Tecumseh finished 12-12, including a 5-5 mark in the CBC Kenton Trail division, for the second season in a row after three straight seasons with at least 15 wins.
The Arrows won the division in 2021 and ’23 under Russell, who took over as head coach in 2019, and she is hopeful more days like that are ahead because of the youth in her lineup this season.
Alivia Snider was the only senior in the starting lineup against the Yellow Jackets. She was joined by juniors Sammy Russell and Rieley Lokai and freshmen Caylah Bednarczyk and Ava Loudenback.
“You hope that they take the season and learn because it’s tough being a freshman playing against juniors and seniors,” the coach said. “Especially like Caylah’s in a position where she has to make a lot of choices in decision making, and she did a really good job with that this year. Ava’s still finding her footing, but she rebounds really, really well, and we just have to get better defensively, and hopefully we’ll mature some and be ready to compete in games like that.”
Credit: DaytonDailyNews
The 5-foot-3 Bednarczyk averaged 8.8 points per game but scored a team-high 13 points against the Yellow Jackets while Sammy Russell finished with nine — 13 off her season average that is second in the CBC.
The 5-8 Sammy Russell carried the dual burden of being the focal point of Sidney’s defensive effort and the coach’s daughter.
“It’s a responsibility, and she works hard in the time that’s not in practice to be that person,” Chasity Russell said. “They just weren’t falling for her tonight, and she made a couple bad choices I felt like, but, you know, everybody’s entitled to have an off game.”
Credit: Marcus Hartman
Credit: Marcus Hartman
The younger Russell made the All-CBC first team while Bednarczyk made the second team, Lokai received special mention and Loudenback won the sportsmanship award.
With them due back to form the nucleus of the 2025-26 team, Russell said improving on the defensive end will be a focus this spring and summer.
“Any game that should have been close, we struggled defensively,” the coach said. “So that is something we’ve got to get better at.”
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