Sun staff
The Eastern Cincinnati Conference released their inaugural girls’ basketball All-Conference teams earlier this month, which included a good mix of veteran leaders ready to move onto college as well as up-and-comers ready to fill their shoes.
Glen Este led the way with five All-Conference selections highlighted by a trio of seniors on the First Team that put the Lady Trojans back on the map as a team worthy of elite status.
“(Glen Este) had always been a top-10 team in the city and competing for league championships, but the last two or three years, we’ve been middle of the road,” Lady Trojans head coach Jeff Click said earlier this season. “We’re hoping that this year we can be more consistent and take it up a notch. Not just be average, but have the potential to have a special group of players that will compete for the league championship and get back to being a team that’s worthy of a top-10 team in the city.”
A 16-7 season later and a runner-up finish in the ECC and Glen Este has certainly placed themselves in that conversation. The senior trio of Katie Gaskill, Jessie Brenes and Hannah Carson had a lot to do with that and they were honored for their hard work by being named to the First Team All-ECC.
All three were big contributors to the Lady Trojans’ cause, each among the top-10 leading scorers in the league.
Gaskill, a 5-foot-9 point-forward, led Glen Este with 11.7 points per game, 6.9 rebounds and 3.0 steals per game. Gaskill’s ability to impact the game on both ends of the court caused match-up problems for the Lady Trojans’ opponents and also opened up passing lanes as her driving ability forced defenses to collapse on her, freeing her up to find open teammates at a 3.5 assist per game clip.
Carson and Brenes were the benefactors of those kick-out passes with Carson hitting just under 40-percent of her three-point looks and Brenes not far behind at 36.3-percent.
Carson averaged 9.3 points per game and 1.2 assists to go along with 1.3 steals per game. Brenes was good for 10 points a night, along with 2.7 rebounds and 2.1 assists.
Joining the three seniors on the All Conference honor roll was freshman Kelly Simon, a Second Team selection and sophomore Lindsey Singleton, an Honorable Mention. Simon and Singleton will carry the torch lit by Gaskill, Carson and Brenes on to the next stage of Glen Este basketball.
The Lady Trojans’ Clermont County counterparts, Milford, were also honored in the postseason awards. Freshman Taylor Foster and junior Brooke McDonald both were named to the First Team. Both averaged just over seven points per game to lead the Lady Eagles.
A relatively young team, Milford seems to have a solid base returning next year. Buttressing Foster and McDonald is Second Team performer Shayna Simmons and Honorable Mention Erin Beurket.
Simmons, a junior, averaged six points and five rebounds a game. Beurket, in just her sophomore season, put up 3.4 points per game and 3.4 rebounds.