Fish Report

Monday, March 6, 2017

Russia Girls Basketball Wins District Championship

Russia senior Maria Herron got Covington's best defensive
effort and a district title to go along with it

A former local girls basketball coach came up to me shortly after Saturday's district championship game between Russia and Covington. He shook his head and exclaimed, "If you would have told me Russia could beat Covington without Maria Herron scoring a single field goal the entire game, I would have called you crazy!" The fact is, if I would have actually said that about the Russia senior, I might have questioned my own sanity! Credit Covington for an absolutely stellar defensive effort on the Shelby County Player of the Year who ended the game 5-for-6 from the free throw line, all in the 4th quarter, for all five of her points. More importantly, credit Herron's coaches and teammates. On top of that list Saturday was Tiffany Hatcher, Russia's only other senior, who came up big when her team needed it most to lead the Lady Raiders to a 42-28 District Championship.

Quarter 1

Hatcher's two 3's, two free throws and

two steals led Russia in the first half

If Russia fans were nervous about a slow start, Hatcher calmed their fears immediately when she buried a three-pointer from the corner seven seconds into the game. Additional baskets by junior Cameo Wilson and sophomore Laurissa Poling built a 7-2 Lady Raiders lead. Covington clawed back, led by star point guard Sammi Whiteman, a 1st team All-CCC sophomore. Whiteman connected on her own three-pointer and another short jumper on an ensuing possession to eventually tie the score at 9-9. The teams ended the quarter with Lady Buccs leading 11-9.

Quarter 2
Hatcher kick-started her team again 37 seconds into the quarter with two free throws to knot things up at 11. Russia eventually got a brief lead at the 5:38 mark with an old fashioned three-point play by Poling to make the score 14-13, but Covington senior guard Addison Metz got hot canning back-to-back field goals along with a Whiteman jumper to give the Lady Buccs their biggest lead of the game at five points. Russia responded with a Wilson layup and Hatcher nailed another three-pointer to bring Russia fans to their feet and tie the score at 19. Covington senior Lexie Long ended the period with a layup to make it 21-19 and the Buccs maintained the same two-point advantage they had after the first quarter.

Perhaps the most significant statistic of the first half was that 10 Russia turnovers turned into 10 points for Covington while seven Covington turnovers resulted in only five points for Russia. The most glaring stat for Russia fans, however, was just three Lady Raiders had scored with Hatcher's 8, Wilson's 6 and Poling's 5 compared to a balanced attack by the Lady Buccs with six scorers overall, led by Whiteman with 7.

Russia's All-SCAL post players Poling and Wilson had a solid first half. Poling scored five points, had five rebounds and four blocks. Wilson netted six points on 3-for-5 shooting.

Pleiman, a point guard, was second
in rebounds for Russia with five

Quarter 3

The third period started with a pair of free throws from Russia junior Whitney Pleiman and then, on cue, Hatcher drilled another three-pointer to put the Raiders up 24-21 and give them a lead they wouldn't relinquish. Poling closed out the quarter with Russia's final three points for a 27-23 lead. At this point, Herron still hadn't scored, but she had a huge quarter defensively with four steals and helped force Covington into 10 turnovers, more than they had the entire first half. It was Herron's defense that set the tone for the entire second half.

Quarter 4

Russia sophomore Jenna Cordonnier opened the scoring with her only field goal of the game, but Covington starter Victoria Lyle quickly hit a couple free throws to keep the Buccs within striking distance at 29-25. That was close enough for Hatcher, as she stepped up to nail a jumper and two free throws at the 3:11 mark to make the score 33-25. Russia scored on free throws the rest of the game, nine more times, including the five by Herron, to make the final score seem worse than it actually was at 42-28.

The game was certainly a tale of two halves. In the second half, Russia scored seven points off 11 Covington turnovers while Covington couldn't cash in on any of Russia's six turnovers. Russia also balanced their scoring attack with six girls as Covington managed just two scorers. Russia's defensive effort left the Lady Buccs without a field goal the entire second half on 0-for-21 shooting. All seven of Covington's second half points came from the foul line. The Lady Buccs bowed out of the tournament at 20-6 while Russia improved to 21-5 and advances to play Minster (23-2) in the Regional Tournament this Thursday at 8:00 in Vandalia Butler's Student Activity Center.

Box Score:

Russia (42) - Hatcher 11-4-15, Poling 6-2-8, Wilson 6-2-8, Herron 0-5-5, Cordonnier 2-2-4, Pleiman 0-2-2

Covington (28) - Whiteman 7-5-12, Metz 4-2-6, Lyle 2-2-4, Christian 2-0-2, L.Long 2-0-2, Warner 2-0-2

The district title was Russia's third since 2012 and their 21 wins is one away from tying a school record of 22 wins set in 1994.

Tuesday, February 28, 2017

More Local eBay Memorabilia - Dave’s Midwestern Ohio Memories

A Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s.

More Local eBay Memorabilia

The above license plate tag advertising Wentz Chevrolet in Anna brought to mind a very early memory (I was three) when my Dad purchased a brand new ’51 Chevy from the dealership and the car had the same tag offered on eBay. Actually my very first memory was going out with Mom in our old pre-war 1937 Chevy on a cold February morning and the car wouldn’t start. Dad eventually had to hand crank it to get it started, after which we drove to Wentz’s in Anna to pick out a new car from their lot, trading in the old ’37. Probably just needed a battery, but no doubt Mom said enough is enough with the old clunker.

1937 and 1951 Chevrolet

The above eBay offerings related to Ft. Loramie places of business were all favorites of my parents. Vogelsang’s, the Ft. Loramie Hotel and Earl’s Island were great places to eat (and drink) around town, all demolished in recent years. Ray Larger and his brother Ralph picked up the cans of milk like those pictured below each day that were stored in a tank of cool water after milking the cows to keep the milk fresh. And feed for those milk cows (plus hogs and chickens) came from Holthaus Elevator, also since demolished. Our family’s Holthaus Elevator knife had been sharpened so many times, most of the name had disappeared. And Borchers Store as depicted in an old advertising flyer shown above was without a doubt, the most frequently used place of business by Mom & Dad. Here’s a previous blogpost about the Borchers brothers, owners of the store.

One of my favorite eBay offerings about local memorabilia is the postcard below of St. Augustine’s church in Minster. Since we had many relatives on both sides of the family who lived in Minster, we frequently attended a baptism, first communion, wedding or funeral at the beautiful church. Our relatives would brag that they had the only double steeple church in the area, but Dad would reply that St. Michael’s steeple was the tallest.

Speaking of Minster, wonder if the current owners of Bud’s Pizza would honor the old token shown below. It may be worth as much as a pizza! And there’s the interesting photo below of Minster's old Crescent Theater on the cover of a 1980 vinyl record featuring Jim Prenger and his Dive Bar Stars! Their songs are still on YouTube.