Your 2021-22 Russia girls basketball team

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Meet this year's Russia Raiders girls basketball team (Photo by Cindy Saunders)

The 2021-22 Russia varsity girls basketball team has lots to look forward to when they open the season on Friday, November 19th. For starters, they’ll be led by a new head coach, but a familiar name to Raider fans. Paul Bremigan takes over the program after coaching the Russia boys from 1984-2015. Since then, Bremigan also coached the Troy Trojans varsity boys four seasons and has accumulated a career total of 471 wins through 35 seasons. Joining the head coach will be two new assistants in Rachel Borchers and Tracy Schulze. Leading the junior varsity team will be longtime Raiders girls coach, Bruce Borchers. Gone from last year is former head coach Andy Timmerman after accepting a coaching and teaching position with his alma mater at New Bremen. Also gone from last year’s roster due to graduation are the trio of Kendall Monnin, an All-SCAL honoree, along with Ashley Scott and Katelyn Monnin.

Friday’s first game for Division IV Russia will renew a traditional opener versus Division I Sidney, and is a varsity contest only with tipoff at 7:00. The Raiders previously opened their schedule versus the Yellow Jackets for 19 consecutive years from 2001 to 2019. Last year’s game was cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions from the Miami Valley League, of which Sidney is a member. During that 19 year span, Russia led the head-to-head series with a record of 13-6. Many of those battles have been close with two games going into overtime and two going into double overtime.

This year’s Russia roster includes three seniors in Sophie Francis, Riley Hammonds and Ella Hoehne. Francis was a solid ball handler on the varsity last season where she ran the point and played at wing, averaging 3.0 points per game with her season high of 9 points versus Houston. With Sophie’s height this season, it won’t be surprising to see her spend some time down on the low blocks. Hammonds will play her first full season of varsity after logging the majority of minutes last year on the junior varsity. Riley is the 2021 SCAL Softball Player of the Year and will certainly bring that same competitive mentality and athleticism to the basketball team. Hoehne, an All-SCAL Honorable Mention honoree, was the Raiders second leading scorer last season at 8.5 ppg and will be looked at to score down low with her height advantage and veteran presence. Ella’s season best was 22 points versus Covington and that outburst led all Raiders last year.

The junior class at Russia is stacked with seven players that includes Cece Borchers, Kelby Doseck, Eliza Gariety, Reese Goubeaux, Miah Monnin, Simone Puthoff and Kate Sherman. Returning starters from that group are Goubeaux, Puthoff and Sherman. Reese averaged 5.5 ppg mainly at the point with her season high of 12 versus Fairlawn. Kate, an All-SCAL 1st-Team honoree, led all Raiders with 9.0 ppg and her season high was 16 versus Versailles. Simone averaged 5.0 ppg with a season high of 13 versus Newton and was one of the better defenders on the team. While Cece Borchers would have started for most other teams in the area last year, her role off the bench resulted in being the third leading scorer at 7.5 ppg with a season high of 16 against Versailles. Kelby Doseck and Miah Monnin were sporadic additions to the varsity roster last year and both got a good taste of what this long varsity season will bring. The final junior, Eliza Gariety, logged a boatload of JV minutes last season and that experience earned her opportunity with the varsity this year.

Rounding out the varsity roster will be sophomores Roni Poling and Carley Scott, both JV players last year. If their successes in volleyball this fall transition to basketball this winter, each could be future stars for the Raiders.

Russia faces a monster schedule the first five days of the season. After their Sidney opener, the team hosts perennial powerhouse Minster on Saturday and follows that with a trip to defending state champion Ft. Loramie on Tuesday. Other highlights include visiting Tri-Village on December 7th for a rematch of last year's district final which ended Russia's season. On Tuesday, December 28th and Wednesday, December 29th, the Raiders play in Covington's Buccaneer Holiday Classic. Finally, Russia will end their regular season schedule at home on February 5th versus backyard rival Versailles, the first time they've closed the season against the Tigers since 2001.