Focus on your home teams Madison girls basketball
By Rick Cassano
Staff Writer
MADISON TWP. — The victory was practically inevitable Thursday night. So were Brittany Shields’ tears.
Senior Night for Madison High School’s girls basketball team was an emotional experience for the Mohawks’ only two seniors, Shields and Abby Jerger. They shared some tears during a pregame ceremony, then Shields got down to business.
With Jerger on crutches, having suffered a season-ending knee injury Dec. 30, Shields erupted for 20 points and 11 rebounds as Madison clinched at least a share of its third straight Southwestern Buckeye League Buckeye Division championship with a 79-35 triumph over Dixie.
“It breaks my heart that my co-captain Abby can’t be out here playing with me,” Shields said. “It’s bittersweet. It’s hard to see the past four years go by so fast.”
Shields expected a lot of tears — “Tons of them,” she said — at her final home game. Of course, another Madison rout brought a smile to her face.
The Mohawks are 17-1 overall and 10-0 in the SWBL. They’ve notched 35 consecutive Buckeye wins since losing 58-55 to Waynesville on Feb. 7, 2009.
“It’s so hard, but so rewarding at the same time,” Shields said. “We’re still trying to get to state again. We need to come out tomorrow and work harder than we did today.”
Madison coach John Rossi said however this season ends up, his two seniors will be missed.
“Great leaders. Great kids. Great ambassadors for our basketball program and our community,” Rossi said. “We’ve developed some kind of character, and those two are big proponents of that.”
The Mohawks overwhelmed Dixie, turning a 16-12 lead into a 45-17 bulge by halftime. The Greyhounds (2-16, 1-9) were simply outmanned.
Meghan Miller (16), Olivia Philpot (14) and Meghan Robinson (11) scored in double figures for Madison. Shields had 10 points in the first six-plus minutes.
Ciara Bates paced Dixie with 13 points and nine rebounds. Kylie Hundley tossed in 10 points.
Greyhounds coach Jared Crowe praised the Mohawks for their SWBL dominance and said he likes the way things are done at Madison.
“As a first-year coach, I look at them and say, ‘This is how you want your program to be,’ ” Crowe said. “Just the atmosphere here is pretty awesome to me. With the pep band and all the noise, it’s almost like a varsity boys game. It’s pretty cool.”
Philpot collected eight assists and five boards for the Mohawks. Kaylee Bush grabbed 10 rebounds, Michelle Brunswick totaled seven and Josey Harding added five.
Rossi said he can vividly remember the last time Madison lost a league game. He’s pushing his squad to keep its SWBL streak alive.
“They know I’m not here to be their friend,” Rossi said. “We work hard, and we’re going to keep working hard. We don’t say we want to win 19 games, 20 games. We want to win championships.”
The Mohawks have two league games left. They’ll visit Waynesville on Saturday and Dayton Northridge next Thursday.