Washington County girls reign supreme
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From staff reports
WOOSTER, Ohio -- Washington County reigned supreme in the inaugural Buckeye State Battleground event Friday at the College of Wooster.
The Washington County team, made up of 11 of the area's top girls basketball players, went 6-0 at the tournament and outscored opponents 356-228. Seventeen of Ohio's counties competed in the event.
Washington County was guided by head coach Chris Murray and assistant Chris Fennell, both of Belpre. Making up the roster were Abbie Smith (Warren), Hannah Archer (Fort Frye), Mackenzie Suprano (Waterford), Kaitlen Bush (Belpre), Alexis Frazee (Warren), Riley Medley (Marietta), Grace Knowlton (Frontier), Haley Alloway (Belpre), Sophie Cochran (Warren), Larissa McDaniel (Belpre) and Rylee Kendall (Marietta).
The local girls opened the tournament with a 48-34 win over Mahoning County. Smith and Archer scored 13 points apiece while Suprano added 12.
In game two, Washington County defeated Lorrain County 76-45, with Suprano scoring a game-high 20 points. Smith netted 14 and Bush added 12.
It was a 55-25 win for Washington over Marion in game three, with Bush and Archer scoring 10 points each.
Washington defeated Butler 58-45 in the quarterfinals thanks in part to 13 points from Smith and 12 from Archer.
Washington squared off against Wayne in the semifinals, winning 58-45. Suprano led the team from the Southeastern Ohio with 11 points.
Finally, Washington County met Pickaway County in the championship game, cruising to a 61-34 triumph. Archer scored a team-high 12 points while Knowlton chipped in 10.
"Our goal was to have every school in Washington County represented and we accomplished that," Murray said.
"They meshed really well together and played great basketball all day. Big credit to those girls; they looked like they'd played basketball together for years."
Suprano finished the tournament with a team-high 11.3 points per game. Smith (10.5) and Archer (10.3) also averaged double-digit points.
Tyler Bates, a 2013 graduate of Marietta College, organized the tournament and asked Murray to coach and put together a team.
"I told him, 'We're going to win it. I'm bringing the very best from our county,'" Murray said. "In Washington County, we always have that mentality that we get overlooked a lot. Whether or not it's true, we play with that chip on our shoulder. We wanted to go out and prove that out county plays at a high level. They shared the ball well and we were very balanced though all six games. They made my job easy. It was the easiest coaching job of my life."