Anna Swisshelm (35), a 6-foot senior forward, led Cincinnati West Clermont with a 15.2 scoring average en route to first-team honors in Division I in selections for the 2022-2023 OPSWA All-Southwest Ohio girls basketball teams. Photo courtesy of West Clermont High School.
Wolves’ stars Swisshelm, Hicks are first-team selections in Southwest Ohio; Click is Coach of the Year
Angela Jones (10), a 5-foot-5 senior guard for Felicity-Franklin, averaged 21.2 points and five rebounds a game and was selected to the first team in Division IV in selections for the 2022-2023 OPSWA All-Southwest Ohio girls basketball teams. Submitted photo.
Seini Hicks (15), a 6-foot junior forward, averaged a double-double in scoring and rebounding for the season with 13 points and 10 rebounds per game to earn first-team honors in Division I in selections for the 2022-2023 OPSWA All-Southwest Ohio girls basketball teams. Photo courtesy of West Clermont High School.
The brilliance of a season that ended all too early was evident yet again.
Cincinnati West Clermont dominated Division I selections for the 2022-2023 OPSWA All-Southwest Ohio girls basketball teams, which were released last week.
In Division I, West Clermont’s Jeff Click was named Coach of the Year, and two of his players, Anna Swisshelm and Seini Hicks, were named to the Division I First Team. Teammate Layla Hale was named honorable mention. Angela Jones, of Felicity-Franklin, also earned first-team honors, in Division IV. Teams were selected by members of the Ohio Prep Sportswriter’s Association.
Led by Swisshelm and Hicks, the Wolves finished 24-1 overall and 16-0 in the Eastern Cincinnati Conference. They were ranked first in the state in the Martin RPI and MaxPreps polls and second in the AP poll, according to Click, with their season coming to an end after a 49-43 loss to Kings in a Southwest District Division I section final Feb. 20.
Still, it was a hugely successful season for the Wolves, and that carried over to these postseason accolades.
“This is a great accomplishment to have two players selected for the first team in Division I in Southwest Ohio,” Click said. “This is the best of the best – historically, this area and division are loaded with great players, and this year is not any different.”
Swisshelm, a 6-foot senior forward, led the Wolves with a 15.2 scoring average in 2022-23. She also averaged 4.6 rebounds a game and shot 81.1 percent from the free-throw line and 52.1 percent from the field, including 41.7 percent from 3-point range.
“Swiss is a very complete and efficient player,” Click said. “In her two years in our program, she grew tremendously in understanding when and how to get to her spots to score, inside and out. It was a great pleasure to coach her in high school and AAU.”
Hicks, a 6-foot junior forward in her first year with the Wolves after moving from North Carolina, averaged a double-double in scoring and rebounding for the season with 13 points and 10 rebounds per game. She also averaged 2.4 steals, 1.5 assists and 1.4 blocked shots.
“Seini is a high-motor/energy player,” Click said. “She stuffs the stat sheet and impacts the game in many ways on both ends of the floor. She’s a worker who is always in the gym, and this is why her game will continue to grow and improve, leading her to become the complete player she wants to be.”
The efforts of Hicks and Swisshelm – and all the Wolves players and coaches, for that matter – had everything to do with Click’s honor, he said.
“It’s a great honor to be selected Coach of the Year for Southwest Ohio, but it’s only possible because of two things: my team and my coaching staff,” Click said. “I have the best coaching staff to work with – the way we work together and support each other is special. We have the hardest-working and most-coachable group of kids. They were an amazing group to coach this season and I would trade every award for the opportunity to coach them again.”
Also in Division I, Amiyah O’Toole and Violet Shuluga, both of Milford, were named to the honorable mention squad.
In Division II, Peyton Shafer of Goshen was named to the second team. The 5-9 junior guard averaged 19.2 ppg. Sydney Miller of New Richmond and Lucy Thompson of Batavia were named honorable mention.
In Division III, Emma Yeager of Clermont Northeastern was selected to the second team. Yeager, a 5-9 freshman forward, averaged 10.1 ppg and 8.9 rpg. Teammate Tiffany Drewry and Ashley Bee of Bethel-Tate were named honorable mention in Division III.
In Division IV, Jones, a 5-5 senior guard for Felicity-Franklin, averaged 21.2 points and five rebounds a game en route to first-team honors.
“I am so proud of the hard work Angela has put in over the last four seasons. She’s a lights-out shooter with serious grit,” said Felicity-Franklin coach Josie Buckingham. “She had great leadership and is more than deserving of her accomplishments.”
On the boys side, in Division III, Conner Yeager of Clermont Northeastern was named to the second team. The 6-4 sophomore center averaged a double-double of 13.5 points and 14.0 rebounds per game.
Luke Abbott of New Richmond was named to the third team in Division II. Abbott, a 6-1 senior guard, averaged 15.8 points and 7.6 rebounds.
Earning honorable mention: In Division I, Caden Zeinner and Conner Moore of Goshen; Erich Morgan, Gavin Dalen and Matt O’Donnell, of Milford; in Division II, Austin Brookenthal, Bethel-Tate; Jess Roller, Batavia; and Ryan Utter, New Richmond; and in Division III, Toby Humphries, Williamsburg.