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Ladies basketball program reflects on stellar campaign

by Steve Batko

Correspondent

It was a season of many firsts and some new school records for the talented Twinsburg girls basketball program.

While many more honors should come towards the Lady Tigers in the future, a trio of seniors need to be remembered for a storybook winter.

Garnering a first-ever top seed in the Solon Division I Sectional-District Tournament, the Lady Tigers used eight juniors, three freshmen and one sophomore under first-year head coach Mike Kelley.

Twinsburg's probable school records include:

* A 20-2 season

* A 19-win regular season

* A perfect 10-0 league championship in the Northeast Ohio Conference Lake Division

* The Lady Tigers averaged 69.5 points per game

* Allowed 27.0 points per game

* 3-pointers in a game (10)

* Free-throw percentage in a game (94 percent, 16-of-17)

Senior leadership was a big key for the athletic, up-tempo Lady Tigers. The seniors include 5-foot-10 forward Chanel Simpson, 5-5 guard Kelly Evans and 5-10 forward Kaleigh Stanley.

"It's a small senior class, but these young women are the building block of the Twinsburg program," said Kelley, whose squad had a team grade-point average of 3.7 and also made an impact in the community. "They were great leaders. These girls will set the tone for the next five or 10 years here."

Simpson was a three-year veteran for Twinsburg. The team's tallest player, Simpson averaged 11.1 points, a team-best 9.5 rebounds per game, plus 2.1 steals and 1.8 assists. Simpson earned All-NEOC first team league honors and was an honorable-mention all-district pick.

Evans, a guard, hit for 6.9 points to go with 3.5 boards, 2.4 assists, and 2.2 thefts. She made honorable-mention all-conference as she hit for 10.0 points per game in the postseason.

An undersized post player, Stanley averaged 2.5 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.2 steals. In the postseason, Stanley averaged 4.5 points.

"We are obviously excited about the future as we have a lot of experience coming back, plus a lot of athletes and size coming up through the program," said Kelley, who was named the NEOC Coach of the Year.

Included in the returning mix are the NEOC Player of the Year in junior Katie Whittington and a pair of girls who made honorable mention All-Ohio -- Whittington and junior Lauren Macer.

Whittington led the team in transition and took care of the ball with precise team balance as a former scoring guard.

On the year, Whittington (5-foot-4) led the NEOC with a 8.3 assists per contest, which also is a school record. She added 9.6 points, 3.1 rebounds and 3.2 steals. Whittington made second-team all-district.

Macer also earned honorable-mention All-Ohio, second-team All-District and first-team all-league. The 5-6 guard could play all three perimeter positions and led the league with 5.9 steals per game, which also is believed to be a school mark.

The speedy Macer also led the team in scoring (12.5), plus added 5.0 caroms and 3.2 assists.

Kelley was thrilled to have a school record four first-team all-conference players as 5-9 junior forward/guard Rachel Peelman was honored.

A true off-guard, Peelman had to see more action in the paint because of her size. She scored 7.6 points a game, 3.7 rebounds, 3.8 thefts, and 2.4 feeds. In the postseason, Peelman hit for 9.0 points, 4.5 steals, 3.0 caroms, and 2.0 assists.

Yet another junior with starting experience is 5-6 wing Sydnee Carter, who shined in her first full season of varsity ball. Carter hit for 6.6 points, 4.6 boards, 2.3 thefts and 2.1 assists.

Also making their varsity debut this season was 5-10 sophomore forward/guard Jen Mohney and 5-7 freshman guard Katie Fox.

Mohney earned honorable mention all-conference honors and had a huge postseason game of 20 points, 10 rebounds and five assists off of the bench.

On the season, she hit for 5.1 points, 1.7 boards, 1.7 assists and 1.4 steals. The postseason saw Mohney average 13.0 points, 8.0 boards, 2.5 assists and 1.0 steals.

Fox added 3.3 points, 2.1 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.4 steals.

Junior twins Courtney and Amanda Cox also contributed as 5-7 guards in the program, while 5-9 junior forward/guard Casey Withers made her varsity debut this winter.

Guard Gabby Assour is another junior contributor on the varsity and junior varsity teams. Freshman post Nicole Carmen (5-10) also saw action.

The young Lady Tigers saw success at every level this season. The junior varsity team finished 17-3, while the freshmen team went 18-2. The eighth-grade unit won its first 14 games.

How special are these teams?

Kelley said his eighth-grade unit is much bigger than his varsity lineup.

"We go about 6-2, 6-0, 5-10 and 5-8," said Kelley. "It's an exciting time and we're excited about the future here."

An indication of Twinsburg's future came when Classic in the Country organizer Tom Jenkins offered the Lady Tigers a spot in the event for the next four years, starting in 2009. Twinsburg now has the crowd following to make an attractive package for promoters.

"We have some big-time players coming up through the system here," Kelley said. "These kids have great size and we have the athletes. Our experience this year will help a great deal as we're excited about the future."

This past season, Twinsburg played up-tempo and had a season end in a Division I district semifinal by Shaker Heights (53-47) in Solon.

It was the team's first district semifinal appearance since 2001, which also was the school's first league title since 1976. Twinsburg was 15-7 in 2002-03.

E-mail: stowsports@recordpub.com

Phone: 330-686-3914