TVC-Ohio Scores and Standings

[mattash]

Thoughts?

[sball32]

This one, honestly, will be a toss up.

[NYBuckeye96]

Good Luck Lady Buckeyes!!!!

[Dundas]

Good luck to the Lady VIKES!!!!

[Willy Cheatem]

Cant wait to get back to reffing in the TVC. Them home coaches really like me, brother Dewey, and our uncle Farmer Yoder. They always tell us we do a really good job on the home courts.

[93Bulldog]

With all the losses at Alexander and Kim Kline graduating from NY, you would have to look at Athens as the favorite believe or not ... They return almost their entire roster from last year - and if Elena Lein steps up as much as she did in volleyball - the Bulldogs will be tough to beat ... Lein is probably the tallest player in the league and she's pretty cordinated for her size and age ... Both Willis sister are athletic and can shoot, the two freshmen from last year Stacie Staten and Eliza Christensen will most likely determine how far Athens can go though because of their ball handling ability. (which Athens severly lacked last season)

Raven Cline might be their best overall player ... the 5'9 forward has three-point range, can rebound and plays pretty good defense.

Jaime Sindelar should help keep Ellena out of foul trouble by providing Athens with another post presence opposite of Lein ... She's 5'8, but plays much bigger and plays about as tough and physical as any girl I've seen in person the last two years ... Jesse Drayer (Waterford) and Emily Dunfee (Fed Hock) being the other two.

5'7 Whitney Dickens logged quite a few minutes last year and 5'9 Richelle Hecker gives Athens another tall player to substitute for Lein and Sindelar.

Not sure if Coach Wayne Horsley has other younger players moving up from a JV team that lost maybe two games all year last season - but with 9 players returning, plus Lein, there really isn't any room left for other players to actualy move up.

[Keyser_sozeThrice]

Don't forget about Vinton County.

Everyone returns from last year's team which went 7-14 but had several games go down to the last minute.

Tori Dixon has to be the odds-on favorite I would think for TVC-Ohio MVP.

[bagoftea79]

wb alex ???

[Pol pot]

Alexander and Vinton will battle this one out.

[93Bulldog]

Don't sleep on Athens now - there a senior laden team and have a 6'0 center who can play. They will be good, but VC I have been told is the front runner in the Ohio this year. Also, what about Meigs? There usually a solid bunch.

[Keyser_sozeThrice]

Season preview on VC girls team

Enjoy




Seniors look to lead Lady Vikings

By PAUL BOGGS

Sports Editor

McARTHUR — Let’s see how a senior-laden Lady Vikings squad does.

After a transition season in which it graduated no seniors, and sported all underclassmen, the Vinton County High School girl basketball team seeks to switch some numbers.

Those being reversing a 7-14 to a 14-7…or better.

Having some senior leadership will certainly help, as five four-year seniors seek to steer the Vikings’ ship back to the top of the Tri-Valley Conference Ohio Division.

“It is different this year,” said second-year VCHS head coach Courtney Hale. “Last year, the juniors had to be the leaders. The fact that they are seniors this year, that takes on a different feel for them. They are embracing that leadership role even more so this year.”

For it wasn’t too long ago, two years in fact, in which the Vikings reigned supreme as TVC-Ohio champions and three years ago when Vinton County captured Division II district runner-up.

Those two teams featured only three and one senior respectively.

Last season was one of transition — with no seniors on the squad, limited returning varsity experience, and an adjustment to a couple of key players which transferred to other schools.

Vinton County slipped from 17-4 to 7-14, but could have easily reversed that latter record had some games gone its way in the final minutes.

“It was definitely a transition last year for us,” said Hale. “We didn’t have any seniors last year, and we had only two returning starters (Tori Dixon and Chelsey Taborn) and Allison Graves with a little bit of varsity level experience. We were 7-14, but could have easily been 14-7. We had several games where we were right there within the last minute, but just weren’t able to close it out. Two games we lost literally in the last five seconds of the game. Getting that experience, though, will definitely be an asset going into this season.”

Varsity experience, and senior leadership, are not issues of improvement this year.

All five starters and seven total letterwinners return, including a pair of four-year starting guards — Tori Dixon and Chelsey Taborn.

Both are five-foot-five inches tall.

The other two returning starters are two-year starters and seniors Allison Graves and Brittany Stewart.

The five-foot-eight inch Graves returns at forward, as Stewart serves as the Vikings’ shutdown defender.

