Ashland hoops squads in midst of wildly unique stretch

ASHLAND – The girls basketball program at Ashland High School started its first season in 1970.

It’s been more than a half-century since then and there might never have been a more intriguing eight-day stretch of hoops combined between the AHS boys and girls squads than the one they’re in right now.

Consider this: Between last Friday’s boys win over West Holmes and this Friday’s boys game against Dover, both AHS squads could lock in 1,000-point scorers and both could be at the top of the Ohio Cardinal Conference with about half of the league schedule to play.

Add in the fact that senior Gabe Baith had a career-best 32-point night Friday and senior Madison Hoffman was lost to injury during Saturday’s huge girls’ showdown against Waynedale, and this moment in the mid-January calendar is uniquely distinct for Ashland.

It’s a rare confluence of eye-opening feats and turning points for both programs, with a ton to watch for in the coming days.

Ashland Girls

There is no way to sugarcoat the loss of Hoffman. The senior injured her knee while taking a charge early in the fourth quarter against the Golden Bears and appeared on crutches shortly after that.

On Monday, Ashland head coach Renee Holt said she is concerned the senior returning All-Ohioan might not return this season.

It is a massive blow to the team’s arsenal and it forces Holt to sort out how to replace a guard who currently stands 13^th in all-time scoring at AHS (740 points) and second in all-time 3-pointers made (96).

With less than half the season played, Hoffman already had connected on a career-high 30 shots from downtown, including a single-game school-record eight at Clear Fork back on Dec. 22.

Waynedale coach Rick Geiser noted after Saturday’s game that his defense was able to focus more on the painted area and Arrow threats Kennedy Lacey and Camryn Cox after Hoffman went down.

It was likely the reason Ashland scored just one field goal in the six minutes after Hoffman’s injury, sputtering to its first loss of the season, 43-42.

The squad clearly will need to regroup, but it’s not as if the Arrows don’t have talent to spare.

Entering Saturday with an 11-0 record, Ashland had limited its previous 10 opponents to an average of just 29.9 points per game. In their 7-0 start to OCC play, the Arrows have won every game by at least 24 points.

They had a 25-6 run in the first half against Waynedale that showed how potent they can be at both ends of the floor.

“We picked it up defensively and we started connecting on our trapping zone,” Holt said. “Offensively, we were making great passes, giving up a good shot for a great shot. I think it was all five (players working together) out there at that point.”

The 6-foot-1 senior Cox has 640 points and 575 rebounds in her career as a rare type of double-double threat, while junior guard Cici Steury surely will be relied upon to be even more of a deep-ball dynamo than she already has been.

By the end of this season, Steury likely will have close to 100 3-pointers made in her career (already with 76), and guards Grace Tobias and Josie Vantilburg are proven all-around scrappers for AHS.

Inevitably, however, the spotlight will burn even brighter now on Lacey, a junior averaging 22.6 points per game one season after earning OCC Player of the Year laurels.

She’s on pace to become the first Arrow ever to score 350 points in three consecutive seasons and is on the doorstep of history, needing just 11 points to reach 1,000.

Doing so would make Lacey just the fifth AHS girl ever to achieve the milestone, and it will need to happen Wednesday at New Philadelphia if Ashland is going to take a stranglehold on the OCC.

Holt said Lacey will be ready to carry the load against the Quakers, especially after losing the game and Hoffman against Waynedale.

“She’ll come out and I’d be sorry to be New Philly,” Holt said, “because she’s gonna be a different type of player.”

The Quakers (12-1, 7-1) seem ready to rumble yet again with the Arrows. They handed Ashland its lone OCC loss last year, 45-43 at Arrow Arena, and have nine wins by double-digit points thus far.

If Ashland can recalibrate and capture the win Wednesday, it will have a two-game lead in the OCC with six league games left to play.

The Arrows are in the thick of their toughest four-game stretch, with Waynedale (12-3), New Philadelphia (12-1), Wooster (8-4) and Tri-Valley (8-5) all lining up for them in a span of 10 days.

They’ll then get New Philadelphia again on Jan. 24 at home.

Last year marked the first time Ashland ever gathered double-digit conference wins (11-1), and the team looks to be a lock to do it again, especially with Dover now added into the fold.

Wednesday’s clash with the Quakers will be a huge measuring stick.

Here’s a look at the OCC breakdown through Sunday:

11-1 / 7-0 * Ashland

12-1 / 7-1 * New Philly

8-6 / 6-2 * Madison

8-4 / 5-3 * Wooster

4-8 / 3-4 * West Holmes

3-10 / 2-6 * Dover

1-11 / 1-6 * Lexington

0-11 / 0-9 * Mansfield Sr.

