Tag Archive for: Bears

ALL PEAKS FOR VALLEY IN ROUND ONE

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LEETONIA OH- Wednesday, February 16th saw the opening night of sectional semi final matchups for Divisions 2 through 4.

Division 4, in particular, had round 3 between The Valley Christian Lady Eagles and The Leetonia Lady Bears.

With The Lady Bears taking the first two regular season matchups, including a 43-32 win at Valley Christian this past Saturday, February 12th. 

How you start is often super important for road teams, especially once the tournament starts. Head Coach Aaron Agresta and The Lady Eagles found that out on Wednesday night. 

Going on an incredible 16-3 run to both start and end the first quarter, Valley Christian found themselves leading by a baker’s dozen after a quarter.

The offense got their points; however, it was the superb defense and rebounding of Valley that left Leetonia with just one converted field goal in the first eight minutes. 

Leetonia drew even the next quarter 14-14, allowing Valley Christian to hold onto the 16 point lead at halftime. 

The second half was dominated by two scorers on The Lady Eagles who put up a combined 34 points of offense! As juniors DiAndra Tensley (19) and Savannah Kitchen (15) lead the way on the night. 

It was Tensley’s scoring, paired with fantastic defense and ball handling, the point guard was the sectional semi-final Player of The Game!

Scoring Superstar, Ella Gregorino still managed to get loose for 13 points. However, for Valley, it was Gregorino’s lowest mark versus The Lady Eagles this season. 

#16 Valley Christian was able to do enough on the rest of #10 Leetonia’s offense to close out the road victory 54-39 over The Lady Bears. 

The first quarter proves to be ever so important. Following the 16-3 first quarter by Valley, The Lady Eagles only outscored Leetonia by 2 points the following three quarters (38-36).

With the win, The Lady Bears season unfortunately meets its end. Including the tournament, Leetonia played 22 games this season, sporting an 11-11 record overall. With only one senior on the squad this season in Allison Francosky, The Lady Bears look to be back with a bite! 

For Division 4 Region 13 (Mineral Ridge District) things have gotten a lot more clear. With #16 Valley Christian looking to answer another road test against #9 Lisbon, scheduled for Saturday, February 19th at 1 p.m.

*Contributed By YSN’s Ty Bartell.

Postgame Interview With Aaron Agresta:

 

Postgame Interview With DiAndra Tensley

BEARS WALK IT OFF AGAINST LISBON

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LEETONIA OH- Some wins can define a season, even if the year has been a struggle. For Leetonia, this season has definitely had its share of adversity. The Bears took that adversity on Friday night and smacked it right in the mouth. Leetonia picked up the big win over a streaking Lisbon team by the finals score of 33-32. The Bears outscored Lisbon 11-3 in the final frame.

Jacob McCol led the Bears on the night scoring 9 points. They also got a strong contribution from Joe Guido with 6. Guido hit 2 of the 3 threes on the night for Leetonia. Andrew Hendricks finished with 5 points.

Lisbon was led by Trevor Seifke with a game-high 16 points. Hunter Dailey added a solid 8 to the cause as well.

This is the Bears 4th win of the year. They’ll look to put together a win streak on Tuesday as they travel to Valley Christian. . Lisbon will be back in action Tuesday as well hosting Southern

TIGERS EARN WIN IN BATTLE WITH EAST

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YOUNGSTOWN OH- With the season winding down, the road to the tournament becomes important.  Especially, when one team can gain momentum in a heartbeat.  For coach Chivas Whipple and the Youngstown East Golden Bears, their only win was a 47-45 thriller against Akron North.  Meanwhile, the Howland Tigers and coach Dan Bubon were coming off of a one point loss to Cardinal Mooney and were in desperate need of keeping their over .500 streak alive.  These two have met, but the last time Howland beat the Bears was back in 2018-19.  

 

First quarter saw East’s Luther Bell drain a three with it being a back and forth game with Anthony Massucci leading the back for Howland.  The first quarter would be tied at 14 all and the second quarter was just as close with Jarred Colon hitting a three and Massucci scoring in the paint along with a shot downtown making it 33-32.  

 

Gabe Badea got into motion down low and started to draw key fouls hitting two free throws at the line along with the sophomore Alex Henry.  East battles back in the fourth with Tyron Hudson, Bell and Sa’ad El-Amin.  However, key important free throws and foul trouble paved the way for the Tigers of Howland who would win by the final of 68-61.  

