February 19, 2004

 

SPORTS

‘Dogs top Broncos to take MBC lead

Senior guard Rory Hotaling driving past a Jefferson Bronco defender during the second half of the Bulldogs’ win last Friday during Senior Night. With the victory, YSHS took a one-game lead over the Broncos in the Metro Buckeye Conference.

Though the YSHS boys basketball team hadn’t officially won its second consecutive Metro Buckeye Conference title, the Bulldogs celebrated their convincing home victory over the Jefferson Broncos, 64–53, last Friday during Senior Night, by cutting down one of the gym’s nets.

With the win, the Bulldogs (14–3 overall and 9–1 in the MBC) took control of the conference and moved one game ahead of the Broncos (13–6 overall and 9–2 in the MBC, according to the Dayton Daily News). The Bulldogs have one conference game remaining, against Miami Valley tonight (Thursday), at home. The game was switched from tomorrow at Miami Valley. The Bulldogs played Xenia Christian Tuesday.

It was all about inside play on Friday night for the Bulldogs, who let Jefferson lead just twice, by 2 points both times, before taking a decisive lead in the fourth quarter.

Jefferson scored the game’s first 2 points before the Bulldogs’ defense locked out the Bronco charge early in the first quarter. Rory Hotaling and Anthony Brandon took turns stealing the ball and passing to Jordan Skinner and Dustin Rudegeair for sneak attacks from below, as the Bulldogs took a 16–8 lead after the first quarter.

David Boyer gave the Bulldogs fresh momentum in the second quarter, but the Broncos closed the gap to 26–23 at the half.

When Jefferson shored up its defense in the third quarter, the Bulldogs got more aggressive. With the Bulldogs trailing by 2, Cody Johnson hit a big 3-pointer as the ’Dogs regained the lead.

The game’s intensity grew as the teams entered the fourth quarter tied at 36.

Brandon converted a steal into an easy layup to give the ’Dogs a decisive 52–46 lead. With the home team fired up and a full house of Yellow Springs fans raging from the stands, Jefferson turned frustration into fouls, getting called for two intentional fouls during the final eight minutes. The calls helped the Bulldogs build their lead to an irrecoverable 13-point lag before the end of the game.

Partly because of the hard loss the team took against Jefferson last month — when the Broncos won at the buzzer in double overtime — and because a win Friday would move the Bulldogs closer to winning another conference championship, YSHS was determined not to give up last year’s conference title.

The win brought tears to Rudegeair’s eyes, he said, and Brandon, who scored 14, thought it was a good “way to go out with a bang.” Rudegeair also scored 14 points.

Skinner, who led the Bulldogs with 20 points, attributed the win to confidence and the team’s mantra, “hard work.”

“We had full-time intensity on defense, and we knew we could beat them,” he said after the game.

Friday’s win moved to 20 the Bulldogs’ home winning streak, the longest in YSHS history.

Coach Brad Newsome attributed the Bulldogs’ success to good team chemistry and to the players’ ability to make adjustments mid-game.

“I was overall really proud of every single player on the team,” he said.

The Bulldogs warmed up for the Jefferson game by beating another MBC team, Middletown Christian, 99–59 on Feb. 3.

The Bulldogs jumped out to a 21–17 first quarter lead and increased it to 43–28 at the half. The ’Dogs put the game away in the third quarter by scoring 30 points.

Brandon, who has stepped up in the last five games by averaging 15 points a game, scored 18 last Tuesday. Rudegeair had 31 points and 17 rebounds, both career highs. Brad Benning-Clark had a varsity high of 10 points and 8 rebounds, and Boyer had 8 points and 4 rebounds.

The Bulldogs, seeded third in the Dayton sectional in Division IV, open up postseason play against Springfield Catholic-Central on Saturday, Feb. 21, 5:30 p.m., at the University of Dayton. If they win, the ’Dogs will play the winner of the Ridgeville Christian/Bethel game on Friday, Feb. 27, at 6:30 p.m., at UD.

The Bulldogs lost to Cedarville in double overtime in the sectional finals last year, and Newsome is confident that the team will do well again this year. They work well together, they make smart adjustments, and they won’t settle for mediocre passes, he said.

“I probably trust this team more than any other team,” Newsome said. “These guys take care of the ball and their chemistry together is good.”

Lady ’Dogs beat Middletown

The YSHS girls basketball team approached the end of the season with an easy 61–40 win over Middletown Christian last Thursday.

