Winter Sports Review

Introduction

Because the Winter Sports season has come to a close, it’s time to take a look back at how our Panthers performed this season. We will be taking a look at the seasons of Men’s Basketball, Women’s Basketball, Wrestling, Men’s Bowling, Women’s Bowling, and Academic Team.

Men's Basketball

The Panthers Men’s Basketball Team finished 8th in the ECC, with a conference record of 6-10, and an overall record of 10-13. The Panthers were led in scoring by Senior Brayden Bischoff who had 10.4 PPG and scored 208 points total. Leading the team in Assists is Junior Elisha Jones, who had 2.5 APG and 50 assists total this season. Taking the number 1 spot for rebounding on the team is Sophomore Carter Sellers. Sellers had an average of 3.6 RPG and 61 rebounds this season. The Men’s Basketball Team had multiple big moments and games, so I’ve found a few that I believe made this year special.

On the 14th of January, our Panthers hosted a former SWOC rival, the Northwest Knights. In 2020, the Panthers left the Southwest Ohio Conference(SWOC) and joined the division we are currently in, the Eastern Cincinnati Conference(ECC). At the end of the 1st quarter, our Panthers trailed by 2 points. In the second quarter, the Panthers bounced back scoring 20 points in the quarter. Going into the half, the score was 30-22 with the Panthers leading. In the 3rd, the Panthers started to pull away with the win, scoring 18 points in the 3rd. In the 4th period, there was a scuffle on the court between two players, in which the referee made a controversial call, which our home crowd did not like. Even with the bad call, our Panthers pulled away with the win, with the final score of 71-60. We were led by Seniors Connor Williams, Brayden Bischoff, and Junior Jake Wittenauer who combined for 44 points, 7 assists, 7 rebounds, and 5 steals.

Another memorable moment occurred on January 3rd when our Panthers hosted an ECC opponent, the West Clermont Wolves.  This game was a big game, having effects on our standings for the ECC Championship.  Our Panthers fought hard, but the game ended up going into double overtime!  At the end of double overtime, our Panthers stood victorious, with a final score of 57-53.  Leading our team in scoring was Junior Jake Wittenauer, with 20 points.  It seemed like almost everyone on our team was able to score, including fan favorite, Senior Aiden Whittington.  

The Men’s Basketball team’s final game occurred on February 18th, against ECC rival, the Kings Knights.  This game was a playoff game, meaning if you lose, your season is over. The Panthers had faced Kings twice earlier in the season, losing both matchups in close games.  With hopes to continue the run into the playoffs, our Panthers faced Kings with only one goal on their minds; Beat Kings.  Our Panthers fought hard, going back and forth between quarters.  Going into the half, the Panthers were down by two points, with a score of 32-30.  The Panthers came out of half ready to go, scoring 21 points on Kings, and going into the fourth quarter with the lead, 51-47.  Sadly, after playing their hearts out, the Panthers came just short of winning, having a hard time stopping Kings’ Senior Michael Mussari from scoring, who had 24 points in the game.  The Panthers were eliminated from the playoffs, with a final score of 66-72. 

Even though the 2022-23 season is over for the Men’s Basketball team, the hopes for next year are high.  There is hope in players who have the potential to have big roles on the team next season, such as Sophomore Carter Sellers, Junior Jake Wittenaur, Junior Elisha Jones, and Sophomore Connor Istnick.

Women's Basketball

The Lady Panthers finished 10th in the ECC with a conference record of 1-15, and an overall record of 2-21.  The Panthers were led in scoring by Sophomore Bella Houlillion, who averaged 10.6 PPG, and scored 233 points total.  Leading the team in assists is Sophomore Tess Trimble, who averaged 1.9 APG, and had 44 assists total.  At the top of the rebounding list for the Lady Panthers is again, Sophomore Bella Houlillion who averaged 5.9 RPG and had a total of 130 rebounds.  Our Lady Panthers had a few moments that were memorable, which made this season special. 

On December 15th, the Panthers hosted the Anderson Raptors, who are an ECC rival.  At this point in the season, the Lady Panthers had not won a game.  At the end of the 1st quarter, the Panthers led by 4, with a score of 15-11.  In the 2nd quarter, the Panthers struggled to score, only having 5 points to make the score going into halftime, 21-20 with the Raptors leading.  At the end of the 3rd quarter, the Panthers were still trailing, with a score of 32-28.  Going into the 4th quarter, the Lady Panthers needed some momentum to get some points on the board.  In the 4th quarter, the Panthers stepped up big and scored 15 points while holding the Raptors to just 2 points!  This resulted in the Lady Panthers’ first win of the season, with a final score of 43-34.  The Panthers were led by sophomore Bella Houillion, who had 25 points, 1 assist, 15 rebounds, 1 steal, and 1 block. 