 

Stats 

East: 

 

2: Mario Wright: 3pts 

 

5: Tyron Hudson: 18pts 

 

10: Jarred Colon: 9pts 

 

11: Luther Bell: 21pts 

 

14: Sa’ad El-Amin: 8pts 

 

24: Sean Hall 3pts

 

Howland: 

 

4: Alex Henry: 9pts 

 

11: Ben Bronson: 2pts 

 

25: Grant Brown 4pts 

 

30: Anthony Massucci 35pts 

 

15: Connor Durig: 2pts 

 

35: Gabe Badea: 10pts 

 

40: Bobby Sullivan: 6pts 

 

Up Next 

Howland will head to Boardman to play the Spartans, East will host Warren Harding on Friday. 

 

Postgame Interview With Dan Bubon:

 

BLUE DEVILS COLLECT ANOTHER BIG WIN

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LISBON, OH – It was a big rivalry night in Lisbon Thursday night as the Lisbon Lady Blue Devils hosted the Leetonia Lady Bears. Although it was a rivalry game, both teams came together to show support for the Melina Michelle Edenfield Foundation. The foundation was created to spread awareness and raise money for a cure for Diffuse Midline Glioma (DMG) and Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG) pediatric brain tumors after Melina Michelle Edenfield passed away due to DMG in June of 2020. It was a special night for both teams, but maybe a little more special for Lisbon as they found a way to get a victory over Leetonia in the EOAC. Leetonia did have a 26-18 lead over Lisbon, but the Lady Blue Devils found their stride late to cut that lead. The game would become a back and forth affair until 30 seconds left in the final frame where Lisbon’s Cami Freeland hit the game-winning three to secure the conference win over Leetonia, 41-40.

 

For Lisbon, Parker Henthorne put up a double-double and led the way with 20 points and 12 rebounds. Cami Freeland contributed 10, and Serinity Stacey added 7 on the night

 

For Leetonia, Allison Francosky led the way with 14 points. McKendra Cole contributed 13 and Kayla Kaminsky tacked on 9 points on the night,

 

Lisbon will be back in action on Monday, as they are set to host Southern. Leetonia will also be back in action on Monday as they will travel to Valley Christian. Don’t miss it on YSN!

 

*Contributed By YSN’s Brendan Miller

 

 

BEARS GET THE TIGHT WIN OVER SEBRING

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SEBRING, OH – It was a great one to watch in Sebring on Wednesday night as the Trojans hosted the Leetonia Bears. Sebring had all the control through three quarters of play, leading 20-16. Leetonia would eventually fight back to cut the lead down to just one point. But Sebring had a little boost to score 9 unanswered points with just a little over 2 minutes to go in the final frame to make it 31-21. Leetonia was able to find a way back into it once again, but the outcome was different this time as Leetonia’s Timmy Finch found open space off of an inbound play and knocked down his shot to give Leetonia the lead and an unbelievable comeback win 32-31.

 

For Leetonia, Joe Guido led the Bears with a game-high 11 points on the night. Behind him was Noah Riffee who added 8.

 

For Sebring, both Dustin Black and Caden Shepherd put up 7 on the night for the Trojans.

 

Leetonia will be back in action on Friday, as they will travel to United. Sebring will also be back in action on Friday, as they are set to host Springfield. Don’t miss it on YSN!

*Contributed By YSN’s Brendan Miller

UNITED CONTINUES DOMINATION OF EOAC

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HANOVERTON OH-

United Local faces one of their toughest stretches of the season this week as three very important games awaited them on the schedule.  The Eagles took to the court Monday night with nothing but purpose on their minds.  That purpose was victory and Leetonia played the role of victim as United won in convincing fashion 77-40.

Leetonia came out ready to compete using their tough inside presence hung with United early trailing at the end of the first quarter 16-10.  The depth of the Eagles however proved to be too much for Leetonia in the second quarter.  Behind a constant full court pressure United forced Leetonia into 16  first half turnovers on their way to building a commanding 38-21 halftime lead.

United took advantage of their depth as their transition offense hit another gear in the second half. The offense hit their stride as Sophomore Grace Knight got hot on her way to a team high 19 points leading her squad to victory in the second half.  Taylor Cope once again made her presence felt on the inside for United.  Cope was able to turn in another top performance garnering a  13 point / 12 rebound  double double stat line.  Starting point guard Addyson Blazer contributed 8 points and 6 rebounds for the victors as well.

    Coach Josh Sigler is liking where his offense is heading hitting the 70 point mark for the second time in a week “Our transition game has really put pressure on the opposing teams.  We are doing a much better job moving without the basketball,  it’s opening up more inside for Taylor and she has really stepped up her game.”

