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Western Reserve’s lone senior ends run

Tribune Chronicle / Marc Weems Western Reserve’s Alexis Hughes, center, drives to the basket hounded by defenders during the MVAC vs. EOAC All-Star Game Monday in Mineral Ridge.

MINERAL RIDGE — When the year started for the Western Reserve Blue Devils’ girls basketball, it didn’t look like a team that had a lot of established players.

That didn’t matter to any of them.

Alexis Hughes had no problem being the only senior, unlike the guys team that had nine seniors. She didn’t feel any more pressure.

“Coming in, we were very young,” Hughes said. “They still have next year, and I’ll be there to support them throughout everything. I think that we succeeded and overachieved on what we thought we were going to do this year. It would’ve been nice to have other seniors on the team but it was also nice the underclassmen stepped up. We had some freshmen, some sophomores and even a few juniors that stepped up.”

The season culminated with the Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference versus Eastern Ohio Athletic Conference All-Star Game. The MVAC won the game 56-29. Hughes scored seven points in the game.

The Blue Devils season ended in a loss to Lisbon, 42-34, in a Division IV Mineral Ridge semifinals. Lisbon went on to win the district title.

“I’ve done several All-Star games over the years and they are definitely fun. You get to see a different side of the girls that you haven’t before,” Western Reserve coach Steve Miller said. “I kind of know their strengths and weaknesses, so I know what lineups to put into the game. We didn’t really have a true post player, but that was alright because I played that way all year.”

Western Reserve finished the regular season with 17 wins as Hughes scored 1,000 career points during the year. It was a great accomplishment which helped the Blue Devils.

“Yeah it was cool,” Hughes said on scoring 1,000. “We ran a play and got it within the first few minutes. It was nice to get it and be done with it during a game. I think that the game is such a nice thing. I’ve talked with the girls from Jackson-Milton. We’ve played each other since we were in middle school. I think that it’s cool to play with them in a final game.”

Hughes believes that the Blue Devils first MVAC basketball season was a supreme success.

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