As heard Friday night on WBLL, Bellefontaine’s boys varsity basketball team fell to Springfield Shawnee for the second time this season by a final score of 46-43.

The Chiefs led throughout much of the first quarter, but a three-point basket by Michael Hogan as time expired in the opening stanza gave Shawnee a lead it would not relinquish.

That lead would balloon to double-digits midway through the second quarter as Shawnee, aided largely by a 20-2 scoring spurt, carried a seven-point lead into the halftime locker room.

The Chiefs were ultimately undone by 17 turnovers and a glaring inability to connect on important free throws down the stretch.

With the victory, Shawnee improves to 10-6 overall and 9-5 in conference play. P.J. Howell led the Braves, scoring 15 points (including three free throws in the final 29 seconds). Hogan added eight in the win.

The Braves are in action again Saturday night when they host Benjamin Logan.

The loss drops the Chiefs to 11-8 overall and 8-7 in CBC play. Bellefontaine will host rival Urbana Saturday night on WBLL.

Que Carter led the Chiefs Friday, scoring a game-high 19 points. He was the State Farm Insurance Player of the Game. Matt Gump added six points in the losing effort.

Ron’s Pizza Scoreboard	1	2	3	4	F
Shawnee	9	14	11	12	46
Bellefontaine	8	8	11	16	43

Listen as Chiefs Head Coach Henry Stolly talks about Friday’s loss.

Benjamin Logan’s boys varsity basketball team fell to visiting Greenon Friday night by a final score of 65-57. Matt McKirahan scored 24 points to lead the Raiders.

Benjamin Logan won a tight JV game, 57-54. Caleb Titus scored a game-high 14.

Other CBC action from Friday night saw Urbana rout Indian Lake in boys varsity basketball by a final score of 71-41. The Hillcllimbers got the better end of the JV game, too, defeating the Lakers 55-21.

Springfield Catholic rallied past host West Liberty-Salem 64-61 in overtime.

The Tigers squandered a five-point lead in the fourth quarter.

Andy Daulton scored 15 points and Jarred Merrick added 14.

Logan Link recorded 9 points and 8 rebounds, Sean King dropped in 9 points, and Ryan Ropp tallied 8 points and 7 rebounds.

WLS is 6-12 overall and 4-9 in the OHC. They will host Anna on Saturday.

The JV Tigers beat the Irish 37-24.

Travis Mayse scored 23.

Tecumseh outscored Kenton Ridge 66-62.

Graham blitzed Northwestern 71-50.

Tipp City handled Dayton Stebbins 79-52.

Triad beat Mechanicsburg 66-59.

Greeneview stifled Cedarville 52-34.

Southeastern steamrolled Northeastern 72-40.

Lima Temple Christian defeated Upper Scioto Valley 43-26. The Pioneers (6-1) earned a share of the NWCC crown with Lima Perry.

Columbus Horizon Science edged Marion Catholic 72-69.

Jackson Center beat Botkins 46-27.

Anna clinched its third straight SCL title by defeating Russia 61-54. The Rockets have gone 35-1 in league play the last three years.

Ft. Loramie handled Houston 56-34.

Kenton edged Wapakoneta 50-49.

Sidney defeated host Springboro 73-67.

Van Buren trounced Hardin Northern 73-49.

Bellefontaine’s Andrew Tassell (pictured) is enjoying a great season in snowboarding for Team Utah in Park City.

He competes in Slopestyle events (jumps and rails) in the Intermountain Region of USA Snowboard Association.

In the first two competitions of the season, Tassell has placed 3rd at The Canyons and 1st at Snowbasin Resort.

This past week he also took 1st in the “3rd Rail Jam” competition at Brighton Resort, Utah.

He is currently ranked 2nd in the Intermountain Region, which includes Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming.

The Indian Lake Lady Lakers traveled to Benjamin Logan Thursday night to attempt to clinch a tie with Graham for the CBC Mad River Division Title for the second year in a row.

The Lakers started the game out strong, outscoring the Raiders in the first quarter, 18-11, with Senior Sadie Oyer notching 8 points.

The Raiders fell further behind in the second quarter, 31-16.

After the half the Lady Lakers outscored the Raiders 30-16, with an end score of 61-32.

