of their last 33 at home. The Golden Knights were 42-5 all-time in home openers before Saturday’s 30-point defeat.

Gannon received votes in the pre-season Division II Top 25 coaches' poll. The Golden Knights finished last season ranked 5th in the final poll. Their season ended in the Elite Eight of the D-II national tournament, and in two matchups with the Blue Knights, Gannon coasted to wins of 36 and 37 points.

Urbana never trailed. With 8:02 remaining in the first half, the teams were tied at 19. Urbana's T.R. Ellis and Charlton Conner hit back-to-back threes in a span of 38 seconds, and the Golden Knights never got closer than 6 points for the remainder of the game. In the second half, Urbana's lead never dipped below double-digits.

Urbana used a balanced attack to stymie the Golden Knights. Four Blue Knights finished in double-figures, led by Ellis' 14 points. Conner chipped in 13. Clint Nicholson and Justin Tyson each added 12.

Urbana shot 55.6% from the field while holding the Golden Knights to just 27.9% shooting. The Blue Knights (3-1) return home to host the University of Indianapolis on Tuesday night at 8:00 p.m.

The Blue Knights women’s basketball teams’ struggles continued Saturday at home in a 75-59 loss to regional rival Ashland University. Urbana drops to 0-3 on the season, while Ashland improves to 1-0.

Urbana led early. A fastbreak lay-up by junior guard Jessica Byrd gave the home team a 7-6 advantage after 4 minutes of play, but the lead would be the Blue Knights’ last of the game. Ashland scored the next 12 points to build a comfortable lead heading into halftime.

Urbana closed the gap to as little as 6 points in the second half, but Ashland’s Beth Mantkowski always had an answer.  Mantkowski finished with 23 points and 8 rebounds on 9-of-11 shooting.

The Blue Knights were led by Ashley Falknor’s 17 points. Andrea Vogel added 14 points, and Unique Lane chipped in with 10. Vogel and Lane led the team with 8 rebounds apiece, and Byrd had 5 assists and 4 steals.

Next, the Blue Knights host the Yellow Jackets from Cedarville University on Tuesday night. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. The Urbana men’s team will host the University of Indianapolis after the women’s game.

The Division I, IV, and VI regional final playoff football games were played across Ohio Saturday night.

In Division VI, Marion Local moved on to the state semi-finals with a resounding 27-0 blanking of Fort Loramie.

Marion Local (8-5) finished the regular season at 5-5, but have since ran off three consecutive victories, allowing just 20 points total.

In a battle of unbeatens that lived up to the records, Delphos St. John’s (13-0) nipped Ada (12-1) 34-31 in overtime.

Other Division VI finals:

Norwalk St. Paul edged Bucyrus Wynford 28-21.

Grove City Christian stopped Malvern 20-8.

Division IV finals:

Chagrin Falls blasted Peninsula Woodbridge 58-28. Chagrin Falls (13-0) is averaging 45 points a game in the playoffs.

Ottawa-Glandorf held on to beat Orrville 21-20.

Ironton, after advancing with a 20-14 overtime last week, was beaten by Coshocton by the same score, 20-14, also in OT.

Kettering Alter dominated Clinton-Massie 32-7. The Knights have outscored their three playoff opponents 115-7 in their quest to repeat as champions.

Division I finals:

Cleveland Glenville, a week after eliminating perennial power St. Ignatius, advanced with a 28-27 win over Solon.

In a match-up of high school football heavyweights, Massillon Washington prevailed over Canton McKinley 10-7.

Hilliard Davidson avenged their lone loss of the season, beating Dublin Coffman 22-7. Dublin Coffman had beaten the Wildcats 10-7 in mid-October.

Cincinnati Elder ran past Cincinnati Anderson 28-21.