Well we are in the thick of basketball season. Lots of hoops action this week.

Mississenwa at Trail (girls) - I was impressed with the play of the Trail guards. Everyone knows that 6'3" Yeazel is a presence in the post. But in this game Yeazel did not score much. Maybe she just had an off night. Defensively she did keep the Blackhawks out of the paint. But the guard play was the difference. Trail used the press and vigorous half court defense to hurry up the Black Hawks and generate turnovers. Offensively their passing was swift and accurate. Good win for the Blazers.

South gets their mojo back? A rocky start to the Panthers boys season with 4 losses. And at half time, it looked like another tally mark on the L side of the ledger as the Panthers had a 10 point deficit against Newton at halftime. After playing mostly zone and zone variations in the first half. South manned up in the third quarter. That put pressure on the Indian shooters. And at the other end of the court, South got into a groove and started to hit their shots. They lit up the scoreboard for 29 points to take the lead and not look back.

I thought the Indians started to tire and fade in the second half. South just had a deeper bench and were able to keep fresh players on the court. Newton's shots kept bouncing off the front of the rim as they tired. Walker did a good job of snagging rebounds and Spitler had a good night on offense with 23 points.

South girls are off to a good start and got notice in the Dayton Daily News. Ranked 4th in the area D4 teams. Now the girls will have a bulls eye on their back. D3 is tough in the Dayton area. Middletown Madison is running roughshod over opponents. Anna, Brookville, Versailles, and Miami East are also in that division. I have a feeling that who ever comes out of the SW region will win state in D3.