20-21 League Preview – Ohio Valley Athletic Conference (5A)

The Ohio Valley Athletic Conference's Class 5A division figures to be loaded yet again this season, despite defending champion Indian Creek dropping a classification. Runner-up Wheeling Park returns a boatload of talent, Morgantown has its entire starting unit, led by one of the top post players in all of West Virginia, and a couple of other traditionally strong programs should be back to their winning ways. It should translate to a wide-open and exciting conference tournament come February. <strong>5 Players to Watch:</strong> <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="91083" first="Makayla" last="Abram"]</strong>, 5-10 2021, Steubenville <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="159365" first="Abbie" last="Smith"]</strong>, 6-0, 2022, Warren <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="153337" first="Bella" last="Abernathy"]</strong>, 5-11, 2021, Wheeling Park <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="153321" first="Kaitlyn" last="Ammons"]</strong>, 6-2, 2021, Morgantown <strong>Lindsay Garrison</strong>, 5-6, 2021, Wheeling Park <strong>4 Sleepers to Watch</strong> <strong>Catherine Hunnell</strong>, 5-7, 2022, John Marshall <strong>Rylee Harner</strong>, 5-6, 2021, Parkersburg South <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="214481" first="Elexis" last="Martin"]</strong>, 5-9, 2022, Steubenville <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="214487" first="Tori" last="Jones"]</strong>, 5-8, 2022, Dover <strong>4 Thoughts:</strong> Wheeling Park was ranked No. 1 in West Virginia Class AAA for most of last season before making an early postseason exit at the hands of Morgantown. The Mohigans lost to Park twice during the regular season before pulling off the 50-49 regional stunner. Steubenville's [player_tooltip player_id="91083" first="Makayla" last="Abram"] missed all of last season with an injury after being named third-team all-Ohio after a sophomore season in which she averaged 16.4 per game. Her absence allowed for the development of quality weapons like [player_tooltip player_id="214481" first="Elexis" last="Martin"] and Kylie Maxwell. Now healthy, Big Red should field a formidable team. No seasons are canceled yet, but COVID is already wreaking havoc for one team. It was recently announced that all basketball and winter sports practices at Brooke High School will cease until at least November 23. With the regular season rapidly approaching soon after, that's not ideal for a team trying to bounce back from a tough 2019-20. Historically Parkesburg South is the premier girls' basketball program in Wood County but rival Parkersburg has taken that crown the last few seasons. South hasn't been to Charleston since 2017-18 when it lost to the eventual state champion Big Reds in the semifinal round. The Patriots are coming off a rare sub-.500 season and have a number of underclassmen who had strong summers who should help lead the resurgence. <strong>3 Big Games:</strong> Indian Creek at Steubenville – December 14 Wheeling Park @ Morgantown – December 22 Warren vs Union Local – January 2 <strong>2 Fun Facts:</strong> Only once since the conference split to five classifications in 2012 has a 5A team repeated as tournament champion when Morgantown did so during the 2015-2016 seasons. It won't happen again this season as 2020 champion Indian Creek dropped down to 4A. Ammons, the lone Division I signee thus far in this group, verbaled to DePaul out of the Big East during her junior year back in April. <strong>1 League Champion Prediction:</strong> Wheeling Park