In an otherwise defensive battle, Russia’s Hazel Francis scored 17 points. (Press Pros Feature Photos By Julie Wright-Daniel)
The Raiders win a defensive battle and hand Fort Loramie its first league loss since February of 2023.
Russia, OH – If you like defense … like, really, really like it, then you would have been warmed like only a mug of hot chocolate can do on a sub-freezing Saturday.
If you prefer lots of points, 3-pointers raining from the rafters and a fast pace, you might have been a little bored by it all.
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But that’s how it is when the Shelby County Athletic League’s two best girls basketball teams dig in and defend. And the competition turns even more serious when Fort Loramie’s goal is to defend its legacy as the league’s team to beat and Russia’s goal is to become the team to beat.
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Russia is the team to beat.
The Raiders defended every inch of their home court with great positioning and active hands to humble the Redskins 34-16.
The Raiders (11-2, 6-0) took sole possession of first place and ended Fort Loramie’s 30-game league winning streak. The Redskins (6-4, 5-1) hadn’t lost to a league foe since they lost to Russia 43-40 on February 2, 2023.
“It means something to our girls because our goal was to try to win the league, and you have to go through Loramie to get to that point,” said third-year Russia coach Michael Bashore after his first win over Loramie.
Battles for loose balls and tie ups were a common sight Saturday as both teams committed to playing defense.
Now the Raiders have to pass through the league again to match Loramie’s 12-0 marks of the past two years. Look at the Round 1 results and the Raiders could be tempted to consider a league title all but a done deal. The Raiders won those six games by an average of 22.3 points. The closest game was an 11-point win over Anna.
“We talked in the locker room about that’s only one time through,” Bashore said. “We got to play everybody again, so everybody’s going to be more ready for us, and we’re going to get everybody’s best shot. So we just got to keep getting better every day.”
Loramie might be the final challenge to 12-0 on the last day of the season. Back in 2023 the Redskins avenged that late regular-season loss with a 57-42 win over Russia in the regional semifinals at Butler High School.
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When they meet again, expect the same commitment to defense.
“We did a really nice job of forcing them into difficult shots,” Bashore said. “Anytime you can hold somebody to 16 points, you know you’ve done something well on the defensive end.”
Russia’s Faith York (4) puts the defensive clamps on Fort Loramie’s Olivia Brandewie.
Fort Loramie head coach Carla Siegel, while frustrated by her team’s lack of offense, enjoyed the fact that her team held Russia 10 points below its average.
“Defensively, I’m very pleased,” she said. “They’re great drivers, and I thought we did a great job of not letting them drive the paint.”
The defensive tone was set from the jump. The game’s first point was a free throw by Loramie’s Janelle Siegel three minutes in. Russia scored the first basket on a putback by Hazel Francis with 3:32 left in the first quarter. The Raiders closed the quarter with a flurry of activity in the final 2:28 to lead 9-2.
Over two minutes into the second quarter, Francis got open on a back cut and scored on an assist from Aryana Cordonnier. Celeste Borchers’ fast-break layup and free throw and Cordonnier’s steal and layup put Loramie in a 16-2 hole.
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With 1:01 left in the half, sophomore Liza Poeppelman drove for a layup for Loramie’s first field goal. The Raiders led 20-7 at the half.
For Loramie, the first half was one of those too-many-turnovers-to-count situations. Russia put the Redskins on their heels and forced errant passes and long possessions. Shots were difficult to find, and the ones the Redskins got either looked forced or were challenged.
Part of Russia’s defensive strategy was to stop Fort Loramie, and in this case Olivia Brandewie, from getting good looks at the basket.
“My biggest frustration with today is our lack of offense,” Siegel said. “I felt our girls were hesitant. I thought they played scared. Russia threw the first punch, and we never responded.”
After talking it over at halftime, not much changed for the Redskins. The Raiders expanded the lead to 29-12 entering the fourth quarter.
“I don’t think we ever showed any fight on the offensive end,” Siegel said. “I loved the fight on the defensive end. If we could just somehow figure out how to play both sides of the floor, we’ll be a pretty good team. But we struggle offensively, and that happens when you have lack of leadership.”
The Redskins have only three returning letterwinners left from last year’s Division VII state runner-up. The fourth was point guard Maddie Shatto, but on December 11 she suffered a season-ending knee injury for the second straight year. Now Siegel is depending on upperclassmen and sophomore Poeppelman and freshman Olivia Brandewie to lead.
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“We want somebody else to do something, rather than you have to do it,” Siegel said. “Liza was the only one that was like, ‘I’ll take it to the hole.’ There’s talent on this team. They want to carry on the Loramie tradition, the Loramie legacy. They want to do it. They just don’t know how to do it yet.”
Russia point guard Aryana Cordonnier kept Russia’s offense running and scored nine points.
Russia, however, brings more experience to the floor and has been able to overcome its own season-ending knee injury. Claudia Hoehne, a 6-foot-2 senior, led the Raiders in scoring and rebounding last year but went down on the second day of practice.
“If you would have told me if we would have lost Claudia the second day of practice and we’d be sitting where we are right now, I thought you might be crazy,” Bashore said. “Just the effort of the girls to regroup after that injury and to be able to be where we are now says a lot about the other girls in that locker room, how hard they practice every day, how bad they want to get better every day. That shows in a game like today.”
Without a true post player, the Raiders are guard oriented. They move the ball, pass and cut, look for driving lanes and open 3-pointers. Francis, a junior, did most of the damage with 17 points, scoring on putbacks, drives and free throws.
Russia’s Celeste Borchers blocks a shot attempt by Fort Loramie’s Janelle Siegel at the end of the first half.
“She’s constantly going 110% – you never question how hard she’s going,” Bashore said. “She takes the other team’s best player and tries to take them out of the game. So she’s just as important to us offensively as she is defensively.”
While Loramie is looking for a backcourt leader to replace Shatto, Bashore has one in sophomore Cordonnier. She scored nine points, put pressure on Loramie’s guards and rarely comes out of the game.
“Ary doesn’t turn the ball over, she can handle two girls running at her, knows what to do with it,” Bashore said. “She’s so valuable to us being able to handle the ball and get us into our stuff.”
Loramie turned to its well-known full-court press to get back in the game. But Cordonnier and her teammates handled it well. The Redskins couldn’t force turnovers to make a run.
“That’s always the key when you play Loramie is to not have let their pressure get to you and turn the ball over,” Bashore said. “We did a really nice job with not allowing that to happen tonight.”
More offensive efficiency is a goal for the Raiders. Bashore hopes to not see any more games in the 30s, and his players agree.
“We’re getting there,” Francis said. “We want to keep limiting our losses and just keep working hard and cleaning it up on the offensive end and making sure our scoring is smoother.”
Russia’s Cami Schafer and Fort Loramie’s Olivia Brandewie battle for a loose ball on the floor.
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