By Chris Chaney
Sports Editor
On a day when Southern Buckeye Conference divisional affiliations only mattered for match up purposes, the Goshen Lady Warriors proved that they were the best of both sides of the league.
Playing in the championship game of the third edition of the SBC Girls Basketball Tournament, Goshen faced off against the National Division champions, Blanchester, the only team in the 12-team conference the Lady Warriors had not yet played this season.
“We knew it was going to be a tough game,” Goshen head coach Brandon Baker said of the SBC Tournament match up. “We knew Blanchester was a very good team. They’re very physical, they’re very well coached. So before we even stepped onto the floor, we knew it was going to be a hard-fought game. If nothing else, we knew it was going to be a great kind of game to get us ready for the atmosphere and physicality of the state tournament, so we were happy to play Blanchester.
“Another reason we were happy to play Blanchester was because that was one team that we hadn’t played this year. We had played five teams from the other division, but not Blanchester, so we looked at it as a chance to put our name at the top of the conference regardless of division.”
Goshen was able to do just that with a 33-28 win over the Lady Wildcats, giving them bragging rights not only over the American Division in which they went 10-0 this season, but over the entire conference where they played to a 16-0 mark.
“It was a big deal to us,” Baker said. “Winning the league was a goal from our first practice as a team. I knew that we had some good pieces and that if we played well, we’d be tough to beat, but they came out and exceeded our expectations.
“We wanted to put ‘2016’ on that (conference championship) banner. We went 5-0 in the first half. Goal No. 1 was to win the league, but now goal No. 2 was to run the table. Talking about that perfect record and working towards it in practice was a big part of our success.”
The next chapter of the Lady Warriors success begins on Tuesday, Feb. 16 when they kick off the sectional portion of the state tournament. Awarded the No. 3 seed in Division II by coaches around the area, Baker said he believes that his team received the respect that they earned.
“I was happy with the three seed,” he said. “I was happy for the girls that the teams in the area had shown them the respect that they earned. Mariemont and Wyoming, the two teams ranked ahead of us, have had really, really good seasons with some really, really quality wins. I have a lot of respect for those teams and the fact that they were ranked ahead of us, I thought that was about right.”
The sectional draw played out the way Baker expected with the No.2 seed Wyoming going into the opposite bracket of Mariemont. Goshen, as the three seed, went into Wyoming’s bracket on the opposite side as well, setting up a sectional final against the Lady Cowboys if things play out according to seeding.
However, Baker said he and his team aren’t looking ahead to the possible match up with Wyoming in the sectional final. With a solid 19-3 campaign as their jumping off point, the fresh start that the sectional tournament provides is equal for all teams.
Playing and beating No. 10 Indian Hill in the first round — a team they defeated 46-44 on Jan. 3 — is Goshen’s first and only priority.
“Indian Hill is a really good team,” Baker said. “We played them in a really close game earlier this year and I expect it to be another close game when we play them (on Tuesday).
“I’m happy with our draw. We’re playing a good team and if we were to win, we would play another good one in the winner of Hughes and Batavia. But once you get to the state tournament, there’s not a lot of easy ones, especially when there is a really good team like Mariemont that a lot of teams are trying to stay away from, which makes for a more difficult path for the two and three seeds of the world.
“The goal is one at a time. We’re just setting one-game goals at this point. Right now, we’re 19-3 and we figure that a 20-win season is a really cool thing, so right now, that’s our goal. We’re looking at Indian Hill and our goal is beat them, get to 20 (wins) and if that happens, we’ll set a new goal for the next round when we play the winner of Batavia and Hughes.”
The Lady Warriors’ quest for that 20th win is scheduled for Feb. 16 at Withrow High School at 7:30 p.m.
Full sectional tournament brackets for all divisions are available at swdab.org.