ASHLAND — There they go again. The 2024-25 Division II college basketball season did not begin the way Ashland University basketball fans have come to expect. The perennial powerhouse faced a bit of a rebuild this winter, and the Eagles lost their season opener, 57-49 to Northwest Missouri State. A 67-42 setback at second-ranked Grand […]
Corri Vermilya
Posted inGirls Basketball
Simply the Best: Loudonville’s Vermilya repeats as area Player of Year
LOUDONVILLE — Tyler Bates ran out of superlatives a long time ago. There are only so many ways to say legendary when describing Corri Vermilya. The Ashland University-bound Vermilya is North Central Ohio’s Girls Basketball Player of the Year for a second straight season after leading the Redbirds (26-3) to the Final Four for the […]
Posted inGirls Basketball
Loudonville’s Vermilya selected Ohio’s Division IV Player of the Year
LOUDONVILLE — She led her team to the Final Four and rewrote Loudonville’s record book along the way. It’s no wonder Corri Vermilya is Ohio’s Division IV Player of the Year. A 5-foot-9 senior guard, Vermilya led the Redbirds to the state tournament for just the second time in program history and first time since […]
Posted inGirls Basketball
Bates stepping down at Loudonville when school year ends
LOUDONVILLE — One of the most successful basketball coaches in Ashland County history announced Monday that he will step down at the end of the school year. Loudonville coach Tyler Bates said he will resign as the Athletic Director and Dean of Students at LHS. “Subsequently, I will also be stepping down as the girls […]
Posted inSports
Redbirds get royal sendoff for state tournament
LOUDONVILLE — When Sharon Guilliams’ and Cathy Vermilya’s oldest daughters started playing basketball for Loudonville, their goal was always to make it to the state tournament. The last time the Loudonville girls team made it there was in 1992. No Ashland-area teams had accomplished it since 2005 when the Redbirds’ boys squad reached the Final […]
Posted inGirls Basketball
Successful road for Bates, Redbirds finally reaches pinnacle
LOUDONVILLE — It was almost as if Tyler Bates could finally exhale Saturday night. The 11th-year Loudonville girls basketball coach stood near mid-court at Massillon Perry High School – a grin on his face that refused to fade – soaking in reality. You got the sense he almost wanted to drag a sleeping bag onto […]
Posted inGirls Basketball
Loudonville’s Vermilya runner-up in Ohio Ms. Basketball balloting
LOUDONVILLE — She was runner-up in Ohio Ms. Basketball voting, but the award Corri Vermilya most covets won’t be handed out until Saturday afternoon. Vermilya, Loudonville’s record-setting senior, finished second in Ohio’s Ms. Basketball balloting as decided by members of the Ohio Prep Sportswriters Association. That distinction comes on the heels of leading the Redbirds […]
Posted inGirls Basketball
Purcell Marian’s Dee Alexander repeats as Ohio’s Ms. Basketball
COLUMBUS – Cincinnati Purcell Marian junior Dee Alexander was announced as the 2024 Ohio Ms. Basketball Wednesday by a statewide media panel. She won the award last year as a sophomore. Now in its 37th year, the prestigious award was first given by the Associated Press in 1988. It has been voted by the Ohio Prep […]
Posted inGirls Basketball
Loudonville’s Vermilya is Northeast Inlands District Player of the Year
LOUDONVILLE — To the victors go the spoils, and the Loudonville girls basketball team has piled up an awful lot of victories this season. The seventh-ranked Redbirds are in a state semifinal Thursday at 11 a.m. against sixth-ranked Waterford in Dayton. Individually, the postseason accolades have followed. On Tuesday, senior standout Corri Vermilya was selected […]
Posted inGirls Basketball
Catch, step, shoot: Guilliams keeps it simple for Loudonville
LOUDONVILLE — In the game of basketball, there’s a ball. Everyone wants this ball. The orange, riveted sphere is coveted — among the open shooters, the squared post player in the paint, the passer who sees an open teammate. The ref calls for it at the end of a play. The coach yells on its […]