The back-to-back CBC division champs were led by Oyer with 20 points, 5 rebounds, and 7 blocks. Teammate Kindra Sheeley added 14 points.

The Lady Raiders were led by Jessica Yoder and Taylor Terrill who notched 9 points each.

Lakers Coach Mike Pequignot (pictured, right, cutting the net at Benjamin Logan’s gymnasium) said after the game that he was very proud of his team for winning the school’s first back-to-back titles (in girls or boys basketball).

Listen to Head Coach Pequignot talk about the Lakers CBC division title and the win against Ben Logan.

Indian Lake has won the CBC Mad River title three of the last four years.

Raiders Head Coach Donnie Sosby said that the Lady Raiders just need to focus on the little things that hurt their play during the game.

Listen to Coach Sosby discuss the game and his top players.

In JV action, Indian Lake edged Benjamin Logan 37-32.

Ashley Collins led the Lakers with 13.

Indian Lake’s JV team went 16-4.

For Benjamin Logan, Ciarra Wirick scored 15 points and Marissa Wilbur added 10.

The Raiders (6-13, 5-10) play in their last regular season game on Saturday against visiting Springfield Shawnee at 1:00 p.m.

Indian Lake (17-4, 12-4) plays Graham on Tuesday night in a Division II sectional semifinal matchup at Xenia High School at six p.m. on WPKO.

The Lakers and Falcons split during the regular season, with the visitor winning each time.

On December 19th, Indian Lake won 54-36.

On January 13th, Graham cruised to a 66-47 victory.

The Falcons can clinch a share of the CBC Mad River title by defeating Tecumseh on Saturday.

The Riverside Pirates varsity boys basketball fell to visiting Lima Perry Thursday night 77-51.

The Pirates downfall came in the first quarter when they were outscored 22-9.

Kyle Hurley scored 19 points and senior Kyle Baughman dropped in 16.

The Pirates fall to 5-2 in the NWCC.

The Commodores hit 9 three-pointers.

Jr. High finals:

The Benjamin Logan 7th grade boys fell in their last game of the season at Tipp City Thursday 43-22.

Tanner Rader led the Raiders with 16 points and Josh Hardman, Trent Kramer, and David Nease each contributed 2.

West Liberty-Salem’s 8th grade boys defeated Springfield Catholic Thursday night in their first round of tournament action, 37-34.

Leading the boys were David Branham with 17 points and Todd Pease with 12. The 8th grade travels to Mechanicsburg on Saturday for the second round of tournament play.

The West Liberty-Salem 7th grade boys defeated Mechanicsburg Thursday night 44-7 in their first round of tournament play.

The Tigers were led by Trent Thomas with 14 points.

Conner Woods added 8 points.

The 7th grade travels to Springfield Catholic on Saturday for their second round of tourney play.

The Indian Lake 7th grade boys team eliminated Mad River 41-27 in the CBC tournament.

Max Oyer scored 11 points, Jalon Tuttle dropped in 10, and Ivan Reichert added 8.

The Lakers (12-3) will play at Tipp City Saturday in the semifinals.

The West Liberty-Salem 8th grade girls team finished their season on Thursday night with a 35-26 loss at undefeated Greeneview.

April Kelley led the Tigers with 11 points, followed by Rachel Loffing with 7.

WLS went 11-5 this year.

The West Liberty-Salem 7th grade girls team fell to Mechanicsburg 25-15 in the second round of the OHC tournament.

Rachel Ritter had 5 points.

Kylee Hormann and Ashley Holleron each added four points.

The Tigers went 8-8 this season.

The Indians will play in the league championship game.

The Benjamin Logan 8th grade girls team lost to Urbana in the CBC tournament.

Alex Thompson led the Raiders with 7 points.

Benjamin Logan finishes their season at 9-7.

In Special Olympics basketball, the Logan County Braves outscored Montgomery County 53-31.

The Braves will play in the sectional tournament in Cincinnati on March 5th.

In game one of WPKO’s tournament double-header Wednesday night, Indian Lake’s girls varsity basketball team defeated Springfield Shawnee by a final score of 59-52 in the Division II girls sectional tournament game played at Xenia High School.

Indian Lake sprinted out to an early 22-13 lead before the Braves cut that lead down to four midway through the 2nd quarter.  After a timeout Indian Lake outscored the Braves 15-8 to lead 39-28 at halftime. 

The Braves were finished, trailing by 13 in the third quarter they mounted another comeback and cut their deficit to 3 at 42-39.  The Lakers used the early stages of the fourth quarter to put the game away as they pushed the lead back to 10 points and move on with a 59-52 win.

Sadie Oyer was the leading scorer for Indian Lake, netting a game-high 27 points. She was the State Farm Insurance Player of the Game.  She also netted double digit rebounds.  Christina Knief added 14 for the Lakers, 12 of her 14 points came via the three-point basket.

The Lakers will face Graham next Tuesday at 6:00 in the Sectional Semi-Final from Xenia.

Ron’s Pizza Scoreboard	1	2	3	4	F
Shawnee	13	15	11	13	52
Indian Lake	22	17	5	15	59

In game two of WPKO’s double-header Kenton Ridge dismissed Bellefontaine by a final score of 81-44.  The Cougars put things away early with a 15-3 first quarter run and never looked back.

Aaliyah Smith scored 12 points to lead the Chiefs.

Ron’s Pizza Scoreboard	1	2	3	4	F
Bellefontaine	9	11	9	15	44
Kenton Ridge	21	25	21	14	81

West Liberty-Salem’s varsity girls basketball team defeated host Springfield Catholic 58-40 Wednesday night to capture their sixth consecutive OHC title.

Becka Peterson led the Tigers with 19 points and 15 rebounds. Kayla Peterson added 11 and captain Christine Park tallied eight.

The Tigers led by seven at the end of the third quarter and outscored the Irish 20-9 in the fourth quarter to pull away with the win. The Tigers finish 14-6 overall and 12-2 in the OHC. Triad went 12-2 to earn a share of the conference title.  

Tournament action begins Monday at Tipp City High School when WLS meets the winner of Miami East and David Ponitz.

The Tigers won the JV game too, 36-13.

Kaycee Daniels led with 14 points and Kelsey Helms added 12. The JV Tigers finish with an 18-2 record.

The Riverside varsity girls basketball team edged Mechanicsburg 65-62.

The Pirates raced out to a 33-23 halftime lead.

Senior Amelia Carter had 23 points, 9 rebounds, and four blocks.

Erica Snapp tossed in 21 points.

The JV Pirates won 29-27. Ashley Jones had 11 points. 

As heard Wednesday night on WBLL in boys varsity basketball, Tecumseh won its eighth consecutive game, narrowly edging the visiting Chiefs, 56-53.

Tecumseh improves to 13-4 on the season and a league-leading 11-2 in conference play.

With the loss, the Chiefs drop to 11-7 overall and 8-6 in CBC play. Freshman Matt Gump led the Chiefs with 15 points. Que Carter and Zach Showalter each added eight in the loss.

The Ron’s Pizza Scoreboard:

	1	2	3	4	Final
Chiefs	16	9	11	17	53
Arrows	14	11	12	19	56

The Chiefs are in action again Friday night when they play host to Springfield Shawnee on WBLL.

Jr. High finals:

A. J. Gorham sparked a dramatic fourth quarter comeback as the Bellefontaine boys eighth grade basketball team defeated Graham in CBC quarterfinal action by a final score of 40-36.

Bellefontaine outscored Graham 21-8 in the fourth quarter. Cam Henry had 14 points, John Kirby added nine, and Jarrod Houchin scored eight. 

The Chiefs are in action again on Saturday.

The Bellefontaine’s seventh grade boys basketball team advanced to the semifinal round of the CBC tournament with a 60-40 victory over Tecumseh Wednesday afternoon. 

The victory improves Bellefontaine’s overall record to 13-2. Leading the scoring for the Chiefs was Tristin Tillman with 14 points. Matt Entsminger added 11.

The Chiefs continue tournament Saturday morning—teams and times TBA.

The Bellefontaine Middle School wrestling team had five placers at the CBC league meet earlier this week.

Drake Roebuck and Chantz Rose each finished second, Joe Rindfleisch came in third, Eric Escamilla was fourth, and Andrew Skidmore was sixth.

Head coach Mike Bible said he was proud of the entire team.

The Indian Lake Middle School Wrestling Team won the CBC title, completing the season with an undefeated record of 73-0.

In the CBC tournament, it was a total team effort to finish 1st ahead of Northridge and Graham.

Placers for Indian Lake were:

1st
98 Reyse Wallbrown (32-0)
128 L.J. Henderson (31-0)

2nd
86 Quenten Staley (25-4)
92 Sean Warniment (21-10)
134 Steven Schetter (30-2)
142 Ben Wahl (30-3)
160 Shane Asman (24-7)

3rd
80 Tyrone Nadeau (29-4)
104 Heath Lange (31-2)
150 Phillip Golden (25-7)
172 Billy Walter (26-5)
205 Eli White (21-9)

4th
110 Bobby Dye (26-5)

5th
122 Christian Kindle (29-4)

The last time the Lakers won the CBC was in 2006 when they beat Graham by 2.5 points.

Team points were:
1st 246 Indian Lake
2nd 241.5 Northridge
3rd 236 Graham
4th 139 Tipp City
5th 100 Benjamin Logan
6th 93 Northwestern
7th 90 Springfield Shawnee
8th 79 Tecumseh
9th 75 Indian Valley
10th 70 Bellefontaine
11th 32 Urbana

The West Liberty-Salem Athletics Hall of Fame welcomes some new members after its induction ceremony this weekend.

The HOF welcomed two athletes, one coach and one team to the mix.

Jill Oelker graduated from West Liberty in 1978 and won 10 varsity letters in her athletic career there. In basketball, she lettered all four years with all league honors her sophomore, junior, and senior years. Her senior year she was co-captain and named MVP all league and the WCOC player of the year, averaging 20 points and 12 rebounds per game. In volleyball, she lettered her sophomore, junior and senior years as well, receiving all league honors two of the three years. She ran track for three years, competing in long jump and high jump and played golf for one.

George “Butch” Lowe earned 14 varsity letters at WL-S In football, he was a four year starter on offense and defense. His junior and senior year he was named first team all league in the WCOC, and first team all South-West District. His senior year he was WCOC player of the year, First Team All-WCOC as a running back and linebacker, UPI Division III State of Ohio Defensive lineman of the year and name the UPI first team All-Ohio Linebacker. He was the first to be awarded a Division I college scholarship at WL-S. In basketball, he was first team all WCOC league his junior and senior year and First team All-South West District his senior year. He also earned four varsity letters in baseball and two in track.

John Day was a golf coach for 40 years at WL-S. He had more than 902 wins, 14 league championships, 8 teams qualified to District with 3 District Championships and 2 state runner-up teams. He coached WL-S’s first team to win a South West District title. His athletes had 43 all league first team spots. In his last 5 years as a coach, he was the longest active golf coach in the state and recognized by the OHSAA. Day also coached basketball, with 467 games with, 7th, 8th, 9th grades and JV and Varsity girls.

1976 Cross Country Team-Seniors Gary Phelps and Duane Yoder, Juniors Butch Sower and Bruce Hooley, Sophomores Brad Brandt and Jeff Parker, Freshman Earl Zilles, Coach Ken Lehman.
1976 Ohio Class A State Champions, South West Regional Champions, Sectional/District Champions; Meet record 17-0, Team record 156-0. Captains Gary Phelps and Duane Yoder earned first team all Ohio honors. The team was the first team to win a state championship since WL-S consolidation and initiated a first of four year consecutive state titles under Coach Ken Lehman.

During the induction, attendees were treated to dinner, as well as Guest Speaker, Lewis VanHoose, Head Equipment Manager for the Ohio State Football team.

The boys basketball tournament draw for the Southwest District was held this weekend.

In Division II, Bellefontaine earned the Number 5 seed at the Springfield sectional. The Chieftains (11-6) will play Northwestern (2-14) on Friday, February 26 at 7:00.

The winner will play Shawnee on Monday, March 1 at 7:00.

Benjamin Logan (2-15) will face off against Number 2 seed Tippecanoe (12-4) on Saturday, February 27 at 5:00.

Indian Lake (5-12) will play Number 7 seed Eaton (11-5) on Saturday, February 27 at 7:00.

The winner of the Benjamin Logan-Tippecanoe will play the winner of Indian Lake-Eaton at 8:30 on Tuesday, March 2.

You can see the complete Division II bracket at http://www.swdab.org/Boys%20Basketball/bbb_springfield_div__ii.htm

In Division III, Number 18 seed West Liberty-Salem (6-11) will play Number 3 seed Bethel (13-4) on Friday, February 26 at 6:30 at Wright State University.

A full version of the Division III bracket can be viewed at http://www.swdab.org/Boys%20Basketball/bbb_ud_i_div__iii.htm

In Division IV, Number 12 Riverside (7-10) will play Number 1 ranked Ft. Loramie (11-6) on Friday, February 26 at 7:30. The winner will play Number 13 Botkins (2-14) on Tuesday, March 2 at 7:30.

The Division IV bracket can be seen at http://www.swdab.org/Boys%20Basketball/bbb_piqua_div__iv.htm

Bellefontaine High School’s swimmers competed at a two day meet at Trotwood Madison High School for the boys and girls Division II meet. The boys finished 6th out of 15 and the girls finished in 14th out of 33.

Several of the swimmers qualified for this weekend’s district meet.

Teams qualifying include:
200 Medley Relay Boys: Matt Spatz, Dylan Notestine, Christian Garlock, Chris Walker
200 Medley Relay Girls: Caitlin Tassell, Kenzie Bible, Michelle Goble, Sarah Bechtel
200 Free Relay Boys: Dylan Notestine, Christian Garlock, Josh Haisley, Chris Walker
400 Free Relay Girls: Caitlin Tassell, Kenzie Bible, Michelle Goble, Sarah Bechtel
400 Free Relay Boys: Josh Haisley, Alek Geho, Evan Snapp, Matt Spatz

Individual qualifiers are: Christian Garlock: 50 free and 100 free; Dylan Notestine: 100 butterfly and 100 breastroke; Michelle Goble: 200 free and 500 free; Caitlin Tassell: 100 backstroke.

The boys 400 free will also serve as an alternate.

Christian Garlock set a new meet record in the 50 free and broke his own record from last year in the 100 free. Michelle Goble is the only BHS swimmer to qualify 2 events for all 4 years.

Two youth soccer teams were in action this weekend. The U13 LCS Elite traveled to Soccer First in Dublin Saturday to take on last year’s State Cup Champs, the OP Eagles U12 team.

The Eagles jumped out to a 7-1 halftime lead. The LCS players kicked it in high gear after the break, holding their opponent to just one goal in the second half. The team came up short in their first defeat, 8-7.

Local athletes scoring for LCS Elite were Indian Lake’s Connor Davis with 3 goals and Dylan cline with 2.

On Saturday the 9 and under Boys Indoor Soccer team from Bellefontaine took on the Hilliard Scorpions. Bellefontaine made quick work of the Scorpions, winning big, 16-1.

Top scorers for Bellefontaine were Nate Hecker with 5 goals, and Derrek Robb and Duante George each contributed 4.

Keepers Hecker and Tate Schmithauer combined for 4 saves in the game.

Graham dominated once again at the CBC wrestling tournament in Tipp City Saturday, as the Falcons won the meet with 409.5 points, posting 11 champions out of 14 weight classes. The Falcons also placed in the three weight classes they didn’t win with 2nd, 3rd, and 5th place finishes.

Northwestern was 2nd with 179.5 points, Ben Logan 3rd with 160.5 points. Indian Lake finished 5th (119 points), Bellefontaine 9th (101), and Urbana 11th (75) in the 12 team tournament.

The Bellefontaine Chieftains brought home 6 place winners.

Stealing the show was Sophomore Johnny Maurice (112). Maurice raised his record to 29-2 by pinning Conner Cassidy of the nationally-ranked #1 Graham Falcons to bring home his first CBC title. Maurice was also recognized by the Kenton Trail Division as the Most Valuable Wrestler for 2010.

Other Chieftains placing:

4th place: Thoryn Jackson (Fr.-103) and Greg Huffman (Sr.-152).

5th place: Taylor Cayot (So.-171) and Cheyenne Coyer(Jr.-215).