The fifth senior — Adrienne Saylor — joins Dixon and Taborn as the third starting 5-5 guard.

The five starting seniors gained invaluable experience, Hale explained.

“Those five all started as juniors last season, and matured and grew as the season went along,” said the coach. “Some of the experiences we had, especially some end-of-the-game situations, hopefully we learned from those and can convert those into wins this year.”

Leading the way is the four-time all-TVC-Ohio and four-time all-Southeast District selection Dixon.

Dixon has averaged double figures in points per game in each of her first three campaigns, including 15 as a sophomore and 17 as a junior.

The past two seasons, she was a first-team honoree on the Division II District 13 Coaches Association and Division II Associated Press all-district clubs.

Dixon dials in for three-point shots and, despite often facing gimmick and difficult defenses, holds several single-game and single-season school shooting records.

With the graduation of TVC-Ohio MVP Kim Kline, the former Nelsonville-York star, Dixon is mentioned as a frontrunner for division Player of the Year this year.

“Everyone realizes what a phenomenal shooter Tori is,” said Hale. “Her shooting is something we have all become accustomed to. I think everybody that knows Tori enjoys watching her shoot. I’ve said this for four years now, but she is one of the best pure shooters that I’ve seen around here. She has a good work ethic, and that definitely helps out. She’s kind of getting in the zone now, getting in her extra shooting, and I think she’s ready to roll and lead the way.”

But what is often overlooked, and under-valued according to Hale, is Dixon’s ability as a passer.

“Tori’s court sense and how well she passes the ball is overlooked sometimes,” said Hale. “To me, what has stood out in the preseason, even more than her shooting is how well she has passed the ball. That’s going to help the other girls, getting them the ball in the right spots to be successful.”

Those other girls include backcourt mates Taborn, Saylor and Stewart and the inside presence Graves.

Graves garnered TVC-Ohio MVP and first-team all-district honors in volleyball, and Stewart and Saylor stood out in track and field and cross country respectively.

“We are fortunate to have some pretty athletic players,” said Hale. “Allison is one of them, Brittany is quick and jumps well and she plays so hard, and Adrienne has an amazing amount of post moves and is a good outside shooter.”

Hale has high expectations this season of Stewart, whom the coach said “matured a lot last season and really learned ball control.”

“When Brittany makes a fantastic steal, she still needs to slow herself down and control the situation when she needs to,” said Hale. “She needs to turn her defense into points for us offensively.”

Taborn has started alongside Dixon for three years.

“I can’t say enough about Chelsey,” said Hale. “Even when she was a freshman and sophomore, I told Chelsey that when she captains our ship, good things happen for us. When she is in that zone, and takes that leadership role, we’re definitely much more efficient offensively. She’s always attacked the rim well, but she continues to attack and finish, she plays aggressively and she is shooting well from the perimeter.”

Hale said Saylor “may have the option to use her a little more on the perimeter where she is accustomed to.”

“That may give her some more opportunities to spot up and shoot,” said Hale of Saylor. “She is a pretty good three-point shooter, but she didn’t always get an opportunity to show that last year. She is a really smart player too.”

Graves joined Dixon on last year’s all-TVC-Ohio squad, and also earned Honorable Mention all-district (Division II District 13 Coaches Association and Associated Press).

“We definitely need Allison to look to shoot and to rebound,” said Hale of Graves. “She plays real aggressive defensively and has a great leaping ability. She keeps the ball alive and gets rebounds for us. We don’t have a lot of size. So just using our height that we do have, her jumping is going to help us out there.”

Graves is joined on the interior by the Vikings’ tallest player, Caitlyn Owings — the sole center on the squad and also lone freshman.

Owings is two inches shy of six-feet tall.

Hale said Owings “offers us some things that we weren’t able to do last year.”

“We’re quite excited about Caitlyn,” said Hale. “She is very athletic like Allison and Brittany. She has a good amount of post moves, she handles the ball pretty well, she is quite a leaper, and she can also shoot from the outside. She helps us defend against teams with six-foot players. She gives us some other options this year that we didn’t have last year, simply because we didn’t have someone with her height. She played a lot of varsity volleyball this fall, and was fantastic for us. To get that varsity-level experience as a freshman, that helps her maturity-wise coming into basketball season.”

Junior Sara Kingsbury comes up from the reserve squad, and adds depth along with fellow juniors Chrissie Rice and Donyel Castor.