United’s bench has also played a key role as of late providing an offensive spark outside of their starters.  Grayson Kidder poured in 10 points and Katie Dees chipped in 8 for the Eagles.  “Cannot say enough about what the players coming off our bench are contributing.  Three Sophomores and a Freshman are providing us the depth and a spark in all facets of the game.  They are as fearless as our starters.” says Sigler.

Leetonia only dressing 8 players for the game never quit despite the deficit in the second half.  Ella Gregorino faced with handling the United pressure all night answered the call leading the Bears with 13 points.  Teammate Allison Francosky contributed 12 points / 7 rebounds for Leetonia.  Despite the success on offense Coach SIgler knows what the team needs to improve on moving forward “ We still need to keep improving on defense.  Sometimes we relax, we just need to get to the point of relaxing when the game is over.”

United (9-3) (8-0) will have no time to relax as Southern Local (13-2) (6-2)  will travel to Hanoverton for a crucial EOAC matchup on Thursday.  Leetonia looks to rebound traveling to East Palestine on Thursday.

*Contributed By YSN’s Chris Sigler

LEETONIA FACES DOWN THE TIGERS

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WELLSVILLE, OH – The Leetonia Lady Bears were all over the floor Thursday night in their EOAC matchup against the Wellsville Lady Tigers. Leetonia got the scoring, playmaking, and defense they needed throughout the game thanks to Ella Gregorino and McKendra Cole. The Lady Bears were able to hold Wellsville to only 4 points in both the 2nd and 3rd quarter to come out on top against Wellsville, 48-25.

 

For Leetonia, Ella Gregorino led the way with 17 points on the night. McKendra Cole added a double-double with 14 points and 18 rebounds, and Ayana Douglas contributed 7 points for Leetonia.

 

For Wellsville, Elaina Weekley and Isabella Poppelriter both had 6 points each for the Tigers. 

 

Leetonia will be back in action and will travel to Southern on Saturday, as they take on the Indians. Wellsville will be back in action on Monday, January 10th as they are set to travel to Southern as well. Don’t miss it on YSN!

*Contributed By YSN’s Brendan Miller

BEAVERS BLAST OAK GLEN

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NEW CUMBERLAND WV- The duo of Skylar Pappas and Eathan Agnew each scored 13 points as the Beaver Local Beavers took down Oak Glen 49-40 in Tuesday night hoops action.

Down by 4 points after the opening period the Beavers outscored Oak Glen 40-28 in the remaining 3 quarters.

Austin Cline was also in double figures for the Beavers with 10 points. Logan Bissenbach was also important to the Beaver Local offense. He contributed 8 key points.

Beaver Local hits the hardwoods again Friday night as they will host Linsly.

*Contributed By YSN’s Gary Leininger

EAGLES SURGE AHEAD TO BEAT LEETONIA

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LEETONIA OH- Valley Christian built a 13-5 1st quarter lead and never looked back as the Eagles took down the Leetonia Bears 49-27 in boys round-ball action Tuesday night.

Valley nailed 7 3-pointers during the game. Jhordan Peete paced  the Eagles with a game high 14 points.

Leetonia was led by the trio of Tim Johnson, Ashbee Merritt and Andrew Hendricks each with 6 points.

Both teams return to hardwoods Friday night as Southern Local will travel to Valley Christian and the Bears will head west to take on the Columbiana Clippers.

*Contributed By YSN’s Gary Leininger

REBELS STARTING TO BUILD MOMENTUM

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COLUMBIANA OH- Freshman Luvrain Gaskins leads all ladies in scoring on the Lady Rebels last game of 2021 with 16 points Wednesday night to take down the Lady Bears from Leetonia 61-28.  The lady Rebels (3-5) remain undefeated at home on the season and with another high scoring game the ladies looked to be running on all cylinders with another high scoring game.  The lady Rebels will travel for a MVAC game against the Campbell Memorial Lady Red Devils on January 3, 2022.
Other lady Rebels’ to get in on the scoring action this evening (unofficial) was Senior Emily Hill (10), Senior McKenna Schultz (10), Senior Karsyn Moore (8), Freshman Reagan Edwards (7), Sophomore Katie Lissi (6),  Sophomore Emily Downey (2), and Freshman Lexi Blower (2)
Leading the Lady Bears this evening was the lone Senior on the young lady Bears team Allison Francosky with 13 points.  The lady Bears end the year with a 5-4 record as they will host Southern Local Lady Indians in the new year on January 3, 2022.
Other contributions by the Leetonia Lady Bears were from Junior McKendra Cole (10), Junior Ella Gregarino (3), and Sophomore Kayla Kaminski (2)
*Contributed Bg YSN’s Larry Scragg