Twinsburg girls basketball moves to 9-0 in Ohio

The Twinsburg girls basketball team improved to 9-0 by beating host North (Pickerington) 59-49 on Dec. 30 in the championship game of the Key Bank Holiday Classic. Junior Malina Howard, a 6-4 post player, surpassed 1,000 points for her prep career during the game and led the way with 19 points. She was named the tournament's MVP.

ST. EDWARD CAPTURES MIT TITLE
The St. Edward (Lakewood) wrestling team scored 288 points to capture the championship at the Medina Invitational Tournament which concluded Dec. 29. Edgar Bright (112 pounds), Dean Heil (119), Matt VanCuren (145), Domenic Abounader (160), Ty Walz (215) and Greg Kuhar (heavyweight) all won titles for the Eagles.
Perry (Massillon) finished second with 208.

TOP PERFORMERS
* Cameron Vines, Whetstone boys basketball: The senior scored a combined 56 points as the Whetstone (Columbus) boys basketball team won the Northridge Veterans Holiday Tournament. Vines had 31 points to help the Braves beat host Northridge (Dayton) 60-45 in the first round of the tournament Dec. 29 and then scored 25 to lead his team to an 83-73 victory over Brookhaven (Columbus) in the championship game Dec. 30.

* Cordell Smith, Shaw boys basketball: The sophomore guard scored a career-high 33 points to help the Shaw (East Cleveland) boys basketball team beat Lutheran East (Cleveland Heights) 79-62 in the first round of the Strongsville Holiday Tournament on Dec. 28.

* Cassie Bowen, Brunswick girls basketball: Bowen scored seven of her 22 points in overtime to lead the Brunswick girls basketball team to a 55-52 victory over St. Vincent-St. Mary (Akron) on Monday. Brunswick rallied from a 28-19 halftime deficit to improve to 5-2.{PAGEBREAK}COMING THIS WEEK
* Ohio Duals, wrestling: The Ohio Duals tournament sponsored by the Ohio High School Wrestling Coaches Association will be held Sunday. St. Edward (Lakewood) is the top seed in Division I, followed by Perry (Massillon), Wadsworth, Elder (Cincinnati), Hilliard Davidson (Hilliard), Archbishop Moeller (Cincinnati), Springboro and Mayfield. In Division II, Graham Local (St. Paris) is the top seed followed by Oak Harbor, Olentangy (Lewis Center), Walsh Jesuit (Cuyahoga Falls), Wauseon, Washington (Washington Courthouse), Crestwood (Mantua) and Licking Valley (Newark). In Division III, St. Peter Chanel (Bedford) is seeded first, followed by West Jefferson, Crestview (Ashland), Monroeville, Nelsonville-York (Nelsonville), St. John's (Delphos), Tuslaw (Massillon) and Dixie (New Lebanon).



* Villa Holiday Classic, boys basketball: The Villa Holiday Classic will be held Sunday at Cleveland State University. This year's schedule features Strongsville vs. St. Ignatius (Cleveland) at 1:15 p.m., Mentor against St. Vincent-St. Mary (Akron) at 1:30 p.m., St. Edward (Lakewood) against Benedictine (Cleveland) at 3:30 p.m. and Timken (Canton) vs. Garfield Heights at 7 p.m.

* Westerville North at Westerville South, boys basketball: In a matchup of district rivals, the Westerville South boys basketball team will play host to Westerville North on Wednesday. South is 7-0 and North is 5-2.

BRIEFLY
Whitehall-Yearling scored 286.5 points to win the 21-team Ready Winter Classic wrestling tournament Dec. 29-30. Host Bishop Ready (Columbus) finished second (210.5) at the 32nd-annual event. … St. Francis De Sales (Toledo) is first in the hockey state poll. St. Ignatius (Cleveland), St. Edward (Lakewood), Northview (Sylvania) and University School (Hunting Valley) round out the top five.

Jarrod Ulrey covers Central and Northern Ohio for MaxPreps.com. He covers prep sports for ThisWeekSPORTS.com and can be reached at julrey@thisweeknews.com.