Shawnee girls collect 17th win of season

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CAMDEN — With its 50-35 win over Milton-Union on Thursday, Feb. 8 to wrap up the regular season, Preble Shawnee’s girls basketball team exceeded head coach Kevin Schaeffer’s expectations.

Schaeffer said he thought his team was capable of putting together a strong season and was optimistic it could win at least 15 games.

The Arrows did even better than Schaeffer had hoped, completing a 17-5 regular season, which included going 9-3 in the Southwestern Buckeye League’s Buckeye Division and a second place finish behind state-ranked Waynesville.

“I would say I was probably a little optimistic. I thought 14 or 15 wins was probably a realistic number based on how we played last year,” he said.

Shawnee opened a 15-10 lead after the first quarter and held a 25-16 halftime lead. The Arrows outscored the Bulldogs 25-19 in the second half.

“It was the best overall game we’ve played all year,” Schaeffer said.

Junior Nicole Sims scored 17 points and had four assists and four rebounds.

Senior Malorie Plaugher was 5-for-8 and finished with 10 points, four rebounds and blocked three shots.

Junior Jenna Lovely added nine points. Junior Logan Hollon grabbed a team-high seven rebounds and senior Shelbie Brown had six boards.

For the game, the Arrows were 19-of-48 from the field and only turned the ball over seven times.

“They are a good basketball team. They’re not bad. They’re very fundamental,” Schaeffer said the Milton-Union.

“It was one of the first games this year I would say the defense did well. Everything was perfect in that game. We knocked down some shots, we took the ball to the basket, we got to the free throw line. We checked off all the things that needed to be done to win. I was super happy after that game.”

Shawnee will have nearly two weeks off before its first sectional tournament game.

“It’s a good draw. I like what we got,” Schaeffer said.

Shawnee, the No. 7 seed, will meet No. 13 Greenon on Thursday, Feb. 22 at 7:30 p.m. in the Covington Division III sectional. A win would put the Arrows in the sectional final for the second straight season.

“It’s been an awesome year. Better than I could have imagined. The team chemistry has been good,” Schaeffer said.

By Eddie Mowen Jr.

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Reach Eddie Mowen Jr. at 937-683-4056 or on Twitter @emowen_RH

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