The Lady Bulldogs are 13–5 overall and 9–3 in the Metro Buckeye Conference.

Even though the Lady ’Dogs were slow to finish Thursday, they had no trouble keeping ahead of their opponents, who had no scorers in the double digits. The Lady Bulldogs’ defense was tight, the stealing was rampant and the opportunities to score were numerous.

The halftime score, 31–18, told the story, and even with a wide lead, the Lady ’Dogs still scored 19 points in the fourth quarter.

Evin Wimberly and Megan Burrick led the team with 17 and 16 points, respectively, while Tricia McLinden had 12. Wimberly also had 7 assists and 7 steals.

Carly Bailey grabbed 10 rebounds while Sarah Finn had 8 and Alisha Walker 7.

The girls play two makeup games this week (on Tuesday and Thursday) to finish the regular season before heading to the Division IV Saturday, Feb. 21, against Miami Valley. The Lady Bulldogs are 5–0 in the last two years against Miami Valley.

If the Lady Bulldogs win, they play the winner of Mississinawa Valley–Covington. Covington, the top seed in the Tipp City sectional, narrowly beat YSHS last year in the second round of the tournament.

But coach Shirley Cummins is focused on besting Covington this year and getting through the first five games to regionals, she said. “Every single person has improved both physically and mentally, and we’re just working on finishing and fine tuning things now,” she said.

This is the first winning season YSHS girls basketball has had since the ’90s. Cummins said that the team is making people see that girls basketball can be exciting. The Lady Bulldogs are forging new ground for the program and drawing people to games, she said.

Girls swim team scores in tourney
The YSHS girls and boys swimming teams finished their seasons at the sectional meet held at Wittenberg University last weekend.

The competition was fierce and, although no Yellow Springs swimmers advanced to the district meet, many of them notched season-best and personal-best times.

In the boys competition on Friday, the 200 medley relay (Jacob Wishart, Aaron Zagory, Will McCuddy and Michael Hosket) placed eighth out of 16 teams in 2:00.75, over three seconds faster than their previous best time. The same boys placed seventh in the 400 freestyle relay in 3:55.24, another three-second drop.

In individual competition, Carey Dixon had a great night, swimming best times in both the 50 freestyle and the 100 free. Brandon Carver-Halley also had best times in the 50 free and the 100 breaststroke.

McCuddy placed 10th in the 200 free, and then dropped 23 seconds in the 500 free to place ninth. Wishart also performed well in the distance freestyle events, dropping five seconds in the 200 freestyle to place 12th, then shaving off 22 seconds in the 500 freestyle to place eighth.

McCuddy and Wishart both “vastly exceeded expectations” in their events, coach Dave Wishart said.

Hosket placed 13th in the 50 freestyle and eighth in the 100 freestyle. Zagory finished 12th in the 100 freestyle and swam a personal best time in the 100 breaststroke to place 15th.

In the girls competition on Saturday, the 200 medley relay team (Michaela McCuddy, Eve GunderKline, Monica Erickson and Tina Chen) put in a solid swim to get their meet going. Erickson, Olivia Dixon, Chen and GunderKline swam four strong legs in the 400 free relay to match the team’s best time of the season. Erickson had her third best of the day, swimming her leg in 1:08.79, and helping the team finish in seventh place.

Erickson ended her four-year career by dropping three seconds in the 200 free to place 19th, out of 48, and three seconds in the 100 fly to place 15th.

Freshman Dixon swam her best time in the 50 freestyle and McCuddy dropped six seconds in the 100 backstroke. Sophomores Chen and GunderKline had strong swims in the 100 freestyle and the 100 breaststroke.

This is the first time in three seasons that the Yellow Springs girls have scored at the sectional meet.

The young teams pulled out a fine season and are showing promise for next year, Wishart said. “If everyone stays with it and works hard, we should be able to return to the district meet at Miami University next season,” he said. He said that he and coach Mickey Bullock were “amazed at how fast the athletes in our sectional swam this year. The sport gets more competitive every year.”

Bulldog sports calendar

Girls Basketball
Thursday, February 19
YSHS at Troy Christian,
 6 p.m.
Saturday, February 21
YSHS vs. Miami Valley, at Tippecanoe HS, 3:30 p.m.

Boys Basketball
Thursday, February 19
YSHS vs. Miami Valley, 6 p.m.
Saturday, February 21
YSHS vs. Springfield Catholic-Central, at University of Dayton,
5:30 p.m.