Points, and opportunities for points came tough inside against Strasburg’s defense and standout center Ally Miller. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
In a game where you want to be your best, the Russia Raiders shot just 15% from the floor, and never scored more than 5 points in a quarter…a bitter loss to Strasburg in the OHSAA Division VII final.
Dayton, OH – Russia coach Mike Bashore could hardly contain himself in the post-game press conference, minutes following his Raiders’ crushing 38-17 loss to Strasburg-Franklin High School in Saturday’s Division VII Finals at UD Arena.
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“Hats off to Strasburg,” he began. “They earned it. But the amount of effort that these girls put into basketball every day is unreal. We’ve got a girl playing on a bad ankle, one with a black eye, and still they show up every day. I feel bad for them.
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“They wanted this so bad. They’ve worked so hard. And today it just didn’t go our way. They played so hard, and that’s all you can ask for out of a group of kids. And we’ve got some seniors that haven’t gotten much chance to play, and that’s my fault. And they still work hard and show up. They’re such a great group of kids to be around and I just feel bad for them.”
To his point, no…it didn’t go their way, thanks to Strasburg, its defense, and the chip with which it played as the state’s #3-ranked team playing the #2-ranked team. Russia’s reputation for being a defensive-oriented team – we win with our defense – served as a challenge and motivation to coach Tyler Bates’ equally defensive-oriented Tigers team.
And while Strasburg was making its first Final Four appearance in girls basketball, it’s a school district with a long history of championships and success in softball. Whether or not any of its basketball players play softball is uncertain, but regardless, they played like they were aware of what it took to play your best when it matters most.
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The Tigers were aggressive at both ends. Their cuts and screens were sharp. They had a plan to get the ball inside to 6-foot center Ally Miller, whose ability in the post to make herself open was as good as it gets. And when the ball came to her, she caught it securely, turned, and used her superior size to score.
Raiders’ Hazel Francis takes a shot to the nose on this drive in the third quarter of Saturday’s Division VII final with Strasburg.
By contrast, Russia was timid at first, appeared nervous on the big stage, and in front of the entire Russia sports community. This was, for sure, the farthest Russia girls basketball had ever been. From the outset they seemed to size up Strasburg, rather than attack on offense. Strasburg took advantage, and attacked them on defense, creating turnovers and indecision.
The Tigers had scored 9 points before Russia even dented the scoreboard. Finally, at 3:00 of the first quarter, Hazel Francis got them in lights with a pair of free throws. Even then, they didn’t score a field goal until Aryanna Cordonnier hit a runner from the lane, under heavy duress, at 1:25.
Still, they were well within reach of the lead as the clock closed out the quarter with Strasburg leading, 11-5.
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The second quarter started in similar fashion for the Raiders, with Faith York losing the inbounds pass out of bounds, one of 17 turnovers suffered by Russia on the day, and the first of three Raiders turnovers in the next four possessions.
Shocked on offense, the Raiders still played hard on defense, doing their best to keep the ball out of Miller’s hands in the post…because if she handled the ball it became automatic points. The lead grew to nine, and Bashore called a timeout with two minutes left in the half, desperate to calm his team and organize some kind of scoring opportunity before the half – some momentum.
The Raiders play defense, too…Celeste Borchers blocks the shot attempt of Strasburg’s Olivia Spidell.
But they didn’t score, and Strasburg went to the locker room feeling pretty sure at this point…they could make it long day for the #2-ranked Raiders, who scored just 3 points in the second quarter.
Like with the second quarter, Russia turned the ball over on their first two possessions, while Strasburg scored the first four points. The Tigers seemed to play in another gear, as if they were determined to hold Russia to 3 points or less. But Celeste Borchers made a statement early, scoring on a three-point play underneath to make the score 21-11.
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Moments later, Hazel Francis drove the ball right down the lane to the rim with intent to score, only to get whacked in the head for a foul. She missed both free throws, and that seemed to motivate Strasburg all the more. Grabbing the rebound, they lobbed the ball the length of the court, beat the Raiders to the other end, and scored on an easy layup to go up 25-11, the biggest deficit of the game.
Aryanna Cordonnier gets caught in a Tigers’ trap during the first half of Saturday’s Division VII Final.
Russia tried pressing, only to have Strasburg guard Olivia Spidell spot Ally Miller sprinting downcourt and threw it over the top of the press, hitting Miller in stride for another bucket. Mike Bashore hung his head on the sideline, knowing that his team was in deep trouble.
“At that point I thought the game would be like 30-28, never thinking that we would have that much trouble scoring,” said Bashore, afterwards. “But even when we had open looks we weren’t making them. We missed a lot of bunnies around the basket. We couldn’t get anything to stick.”
Indeed, for the first half the Raiders had hit just 2 of 13 attempts for 15.3%
And for the third quarter they were 1 of 10 against Strasburg’s determined push to hold them scoreless.
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Trailing 31-11 at the start of the fourth quarter, Strasburg now had their sights set on finishing strong – taking nothing for granted. Celeste Borchers hit a pair of free throws at 31-13, to score Russia’s first points in 8 minutes of actual game time, but more like 30 minutes in real time.
Moments later Hazel Francis would score her only bucket of the game after taking a shot to the nose…and in the final two minutes substitute Kourtney Phlipot would pick up a loose ball and run to the hoop to score on a layup. Moments later, time ran out on a most successful season, with an unexpected, and disappointing conclusion…38-17.
Faith York struggles for room to operate against Strasburg in the Division VII championship Final.
“They kind of did what we do to people, on defense,” Bashore concluded in the hallway, outside the post-game press conference. “We just couldn’t make anything. Were the girls nervous? I don’t know, but when we got inside we stopped, instead of going right at the big girl (Miller). That’s one thing I thought we could have done better.
“But we really only have one shooter on the team [at a time], and when we rotate a different shooter we become a different kind of team. So when we take Aryanna out of it we have to rely on driving to the rim, and we’ve been able to do that for 28 games, up until today. But they play as good a defense as we do, and they did it better than us today.”
Russia finished shooting just 15.2% from the floor, never made a three-point shot, and their salvation came at the free throw line, where they hit 7 of 10 (70%). Celeste Borchers led them with 7 points, Hazel Francis had 4, and Aryanna Cordonnier finished with 3. Ruby Francis had 1 and Kourtney Phlipot had 2.
Strasburg would shoot 38.7% from the floor, hit 1 of 7 from three-point range, and 13 of 15 from the foul line. The Tigers closed their season with a record of 25-5.
Russia finished their season with record of 25-4, the best in program history, and can claim their first SCAL league title in 32 seasons this year.
Still, there were tears, and disappointment over coming so far and only scoring 17 points on the biggest platform in Ohio girls basketball.
“We’ll be able to look back at things a lot more positively in a couple of days,” Bashore added, finally managing a smile. “Everything we did this year was a result of the girls effort. I was just along for the ride.”
And it wasn’t a bad ride, either. Except for that one bump at the end of the road.
The 2026 Division VII state runners-up from Russia High School. Congratulations, Lady Raiders!
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