Miami East swatted away Bethel and cut down the nets Thursday night after winning the TRC, but the Vikings are not slowing down now.
By Marcus Hartman for Press Pros
Casstown, OH — The Miami East girls basketball team completed a 14-0 Three Rivers Conference season Thursday night with a 42-31 win over cross-county rival Bethel.
The Vikings (16-3 overall) hope they are just getting started, though.
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The draw for the Division V sectional tournament is Sunday, but coach Preston Elifritz has been preparing Miami East all season, his first back in charge of the program in a decade.
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They played Tri-Village and Versailles before the first of the year (both losses), won at Piqua and beat visiting Graham in January.
The Vikings went to Dayton and absorbed a 70-45 loss to Chaminade Julienne two weeks ago, but Elifritz wasn’t too shaken by that.
It’s all part of the plan.
“They laid one on us,” he said of the Eagles, who are 14-5 and won the GLC Coed championship. “Man, it was a good learning tool for us. We saw bigger kids, stronger kids, and just kids that maybe live and breathe basketball.
“Next week is going to be a gauntlet for us, too. I mean, we have Anna, we have West (Liberty-Salem), and we go to Troy, another local rivalry.”
East coach Preston Elifritz is back on the bench after a decade’s absence. “Obviously the goal is to win the TRC. But second…let’s get ready for the tournament.” (Press Pros Feature Photos by Lee Woolery)
He is intentionally scheduling bigger schools to make sure his team is ready for whatever it encounters in the postseason.
“We’re seeking those opportunities to sharpen a little bit because I don’t care about nonconference record,” he said. “Obviously the goal is to win the TRC, but then secondly, let’s get ready for tournament.”
Given the schedule, Elifritz already knew what kind of team he had going into Thursday night’s rematch with Bethel, who lost the first matchup 54-34 on Dec. 20.
The Vikings scored 23 points in the first quarter of that game, but this was a much different outing with both teams slogging through turnovers early.
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Miami East senior guard Mara Fine hit a baseline jumper less than a minute into the game to start the scoring, and classmate Kylie Gentis hit a 3-pointer to make it 5-0, then added a basket from close range to make it 7-0.
Sophomore standout Caitlyn Jefferson got the Bees on the board with a long jumper from the corner at the 3:51 mark and added a driving scoop shot for two more two minutes later, but that was all the offense Bethel could muster in the opening stanza.
East led 12-4 at the end of one and stretched the advantage to 10 points for the first time when Vikings freshman Claire Antonides put back her own miss on the first possession of the second quarter.
Bethel sophomore Jocelyn Stegner picked off a pass at midcourt and took it the distance for a Bethel basket halfway through the second quarter, but that would be the visitors’ only tally of the quarter.
“We definitely had to remind ourselves, just like play how we know how to play and don’t force things and just stay confident and stay true to ourselves,” Fine said of the slow start. “I think we’re just continuing to grow as it goes, and we have a big group of girls, so practices are great. We have a lot of competition in practice, and that’s helped us just get better and better.”
Down 24-8, the Bees flashed some life with an 8-2 run to end the third quarter.
Vikings’ junior Lokivia Laughman scores over Bethel’s Caitlynn Jeffereson.
They had a chance to get within 10 as time wound down, but Mady Halfhill had a layup rim out.
To make that sting more, Fine banked home a 3-pointer from 25 feet as time expired to push East’s lead back to 15 points, 31-16, instead.
Bethel did get to within 10 with two minutes to go thanks to Jefferson’s relentless attacking of the basket, but the Bees turned the ball over with a chance to cut the lead to single digits.
Gentis then made them pay with a basket from the low block to effectively put the game away.
She finished with 17 points and one piece of the net the team cut down after the game to celebrate their second conference title in three years.
Gentis played 14 varsity games in ’24, when the Vikings were undefeated in the regular season but suffered an upset loss to West Liberty-Salem in their second tournament game. That is a fate they are intent on avoiding this season, and youngsters such as Antonides and Marin Howell figure to be integral in making it so.
“It’s been good because they obviously bring a lot to us, but then we also can help them, because we have experience,” Gentis said. “I think just the way we’re playing is different. With the coaching change, the style is different.”
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And what is that playing style?
“Just aggressive, like nonstop,” she said. “And we’re always looking to score. We’re not just trying to run time off the board, and our defensive energy has been really good lately.”
Howell, who entered the night averaging a team-best 10.5 points per game, had only four points against the Bees while Antonides had three, but junior Emma Suber stepped up with eight, doubling her season scoring average.
“We’ve got 12 kids on varsity, and any given night, it’s any given individual,” Elifritz said. “So for us, that’s a an awesome thing. For us, I feel like that’s hard to guard when we can come off the bench 12 deep, and the fun thing is for me as a coach, then I get to find who it is that night. So if we’ve got some kids struggling, hey, next man up.”
Bethel finished second in the TRC with a young lineup featuring Jefferson (16.6 points per game) and Stegner (11.5) as the focal points.
Jefferson had 15 points Thursday night while Stegner and senior Isabella Halleg had six apiece.
The Bees (17-3, 11-3) will play Piqua and Graham before going into the Division IV tournament as a likely high seed.
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