photo by: Kim North

Monroe Central’s Mayzie Emery dribbles the ball during a regular season game against Shadyside. Emery and the Seminoles will face top-seeded Shenandoah on Saturday in the OVAC 3A championship game.

WOODSFIELD — The Monroe Central Seminoles are back in the OVAC Championships for the first time since the 2023-24 season, and are seeking their first girls basketball conference crown since 2009 on Saturday when the ‘Noles and Shenandoah Zeps face off for the OVAC 3A championship inside Ohio University Eastern’s ECO Center.

It will be the second meeting between the two teams, with Shenandoah (16-2) having handed Monroe Central (16-3) a rare loss on Dec. 3, 51-39. The two teams will also be seeing one another very shortly after the OVAC championship, with another regular season meeting due on Feb. 14.

Needless to say, the third-ranked Seminoles’ head coach Troy Baker likes what he sees from the top-ranked Zeps.

“They’re very, very good,” Baker said. “They got a real nice backcourt– and a real nice frontcourt. They’ve got a couple bigs that are really good and have been playing for a long time, and they got a real nice freshman guard, [Emma] Dailey. [Emily Moore]’s a very good junior guard, very quick.

“They’re a solid team. [Kendal] Snyder is their other starter and you know, just all good quality players. And then number 30 [Sophy McVicker] is usually their six man.”

On the interior, senior Brenna Leach leads the team in scoring (15.3 ppg) and rebounding (9.3 rpg), while fellow senior Molly Van Fleet stands at six-feet and averages 9.8 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. Moore averages 13 points, five assists and over five steals per game, and Dailey averages nine a game with five assists.

While Shenandoah presents a tall task, Baker says his own team is in midseason form.

“I’ve certainly seen improvement with the girls,” Baker said. “Our team chemistry seems to be better on the floor and we’ve definitely been working hard on the defensive end.”

Brylee McFrederick leads her team in both scoring and rebounding at 10.5 points and 6.1 rebounds per game, making 51% of her field goal tries.

It’s been a balanced scoring effort most nights for the Seminoles. Miley Bommer averages 9.3 a game, and Mayzie Emery averages 8.8 per game, having made a team-high 24 3-pointers this season. Jacey English is a jack-of-all-trades with averages of seven points per game, four steals per game, 2.6 assists per game and 5.4 rebounds per game.

Monroe Central defeated No. 2 Fort Frye 47-35 on Monday in their 3A semifinal game.

Come Saturday, Baker is keeping it simple when it comes to his keys for the game.

“It’s the basics of basketball,” Baker said. “You know, you have to take care of the basketball and we’ve got to make sure that we rebound, not give up second chance points and then, you got to be able to knock down some shots.”

Monroe Central won OVAC Championships in 2008 and 2009. Baker, who was head coach for those title wins, thinks his group is ready to give Saturday their best shot.

“I see some excitement, but I feel like the girls are almost more focused than they are excited about it,” Baker said.