OLIVESBURG — Renee Stimpert scores in bunches — more than any player in Crestview history, in fact — but what endears her to first-year coach Aaron Goon are the things she does when she’s not scorching the nets.
Crestview’s prolific 5-foot-8 guard, Stimpert became the program’s career scoring leader when she dropped 25 points in Saturday’s 56-47 win at St. Paul. Stimpert moved in front of 1997 graduate Shiva Davis, who scored 1,276 points. The junior now has 1,283 career points and with the remainder of this season and her entire senior year in front of her, Stimpert could make a run at 2,000 points.
All those points only tell a fraction of Stimpert’s story, though.
“She’s our team leader in assists and steals and she ranks third in rebounds,” Goon said after Stimpert orchestrated a stirring fourth-quarter comeback in a 79-73 win over Madison last week. “She’s a special player.”
She comes by it naturally. Stimpert’s father, Fred, was an All-Ohioan at Crestview who averaged 28.8 points a game as a senior in 1979-80. Her mother, Mary, played college volleyball and her oldest sister, Kate, was a three-time All-Ohioan who scored 1,187 points while averaging a double-double during her career.
In last week’s come-from-behind win over Madison, Stimpert scored 22 of her 34 points in the second half.
“She’s a scorer,” Madison coach Brian Davis said. “She can shoot the ball from distance and she can drive and create her own shot.”
Stimpert scored 12 fourth-quarter points against Madison as the Cougars overcame a nine-point fourth quarter deficit.
“Sometimes we like to keep it interesting,” Stimpert joked afterward.
Her scoring this season has been no joking matter. Stimpert is averaging more than 30 points a game and scored a single-game record 47 points in a 63-56 win over Monroeville last month.
“I’ve never coached anyone with Renee’s talent and drive,” Goon said. “Offensively, she continues to be aggressive — sometimes too much.”
Scoring has always come easy for Stimpert. She averaged 20.2 points a game as a freshman and 21.5 points a night as a sophomore. She topped the 1,000-point plateau in the second game of the year.
All those points haven’t translated to championships, something Stimpert was quick to point out. Crestview was 10-11 overall and 8-6 in the Firelands Conference during her freshman year, falling to Huron in the Division III sectional championship game. Last year the Cougars were 9-15 overall and 5-9 in the FC. Crestview won its tournament opener against Mohawk but fell to Bucyrus in the sectional title game.
The Cougars are 11-0 at the midway point, already topping the win totals of her freshman and junior years.
“We’re really pleased with where we are at, but we need to come in and work every day,” she said. “That’s why it is good for us to play a team like Madison. They are bigger and faster and more athletic and we need to adjust to that.
“We’re playing well, but there is still plenty of room for improvement if we want to achieve our goals.”