6th place: Michael Prater (Jr.-135)

The Chieftains will start their postseason quest next Friday at the Sectional Tournament in Tipp City.

Raider Skylar Wohlgamuth (152) joined Maurice as one of the three non-Falcon champions. Skylar raised his season record to 33-1.

Other Raiders placing:

2nd place: Zach Creamer (119), Luke Smith (135), and Payton Rose (215). Rose is 31-4 this year.

4th place: Bryan Newland (125) and Colt Blair (140).

6th place: Joey DiLoreto (130).

Indian Lake brought home a pair of seconds among their six place finishers.

2nd place: Brandon McAdams (130) and Kevin Christman (160). Christman is now 31-3 this season.

3rd place: Blake Hopkins (103) and Chris Schulz (125).

6th place: Kerstin Harmon (119).

In the Ohio Heritage Conference Tournament, Mechanicsburg repeated as champions, scoring 397 points to outdistance Northeastern by 66 points. West Liberty-Salem finished 5th with 119 points.

For the Tigers, Britt Wooten (119) and Corey Thompson (171) emerged with conference titles.

Other Tigers placing:

2nd place: Aaron Goings (160)

5th place: Tim Jenkins (189)

The Indian Lake Lady Lakers improved to 15-4 overall and 11-4 in the CBC with a 47-31 win over Urbana.

Sadie Oyer led the Lakers with 14 points. Kindra Sheeley added 9 points.

The JV Lakers also ran their record to 15-4, beating Urbana 51-44. Claire Maier scored 11 points.

The Lakers face off at Benjamin Logan Monday.

Riverside romped over Hardin Northern 50-32.

Brooklynn Purtee and Amelia Carter each scored 15 points for the Lady Pirates.

Hardin Northern won the JV game 32-23. Christine Longbrake scored 7 points for the Pirates.

Benjamin Logan fell to Greenon 75-45 to drop to 6-12 (5-6).

Samantha Terrill led the Lady Raiders with 15 points. Jessica Yoder also reached double-digits with 10 points.

Jackson Center lost at Versailles 44-41. Taylor Cummons scored 15 points for the Lady Tigers.

8th Grade

The Bellefontaine Lady Chiefs advance after defeating Graham 22-21 in their second roundtournament game Saturday afternoon.

Jazymn and Kameren Haley each scored 7 points to lead the Chieftains.

7th Grade

The Bellefontaine Lady Chiefs were eliminated from tournament play, losing to Tipp City 41-24.

Top scorers for the Chiefs were McKenzie Brunswick with 10 points and Brenda Johnson with 9 points.

As featured on 1390 WBLL, the Bellefontaine varsity boys basketball team defeated visiting Marysville 52-40 Saturday afternoon.

The game was cancelled last Tuesday because of a large snowstorm.

The Chiefs overcame a slow start to defeat the Division I Monarchs.

Marysville opened the game with a 5-0 advantage and led 8-5 after one quarter.

BHS outscored Marysville 11-6 in the second quarter to take a 16-14 lead into the half.

The Chiefs then took control with a dominant third quarter.

Bellefontaine tightened its half court man-to-man defense and opened the quarter with a 13-0 run.

Marysville head coach Kenny Chaffin was forced to use two timeouts during the game’s most important spurt.

The Monarchs full court press caused a few turnovers in the fourth quarter, but Marysville never cut the lead to single digits.

Here’s the Ron’s Pizza Scoreboard:

	1	2	3	4	Final
Marysville	8	6	6	20	40
Bellefontaine	5	11	19	17	52

Bellefontaine swingman Que Carter scored a game-high 19 points. He was named the State Farm Insurance Player of the Game.

Junior Michael Bean contributed 13 points off the bench, including an emphatic two-handed dunk in the fourth quarter.

Nate Dodds added 8.

Bellefontaine improves to 11-6 overall and 8-5 in the CBC. The Chiefs have gone 6-1 since losing at Dayton Stebbins four weeks ago. BHS will visit league-leader Tecumseh Tuesday night on WBLL.

Listen to BHS head coach Henry Stolly recap the game with Nate Smith.

For Marysville, senior Mike Romesburg and junior Kyle Nelson each dropped in 10 points.

The Monarchs won the JV contest 39-34 in overtime.