Eleven athletes and two coaches from Clermont County brought home the Buckeye State Battleground title at Wooster on Friday, July 1. Photo provided.
Last year, Clermont County’s representation at the Buckeye State Battlegrounds tournament came up painfully short in their quest for a championship.
Not this time.
Eleven county athletes took home the title on Friday, July 1, besting 15 other counties across the state for the championship at The College of Wooster.
In all, a total of 11 local athletes competed on the Clermont County team. Five players from West Clermont participated: Madison Acuff, Layla Lammert, Paige Rodriguez, Taylor Schmidt and Anna Swisshelm.
Three Milford athletes were on the squad: Miah O’Toole, Violet Shuluga and Katie Tatum. Two Goshen players, Myah Redmon and Peyton Shafer joined Liana Devore, a Cincinnati Trailblazer, to round out the roster.
Some of those players played with head coach Drew Fladung in last year’s tournament. This year’s team was also assisted by former Milford player Paige Ayler, who was a member of the 2021 team.
“Six of the current 11 played on the team last year, so they were used to the setup of the event,” Fladung said. “They knew they’d have to play six if they wanted to win the whole thing and they never waivered.”
The group finished a perfect 6-0 on the day, including three pool play wins that started with a victory over Pickaway County at 10 a.m.
“We played a smaller county from up north, got out to a really big lead and held on to it,” head coach Drew Fladung said. “Kind of coasted in that one.”
Following that win, the Clermont Countians faced off against a team from Franklin County.
“They had kids from Reynoldsburg, Dublin, places like that,” Fladung said. “Big, Division I schools. We got on them early, made a run late and we won that one pretty comfortably.”
Clermont’s third pool game was against one of the two teams from Wayne County.
“Third game was back-and-forth,” Fladung said. “We won that one by 12. We were leading pretty much the whole time.”
In the championship quarterfinals, Clermont County was matched up against Lawrence County.
“That was a tough one,” Fladung said. “Back and forth game. We’d get a four-point lead and then be down by two, stretch it out to six and they’d tie it back up. We had a group of five finish out the game.”
That victory sent the team to the semifinals against Fairfield County.
“We played a really athletic team that had kids from Pickerington Central and some other DI powerhouses on it,” Fladung said. “We had an eight-point lead throughout the game then by the end of it we stretched it out to double-digits.”
A win over Fairfield put the locals into the championship game against Mahoming County.
“We were exhausted, the other team was exhausted,” Fladung said. “Exciting last game, it was good.”
Clermont led by six late only to see that advantage evaporate. The locals trailed but rallied to take a three-point lead with 12 seconds remaining.
Mahoning hit a three-point shot to tie the game only to see Swisshelm draw a foul and connect on the free-throw with two seconds left to push the locals to the title.
Swisshelm stepping up late was a microcosm of how the tournament as a whole unfolded for the team. Different players made plays when they needed to, according to Fladung.
“We didn’t have one go-to player,” Fladung said. “We weren’t guard reliant. We weren’t big reliant…It seemed like every game, someone knew stepped up. It was cool to see the balance and people step up in the big moments.”
Prior to leaving for Wooster, the team had a few chances to get to know each other on the court beforehand.
“We had one-hour practices two days before the event,” Fladung said. “We got together, got acquainted and put in two set plays. We talked about what we wanted to do on offense and defense and then just went out and played. I was thrilled how cohesive they were, not having much time together. The West Clermont and Milford kids know each other having played against each other but the Goshen kids came in and were such great additions.”
Shafer and Redmon helped add another dimension to the team that served them well throughout the tournament.
“They fit right in, they moved the ball well, they shared it well and they offered us something different,” Fladung said. “The cohesion for the group looked at times like they had been playing for years. It was neat to see.”
It also reflected well on the county as a whole, showing just how much talent can be found in this little slice of southwest Ohio.
“It’s a great representation of the talent we have at Clermont County and it’s not just at one school, it’s spread out,” Fladung said. “To say you have the top county girls basketball team in the state is something we’ll hang our hats on.”