Ashland Basketball Weekly: New London girls, Hillsdale boys strut stuff over holiday break

ASHLAND − Every week during basketball season, the Ashland Times-Gazette will highlight the players, teams and coaches in Ashland County through different categories that will vary from week-to-week. Categories like Team of the Week, Performance of the Week, Stat of the Week, Surprise of the Week, etc. will try to be explored each week involving boys and girls basketball.

Coaches in the Ashland County area, to help with this weekly column please email individual and team stats (if rebounds, assists, steals and blocks can be included along with points that would be helpful) to www.ashlandsports@outlook.com from that current week by Sunday (or as soon as you can). The more numbers/stats/info obtained, the more categories/groups can be explored. Thanks.

Note: This week's Basketball Weekly Column will cover games, performances and action from the past two weeks (December 18-30).

Girls Basketball

Team of the Week: New London

Over the last two weeks during the holidays, New London's play picked up and it went 3-1 over that stretch. Behind the balance production from players like Alyssa Henry, Raeann Mitchell, Emilee Rowland and Valery Henry, the Wildcats piled up wins over Buckeye Central (53-29), Crestview (52-27) and Western Reserve (42-18), with their lone loss coming to 7-1 Liberty Center.

The Wildcats currently sit at 7-3 and are 6-0 in Firelands Conference play, tops in the league. A league title is certainly within play for New London this season. More on them later.

Best Win of the Week: Loudonville over South Central

Loudonville has been in dominant form all season and what looked like a possible challenge in South Central on December 19 on the road, was anything but. Loudonville entered the game undefeated and South Central had just one loss, and the Redbirds did a number on the Lady Trojans. They took them out 81-39, showing exactly why they're such a formidable bunch.

More: Northwestern's Scale, Wakefield help Huskies role over Hillsdale

Stat of the Week: 1,000

1,000 represents the career number of rebounds Loudonville's Corri Vermilya has grabbed throughout her career, which she obtained on December 21 in the Redbirds win at Lucas. That made Vermilya the first boys or girls player in school history to reach the 1,000 rebounds career mark.

Just for good measure, she dropped 23 points ,17 rebounds, 5 assists and 9 steals in the game. Just another week where Vermilya is breaking some kind of record. Get used to it. More is likely to come.

Two Key Games to Watch This Week: Loudonville at Clear Fork & South Central at New London

This week is sure to offer some action that will get the juices flowing for the onlookers. Basketball fans can start 2024 off right by heading over to Bellville on Tuesday evening to watch undefeated Loudonville (11-0) take on Clear Fork (9-2), which sits in second place in the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference.

This could be a stern test for the in-form Redbirds, who have been putting a hurting on their opponents this season. Not only is staying undefeated a key incentive to win but the Colts have beaten the Redbirds the last two seasons. That's motivation in itself to end that two-game skid.

Then on Thursday evening, the two top teams in the Firelands Conference will be duking it out. South Central (8-2) will travel to New London (7-3), with both teams sitting tied for first place at 6-0 in the conference standings. The winner will take slight control in the conference title race.

Boys Basketball

Team of the Week: Hillsdale

So far, Hillsdale just might be the surprise team in the Wayne County Conference this season. The Falcons sit at 5-1 and over the holiday break gathered a nice 3-1 record, beating Central Christian, Dalton and Black River in all competitive outings. The Falcons have been getting purposeful play from a good bunch of players.

Bradley Krichbaum had 21 points, 11 rebounds and 2 blocks against Central Christian, while guard Jack Fickes played the role of distributor, adding nine assists. In a two-point conference win at Dalton, Braylen Jarvis and Troy Bennett both scored 12 points. Even a wide defeat to defending WCAL champions Norwayne on Friday away, didn't diminish the work the Falcons have been putting in of late.

Game of the Week: Hillsdale over Black River

Of the three wins the Falcons gathered in the last two weeks, the best game just might have been against Black River on December 27. In a game where Hillsdale fell behind 22-9 in the first quarter, the group rallied in the second half to come away with a 75-70 non-conference win on the road to move to 5-0.

More: Hillsdale overcomes slow start to take down Pirates

The Falcons had steady play from Braylen Jarvis (28 points), Brad Krichbaum (16 points) and Troy Bennett (13 points) in helping their team come out with another close victory.

Best Win of the Week: Crestview over Mapleton

Crestview didn't skip a beat over the holidays, as it improved its record to 8-0 and sit atop of the Firelands Conference standings, tied with St. Paul. On Saturday, the Cougars handed conference opponent Mapleton (5-2, fourth in conference) a 78-39 beating at home, as Crestview had five players hitting double figures in scoring (Justice Thompson, Tyson Ringler, Malachi Spoerr, Jarek Ringler, Sam Wells).

Individual Performance of the Week: Owen Ferriman, Northwestern

In Northwestern's (2-5, 0-3) 68-60 win at Strasburg-Franklin on December 27, senior guard Owen Ferriman led the way, scoring 32 points to help get the Huskies a much-needed win.

jsimpson@gannett.com

Twitter: @JamesSimpsonII

This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: Basketball Weekly: Hillsdale boys, New London girls on right track