2012 senior class photos
2012 West Carrollton graduation
Home of the Week
Home > Blogs > Springfield, Ohio High School Sports > Archives > 2008 > December > 09
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
40-point bonanza
SPRINGFIELD — Greenon junior guard Allie Turner scored 44 points at Stebbins last Thursday, matching a career-high. It’s also a Greenon school record. At some point, Turner will likely crack 50 points.
But no other program has likely had more 40-point games than Kenton Ridge.
The Cougars have had 13 40-point games since Tara Cosby scored 53 points in 1989-90.
Junior guard Saira House may be joining the club soon. She’s averaging 33.5 points per game this season.
Here’s a list of all the Kenton Ridge players who’ve achieved the mark:
Angie Finkes, 68, 1995-96
Tara Cosby, 53, 1989-90
Allison Bennett, 51, 2000-01
Jasmine House, 51, 2002-03
Tara Cosby, 48, 1989-90
Angie Finkes, 45,44, 42, 1994-95
Amie Harris, 44, 2001-02
Angie Finkes, 41, 1994-96
Jasmine House, 42 (twice), 2002-03
Stephanie Bennett, 40, 2002-03
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: Central Buckeye Conference, Girls Basketball, Kenton Ridge High School
Harris averaging 15.8 points in NBA D League
Springfield native and former Buckeye Ivan Harris’ numbers through five games with the Erie Bayhawks: 15.8 points per game, 5.2 rebounds per game, 50.7 shooting from the field.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment |
Girls Hoops: By the numbers
SPRINGFIELD — Here are some interesting girls basketball stats through the first two weeks of the season:
- Kenton Ridge junior Saira House and freshman Mariah Harris have proved to be an explosive backcourt duo for the Cougars (2-0, 1-0 CBC).
Through two games, they’ve combined for 51 of the Cougars 66.5 points per game. House is averaging 33.5 ppg and Harris is averaging 17.5.
- Urbana’s Kelsey Eastham is doing it all for the Hillclimbers early this season.
Through Monday, Eastham is leading the team in points (15.5) and assists (4.0). She’s also averaging 9.0 rebounds, 4.5 steals and is shooting a perfect 100 percent (9-for-9) from the free throw line.
- Greenon’s Allie Turner matched a career-high 44 points in the Knights 66-45 win on Dec. 4 at Stebbins — and she started the game 0-for-7.
She had just two points in the first quarter, but erupted for 23 in the second quarter and added 21 in the second half against the Indians box-and-one zone defense.
- Springfield is leading the GWOC in field goal percentage at 46.3, but have the worst free throw percentage at 28.6
Shanay Portis is sixth in the league in scoring at 15.7 points per game.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: Catholic Central High School, Central Buckeye Conference, Girls Basketball, Greater Western Ohio Conference, Kenton Ridge High School, Ohio Heritage Conference, Southeastern High School, Springfield High School, Urbana High School
On this date in area sports history …
Twelve years ago today, Dec. 9, 1996, Wittenberg offensive tackle Xan Smith, a Kenton Ridge graduate, was named a Division III All-American.
From News-Sun archives (Dec. 9, 1996)
SMITH’S REWARD WORTH `WEIGHT’
BEEFED-UP FIFTH-YEAR WITTENBERG SENIOR GETS ALL-AMERICA NOD.
By Ron Ware, News-Sun Sports Writer
With a rueful grin, Joe Fincham admitted that he figured Xan Smith would never play at Wittenberg.
Fincham vividly recalls that day in the spring of 1992 when he and Wittenberg’s other assistants gathered in Doug Neibuhr’s office to assess their incoming freshmen. Smith, a Kenton Ridge product, was one of Fincham’s recruits. And Fincham still remembers gulping when Neibuhr asked for his evaluation.
“I honestly said I didn’t think he could play here,” said Fincham, now the Tigers’ head coach. “As a freshman, he was just a big, kind of gangly, kid. I felt he was a smart, intelligent player, but I didn’t know if he had the strength to play here.”
Fincham laughed, knowing just how wrong he had been. But there’s no need to aplogize, because Smith got the last laugh.
The fifth-year senior offensive tackle was named Monday to the American Football Coaches Association NCAA Division III All-American team, one of the most prestigious and exclusive for which Wittenberg players are eligible.
Selections are made by a national panel of coaches, who pick only a first team.
“I’m pretty happy with that,” said Smith, the first Wittenberg player chosen to the team since middle linebacker Taver Johnson in 1993. “I’m happy I came back, anyway (for his fifth year), but that caps the season real nicely.”
Smith, a 6-foot-4, 285-pounder, was regarded by nearly every coach as the North Coast Athletic Conference’s most dominant offensive lineman.
With Smith helping to open the holes for tailback Aaron Powers and fullback Marcus Booker, the Tigers ran for a league-high 2,873 yards in finishing 9-1 overall and 7-1 in the NCAC.
But Fincham knows Smith wasn’t always a powerfully built blocker who only rarely surrendered a sack or was even called for a penalty. He came to Wittenberg as a lanky, 225-pounder who could barely bench his own weight.
“The difference with Xan, he really bought into our weight program from day one and did what he had to do to be successful here,” Fincham said, pausing before chuckling again. “I guess that shows how much I know about evaluating talent.”
Smith, who said he practically became “addicted” to working out, hit the weight room four times a week, gradually increasing his strength to the point where he could bench 365 pounds and squat 500 while running a 5.0-second 40-yard dash.
He became a starter midway through his sophomore season but then blew out his right knee on the third day of contact drills the following year. Reconstructive surgery and months of rehabilitation followed, but Smith returned, almost as good as new, for the 1995 season, earning first-team all-conference honors.
He could have graduated last spring _ he carried a 3.3 grade-point average _ but elected to return this fall to use his remaining year of eligibility, paying the $8,000 in tuition himself since Wittenberg does not offer financial aid to fifth-year students.
Although the Tigers have had many outstanding offensive linemen over the years _ Ron Cunningham, Mark Chubb, Doug Cochran, Eric Horstman and Ken Bonner all have made various All-Americans teams in the past decade _ Smith seems assured of a special place in Tiger lore … as a self-made standout.
“And he (Fincham) never lets me forget it,” Smith said, laughing. “He always tells me that story _ that I’d never play on the field here. Every time he tells it, I get a little bit shorter and a little bit skinnier. I think he’s got me down to 5-9, 155 when I came in. “I’m just happy to prove him wrong, I guess.”
Smith, who will wrap up his studies with the close of fall semester, will begin working next week as an accountant at Taylor Applegate Hughes & Associates in Springfield and is engaged to be married to Stephanie Linn, his high school sweetheart, on June 7.
In another few months, Wittenberg’s coaches will assemble in an office and begin evaluating another group of recruits. And if there’s another gangly kid with a lot of heart? If he’s like Xan Smith, he might just make it.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: Awards, College Football, Kenton Ridge High School, North Coast Athletic Conference, On this date, Wittenberg
Big game from a Triad freshman
In the disappointment of a double-overtime defeat on Monday, 64-61 at Riverside, the Triad girls basketball team found a bright spot: the play of 5-foot-7 freshman guard Kelsey Funderburgh.
Funderburgh scored 17 of her team-high 19 points in the second half and overtime.
“She’s learning. She’s still a freshman,” Triad coach Jason Malone said. “She does a lot of good things. She does some things she has to learn from. She’s an athlete. Our kids have embraced her.”
The Cardinals fell to 1-3, but they have more reasons to be proud of their latest loss. They trailed by 16 points midway through the fourth quarter, Malone said,
“We cranked it up on D and outscored them 24-10 in the fourth and got it all square,” Malone said. “It was just a war of attrition after that.”
Riverside made 24 of 35 free throws, and Triad made 13 of 26.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: Girls Basketball, Ohio Heritage Conference, Triad High School
