PORTSMOUTH — It was an upswing girls basketball season for the Portsmouth Lady Trojans, and apparently it’s an upstart of all-Ohio Valley Conference selections for the PHS program.

As the Lady Trojans sported no seniors this past campaign, of which they went 10-4 for third-place in the OVC with losses against only champion Fairland and runner-up Rock Hill, Portsmouth placed a trio on the all-OVC squad —including freshman and first-teamer Sienna Allen.

The others were fellow first-teamer Daysha Reid and Honorable Mention pick Savannah Cantrell —both sophomores.

Reid repeated to the unit, earning Honorable Mention her freshman campaign.

Portsmouth (10-4), Rock Hill (12-2), Chesapeake (8-6) and South Point (6-8) all earned two first-team selections —while Coal Grove (3-11), Ironton (3-11) and Gallia Academy (0-14) all had one.

For 14-0 and undefeated Fairland, the Lady Dragons repeated as outright OVC champions —following a shared championship with Coal Grove two years back.

They had four first-team honorees for the second straight season, as senior Tomi Hinkle and veteran head coach Jon Buchanan repeated as the respective Player of the Year and Coach of the Year.

For Buchanan, it was his third consecutive COY honor in the OVC —and ninth overall.

The Lady Dragons, beyond conference play, won their first 27 games —before ultimately losing in the Division II state semifinals.

Hinkle, herself, was a four-time first-team choice —the final two resulting in the only OVC POY selections.

Joining Hinkle on the first team were junior Bree Allen, sophomore Kamryn Barnitz and freshman Bailey Russell —as junior Kylee Bruce was the Lady Dragons’ Honorable Mention pick.

Allen is now a three-time first-teamer, as both Barnitz and Bruce were first-teamers last year.

Joining Portsmouth’s pair — and Fairland’s foursome — of first-teamers were Rock Hill seniors Haydn Bailey and Hazley Matthews, Chesapeake freshman Sophi Hutchison and sophomore Kate Ball, South Point sophomore Saratina Jackson and junior Camille Hall, Coal Grove senior Kelsey Fraley, Ironton senior Evan Williams, and Gallia Academy senior Chanee Cremeens.

There were multiple repeaters and three three-peaters to the first team in fact —Bailey of Rock Hill, Cremeens of Gallia Academy and Williams of Ironton.

Matthews of Rock Hill, Ball of Chesapeake and Hall of South Point all repeated to the first team.

This season’s Honorable Mention choices — besides Bruce for Fairland and Cantrell for Portsmouth —included Rock Hill sophomore Jlynn Risner, Chesapeake freshman Erin Hicks, South Point junior Elizabeth Ermalovich, Coal Grove junior Alivia Noel, Ironton senior Isabel Morgan, and Gallia Academy sophomore Kenya Peck.

Morgan was a Special Mention selection as a sophomore, before bumping up to first team last year.

Reach Paul Boggs at (740) 353-3101 ext. 1926, by email at [email protected], or on Twitter @paulboggssports © 2023 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved