For the Patriots three seniors — Morgan Hunt, Torie Richards and Rylee Sagester — it was a dream come true.
“I love those girls so much,” Hunt said. “This is our dream. It’s been our dream since we were freshmen. We’ve worked so hard for it and I’m so glad that we’re getting the opportunity.”
Richards echoed her longtime teammate’s statement. It’s been something they’ve been talking about for as long as they can remember dating back to their fourth grade year.
“This has always been a dream of ours,” Richards said. “It’s reality now. We play with a lot of chemistry and I just love playing with them.”
Sagester, who was named Ohio Miss Basketball runner-up to Purcell-Marian’s Dee Alexander on Wednesday, said she couldn’t imagine doing it with anybody else
“We’ve come a long way from hours in the summer and practices on the weekends to going to each other’s houses to shoot baskets and playing one-on-one to get ready for these moments,” Sagester said.
The undefeated and top-ranked Patriots (28-0) will play Berlin Hiland (22-6) at 8 p.m. Thursday night at University of Dayton Arena. The winner will play either Toledo Christian (22-4) vs. New Middletown Springfield (24-3), which play at 6 p.m. Thursday at UD Arena.
The Patriots lost their first appearance at the state tournament in 2012, falling to the Hawks 53-47 in Columbus. Sagester attended the game as a 10-year-old.
“I remember sitting right behind the bench and cheering them on the whole way,” Sagester said. “It didn’t come out how we wanted it, but we’re going to change that this week.
The Tri-Village senior class has played a key role in the program’s success since they entered high school in 2019. The Patriots have gone 101-7 over the past four seasons. They’ve won four straight conference titles, having never lost a conference game in either middle school or high school.
All three played varsity as freshmen, guiding the Patriots to the regional semifinal where they lost to Cincinnati Country Day. In 2021, the Patriots lost to Fort Loramie in a regional final and fell again to Cincinnati Country Day in the regional final last season.
Tri-Village beat Fort Loramie in a No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup last weekend, finally leaping over the Vandalia Butler hurdle. The senior class scored all but one point in the Patriots win.
“We’ve been trying to get out of Vandalia since my freshman year,” Richards said. “It feels really good. It’s not over yet, but I feel really relieved that we knocked off one of the best teams.”
Sagester, a Marshall University commit, is averaging 21 points, 3.8 assists and 2.8 steals per game and recently set the Ohio career mark for made 3-point field goals. Hunt, a Thomas More University commit, is averaging 14.0 points, 6.7 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 3.6 blocks per game. Richards is averaging 13 points, 4.5 steals and 3.8 assists per game.
The seniors lead the team not just on the floor, but in the community, said Patriots coach Brad Gray.
“Our kids love being with each other and they lead in that,” he said. “They’re the ones that are making sure everyone is together.”
The seniors have also taken the underclassmen under their wing and trusted them to make big plays in big spots, Gray said.
“It’s made a world of difference,” Gray said.
The seniors have been laser focused on getting to the state tournament, Gray said.
“This has been something they’ve been talking about, I don’t want to say the whole offseason, but their entire career,” Gray said. “To be honest, they probably thought we were going to get one last year. We all thought we were going to get one last year and let it slip away from us. We still haven’t won a state title yet and that’s something that this group is really focused on.”
The job, however, isn’t finished, Sagester said. The girls team got a sneak peek of UD Arena on March 3 as they watched the Patriots boys team beat Greeneview in a D-III district final game.
“We told the security guards that we’d be back to see them,” Sagester said, “and we’ll be back to see them. To play on that court is going to be crazy. It’s a great atmosphere. I know we’re going to have the entire Patriot Nation there to support us. We’re going to try to bring that state title back home.”
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