The final big moment the Lady Panthers had was on January 14th. The Panthers hosted the Sycamore Aviators in an out-of-conference matchup. The Panthers started the game off trailing right behind the Aviators, only down by 3 points after the 1st quarter with a score of 19-16. In the 2nd quarter, the Panthers again trailed right behind Sycamore, they went into the half down by 5, with a score of 31-26. In the second half, the Panthers stepped up big time on defense, holding the Aviators to just 12 points! The amazing defense helped the Panthers come out on top with a win, with the final score of 51-43. The Lady Panthers were led by the sophomore trio of Lilah Dalraine, Bella Houillion, and Tess Trimble. The trio had a combined 34 points, 5 assists, 13 rebounds, 9 steals, and 1 block.

The future of the Lady Panthers is bright, having star sophomores all around their team such as Lilah Dalraine, Emma Hartmann, Bella Houillion, Morgan Lane, and Tess Trimble.

Wrestling

The Little Miami Wrestling team had an excellent season.  The Panthers have 16 wrestlers within the top 10 in the ECC across all weight classes.  There was by far one stand out, Senior Brentan Simmerman(pictured).  Simmerman had an excellent season with a record of 34-2 with 31 pins.  Simmerman finished in 1st place in the ECC within the 215 lbs weight class. Simmerman also broke the school record for total varsity career wins. His current win count is over 130! Simmerman also had a vote from each ECC wrestling coach for Wrestler of the Year for the ECC. A few other key wrestlers from this season are Senior Nathan Rebman, Senior Sam Purintun, and Junior Reid Prenger.  Rebman weighs 144 lbs and had a record of 25-9 with 19 pins.  Rebman finished in 2nd place in the ECC within his weight class.  Purintun weighs 175 lbs and had a record of 21-13 with 13 pins.  Purintun finished tied for 3rd place in the ECC for his weight class. Prenger weighs 120 lbs and had a record of 18-12 with 10 pins. Prenger finished 2nd in the ECC for his weight class. 

Men's Bowling

The Men’s Bowling team finished 8th in the ECC, with a conference record of 3-6 and an overall record of 11-8. The team was led by Senior Connor P-Minton who averaged 214.3 pins, a total of 9642, a game high of 280 pins, and a series high of 527 pins. Minton has had an amazing bowling career, with a total of over 25,000 pins throughout his high school career. Another star for the Men’s Bowling team was Senior Gustavo Arias. Arias bowled 45 games, having an average of 177.6 pins with a high of 246. Arias had a series high of 460 and had a total of 7,993 pins in the 2022-23 season. During Arias’ high school career, he had a total of 13,901 pins.

Considering the Men’s Bowling team had a spectacular 2021-22 season, the results of the 2022-23 season were a bit disappointing. Coming off a season where our Men’s Bowling team was 1st in the ECC, they had three bowlers on the ECC-1st team, one bowler on the ECC-2nd team, and one bowler on the ECC-3rd team. On top of all of that, Head Coach Robb Carpenter won the 2021-22 ECC Coach of the Year for Men’s Bowling.

Women's Bowling

The Women’s Bowling team finished 6th in the ECC, with a conference record of 4-5 and an overall record of 7-11. The team was led by Junior Paige Szekely, who averaged 148.8 pins, a high of 253 pins, a series high of 400 pins, and a total pin count of 5,358. Szekely had a stellar season, not only having 5,358 pins total, but she also broke the Little Miami School Record for the highest score in a game for Women’s Bowling, with 253 pins. Another leader of the Women’s Bowling team is Freshman Hannah Weigle. Weigle had an average of 147.6 pins, a high of 198 pins, a series high of 360 pins, and a total of 5,315 pins. The Women’s Bowling team finished slightly better than the 2021-22 season, finishing one place ahead of the previous season.

Academic Team

The Panther Academic Team had an amazing season, going 13-3 and being a part of a 3-way ECC Championship. The Academic Team in the previous years in the ECC has been completely dominant. The last 2020 and 2021 ECC Championships were won by our Academic Team, having an outstanding record of 40-0 in the regular season. This winning streak continued up until February 15th, 2023, when the Panthers fell to the Anderson Raptors with a score of 57-55. The following match the Panthers faced the Walnut Hills Eagles, where we lost two matches, with the scores of 69-66 and 72-60. Despite the losses, the 2022-2023 season is nothing short of exceptional. When asked for his opinion of the season, the Academic Team’s Head Coach Ron Maupin said, “It was very successful.”

Conclusion

As the 2022-23 Winter season is coming to an end, our Panthers were very successful. Our Panthers had an overall record in team sports of 43-56. Though we have more losses than wins, there was a major improvement from the 2021-22 season to the 2022-23 season. Since the Winter season is finished, now we turn our sights toward the Spring season.

Social Media

As more articles, interviews, reports, and news arise from the Little Miami Tribune, sports reporter and writer Andrew Iams has created a social media account to assist with his work on LM Sports. The Instagram Account handle is listed below, with other ways to contact Andrew.

Instagram: @OfficalAndrewIams

Email: iamsandrew@lmsdoh.org

Citations

All statistics came from eccsports.com, the official website of the Eastern Cincinnati Conference.

Picture Credits:

1st Picture: @brayden.bischoff on Instagram

2nd and 3rd Picture: @lmwomensbasketball on Instagram

4th Picture: @little_miami_wrestling on Instagram