Sophomore Briana Thompson tallied minutes late in the season, as did fellow 10th-grader Kelsey Griffith.

Griffith gained time as a backup ballhandler, and Thompson takes on the role of full-time varsity this year.

“I think our depth is better, and allows us to weather some of those storms such as foul trouble,” said Hale.

Two other sophomores, Keshia Griffith and Kim Kazee, come back to round out the Lady Viking roster.

Most of the juniors and sophomores split time last season, and will again this year, on the reserve team.

Hale said her guard-oriented Vikings, given limited height, “want to get the ball out and go with it.”

“By being undersized in a lot of games, we have to continue to work on boxing out and getting the rebounds so we can do what we want to do,” she said.

The Vikings finished fourth in the TVC-Ohio at 5-7, with Wellston and Belpre being victims of VCHS sweeps and a split against Meigs.

Hale hopes her team’s experience aids it into challenging for its second TVC-Ohio championship in three seasons, and the third in the past seven.

“I like our chances this year (in the league),” said Hale. “I think we can match up better. We’re going to try to knock off everybody we can, and I think we’re capable of doing so. Experience, additional depth and having some other options player-wise will help us out.”

The non-league schedule is even more difficult, starting Saturday night in the Paint Valley Tipoff Classic against the reigning Division II regional representative Greenfield McClain.

Tip time is set for 8:15 p.m. at Paint Valley High School.

After the McClain matchup, the Vikings venture the following Saturday (Dec. 5) to the Division II district runner-up Unioto, which went undefeated through 23 games before falling to McClain in the district championship.

The Lady Vikings also play Paint Valley, Coal Grove, Zane Trace, Trimble and Jackson in a five-game non-league stretch spanning from Dec. 21 through Jan. 6.

Indeed, it’s a difficult schedule.

But, let’s just see what a senior-laden Lady Vikings squad can do.

sports@timesjournal.com

[93Bulldog]

I'm not sure if they weren't really trying or what at the preview Keyser - but Eastern really put it to the Vikes, if Dixon doesn't drain a couple of three's, the Eagles would have won by 12, 13 or so. Either Eastern is really that good (which they are pretty good and have a couple of great players) or Vinton just wasn't wanting to show anything.

[Keyser_sozeThrice]

93Bulldog.....Could be the case with the preview

[a_c_m]

Does anyone have Wellston's schedule? Thanks!

[bobcatfan4728]

I heard rumor that wellston's coach is being asked to step down some people are not happy with him.

[Keyser_sozeThrice]

a c m.......Here is the Wellston girls schedule. The start times are all varsity times. JVs go at 6 on weeknights.



Dec. 01 Rock Hill Home 7:30 p.m.
Dec. 03 Jackson Home 7:30 p.m.
Dec. 05 Coal Grove Away 2:30 p.m.
Dec. 07 Athens Home 7:30 p.m.
Dec. 10 Alexander Away 7:30 p.m.
Dec. 14 Meigs Home 7:30 p.m.
Dec. 21 Federal Hocking Home 7:30 p.m.
Dec. 28 Miller Away 7;30 p.m.
Jan. 04 . . Glenwood New Boston Home 7:30 p.m.
Jan. 07 Nelsonville-York Away 7:30 p.m.
Jan. 11 Vinton County Home 7:30 p.m.
Jan. 14 Belpre Away 7:30 p.m.
Jan. 21 Athens Away 7:30 p.m.
Jan. 25 Alexander Home 7:30 p.m.
Jan. 28 Meigs Away 7:30 p.m.
Feb. 01 Southeastern Away 6:30 p.m.
Feb. 04 Nelsonville-York Home 7:30 p.m.
Feb. 06 Fairland Away 7:30 p.m.
Feb. 08 Vinton County Away 7:30 p.m.
Feb. 11 Belpre Home 7:30 p.m.

[Coach363]

Thats what the rumor is....health reasons....

[JHS4EVER]

Health reasons?????

[racenut70]

When did this happen? What is wrong w/ him? Who will be the new coach?

[bobcatfan4728]

Thats what the rumor is....health reasons....

I heard it was attuide and way he was running (or more to point not running) the team never heard anything about heath issues. I seen him on sidelines at the last Ohio bobcats football game looked same as he always does he was too far away to talk with him. I always liked him hopeing what i'm hearing is wrong