MADISON TOWNSHIP — Ashland repeated as the Ohio Cardinal Conference’s outright champion, but the victory celebration was muted after Wednesday’s 55-39 win at Madison.

Kennedy Lacey and her teammates have bigger goals in mind.


A junior guard, Lacey scored 29 points as the Arrows clinched their second outright OCC title in as many years. 

“We’re all super excited, even if we aren’t showing it,” Lacy said. “We have two more OCC games left. We would love to go undefeated in the OCC.

“It’s taking it one game at a time. We’re going to enjoy this tonight, but we have to go back to work tomorrow.”

Quick Start

Lacey went to work early Wednesday. 

She scored 11 points in the first quarter as the Arrows (16-1, 12-0) blew out to a 19-9 lead.  Lacey nearly outscored Madison (11-8, 9-3) by herself in the first half, accounting for 17 points as Ashland took a 35-18 advantage to the break.

“They’ve got the best player in the league and she had a heck of a game again,” Madison coach Doug Rickert said of Lacey, who came in averaging 21.4 points per game. “When you play her, you know she’s going to get 25 points.”

Not Without A Fight

Madison made things interesting in the second half. The Rams outscored Ashland 9-6 in the third quarter and trailed 41-27 going to the fourth.

Madison cut Ashland’s advantage to 49-39 on a Morgan Cook layup with 4:16 remaining. The Rams wouldn’t score the rest of the way.

“At some point you’ve got to make shots,” Rickert said. “We missed so many easy shots.

“We cut it to 10 and missed two wide open shots.”

Life Without Hoffman

Ashland is still finding its footing after the loss of senior guard Madison Hoffman to a knee injury. Hoffman, who will play both basketball and softball at Mount Union, sustained the injury in the Arrows’ 43-42 loss to Waynedale earlier this month.

“A lot of different girls are stepping up but I think mentally it looms over us,” Ashland coach Renee Holt said. “She’s a great kid.

“That’s a tough loss.”

Lacey agreed.

“It’s very difficult,” Lacey said. “Not playing with her is a big eye-opener.”

Grace Tobias backed Lacey with 13 points. Cici Steury added eight.

Madison Rising

The Rams were led by Maddie Berry, who scored nine of her 18 points in the fourth quarter. Morgan cook added nine.

With one victory in its final three regular season games, Madison would guarantee itself of a winning season.

“We’re second in the league and this league is tough,” Rickert said. “We’ve beaten everybody in the league but (Ashland.)

“I love what we’ve done and how hard we’ve worked.”