Ashland Boys

The Arrows and head coach Jason Hess (6-5, 5-2 OCC) have landed square in the middle of a great opportunity.

Following a 1-3 start, they have won five of their last seven and find themselves a home win away this Friday against Dover (8-5, 6-1) from a share of the league lead.

Senior guard Paxon Ediger has been the spotlight-grabber much of the year. His 44-point game Dec. 19 against Mansfield Senior led AHS past the Tygers, 70-65, and set a new single-game scoring record for the program.

Then last Friday against West Holmes, Ediger became the ninth Arrow boy to reach 1,000 points.

He’s averaging 24.5 points per game – up from 19.5 last year – and his 1,031 points place him seventh in AHS history.

Another 90 will bump him into fourth all-time, where he’ll trail only Luke Denbow (1,719), Grayson Steury (1,399) and Isaac White (1,315).

In Friday’s win, Ediger was held scoreless in the first quarter, but he still finished with 24 points to surpass 1,000 and the Arrows cruised past the Knights – leading by 30 at one juncture.

“A little bit (of pressure early), but obviously when you go into a game you just want to win and I felt like everybody was scoring without me touching the ball,” he said, “so I was just wanting to go with the flow.”

“Our goal is to win the OCC and we’re right there,” Ediger added. “We’ve lost a couple close games but it’s good to get back on the winning side of it.”

Helping in that cause was Baith, a senior guard who seems to have found his shooting touch.

His career-best 32 points against West Holmes included six 3-pointers, then the next night in a 74-61 win at Sandusky, Baith dropped in 24 points.

He went 10-of-18 from 3-point range in those two games, leading to a combined 56 points after scoring 116 through the first nine games.

Now at 861 points for his career (20^th in program history), Baith needs to average 11.6 per game in Ashland’s guaranteed final 12 contests to join Ediger on the 1,000-point list.

Never in the previous 117 years of basketball at AHS have two players reached 1,000 points in the same season.

“I’ve coached four 1,000-point scorers,” Hess said Friday. “After Luke Denbow went through, and Grayson Steury, it’s like, ‘Who’s the next one?’ You kinda look at that, but I’m not (thinking about players doing it) when they’re in third or fourth grade.

“We knew this senior class had some potential when they were coming up through because they had some success at the lower levels.”

Baith, who broke the Ashland football team’s record for career receptions this year, has been an all-around threat since his freshman season on the hardcourt.

He could end up with roughly 350 rebounds, 250 assists and 150 steals in his career, and has an outside shot to make a run at the AHS record for 3-pointers as well (currently 41 behind the record with 149).

Ediger, meanwhile, should be Ashland’s leading scorer for a third straight season, something not done since White in 2015.

“I’m glad they’re seniors because I’m tired of playing against them,” West Holmes coach Ben Beiden said Friday. “… They’re tough to defend; they’re two of the best guards in the league – probably two first-teamers (in the OCC for the second straight year).”

Meanwhile, this year’s team leader in accuracy from the perimeter is Reed Emmons. The senior is 25-of-55 from deep (46 percent) and averaging 9.1 ppg.

Successful shooting from long range is critical for Hess and the Arrows, who lack much of a post presence after the loss of 6-6 senior Nathan Bernhard (headed to the University of Maryland to play quarterback).

This season, Ashland is 6-1 when it makes at least nine 3-pointers in a game.

The squad has also had key play from juniors Garrett Davis (7.1 ppg, team-best 5.2 rpg) and Killian O’Brien, and the Arrows will need all hands on deck if they’re going to make a run at the OCC.

A critical bout comes Friday against league-leading Dover at home, where Ashland is 4-1, with its lone loss by five points to Ontario (12-1).

Dover has lost four of its last five, including a 62-55 decision last Friday at Mansfield Senior, but the Tornadoes beat AHS 52-46 back on Dec. 12. It’s one hurdle the Arrows need to clear if they want a good shot at just their second conference crown since 2015.

“It’s gonna be a competitive second round through (the OCC),” Hess said.

Here’s a look at the OCC breakdown through Sunday:

8-5 / 6-1 * Dover

8-3 / 5-2 * Mansfield Sr.

6-5 / 5-2 * Ashland

8-3 / 4-3 * New Philly

4-7 / 2-3 * Lexington

5-8 / 2-5 * Wooster

3-7 / 1-5 * Madison

3-7 / 1-5 * West Holmes