{"id":113527,"date":"2019-02-18T06:23:55","date_gmt":"2019-02-18T11:23:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=113527"},"modified":"2019-02-18T14:22:30","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T19:22:30","slug":"eighth-grade-team-finishes-impressive-run","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2019\/02\/18\/eighth-grade-team-finishes-impressive-run\/","title":{"rendered":"Eighth grade team finishes impressive run"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent sports editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s best termed as a very impressive run. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Wert\u2019s eighth grade girls\u2019 basketball team went 12-0 during the 2018-2019 regular season and lost just one game (13-1) the previous regular season. 26 games, 25 wins and just one loss. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team exited the Western Buckeye League tournament earlier than hoped, but it doesn\u2019t take away from a special accomplishment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey are a very special group of girls, very committed, very dedicated and have a passion for basketball,\u201d head coach Erika Wise said. \u201cI\u2019ve had the core group since second grade, so I\u2019ve actually coached them second grade through eighth grade.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Van Wert’s eighth grade basketball team – front row: Tyra McClain, Sayler Wise. Middle row: Kierston Schneider, Chloe Stripe, Kyra Welch, Sofi Houg, head coach Erika Wise. Back row: Alexia Barnhart, Aerica Farmer, Erin Schaufelberger, Maria Bagley, Kianna Cook.<\/strong> Photo submitted<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\u2019re very athletic, very competitive and they like to win,\u201d Wise added. \u201cThey\u2019re hard working and have good attitudes and always want to be the best they can be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

11 girls made up this season\u2019s roster and each one had a hand in this year\u2019s undefeated regular season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKyra Welch was our defensive beast because she could shut down anybody that she could compete against,\u201d Wise explained. \u201cOur main scorer this season was Sofi Houg because we were always able to rely on her when needed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other members of the team and key contributors were Maria Bagley, Alexia Barnhart, Kianna Cook, Aerica Farmer, Tyra McClain, Erin Schaufelberger, Kierston Schneider, Chloe Stripe and Sayler Wise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t just concentrate on basketball, we really tried to develop leaders,\u201d Wise said. \u201cIf you want to be a great leader, you have to be a leader worth following.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe also did a lot of volunteer work throughout the community, working at Van Wert Manor, working for the Salvation Army ringing the bell during the Christmas season, just a bunch of different things to teach these girls life other than basketball and to try to give back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While their basketball careers are done at the middle school level, the girls are excited about competing and contributing at the next level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTheir goals were to be undefeated and to beat some of the top WBL teams, but their ultimate goal was to win the league, not only in middle school but they foresee wanting to do that at the high school level,\u201d Wise explained. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey want to help make Van Wert girls\u2019 basketball champions and help fill a gym with people, to get people excited about Van Wert girls\u2019 basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wise was assisted throughout the season by Ty McClain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports editor It\u2019s best termed as a very impressive run. Van Wert\u2019s eighth grade girls\u2019 basketball team went 12-0 during the 2018-2019 regular season and lost just one game (13-1) the previous regular season. 26 games, 25 wins and just one loss. The team exited the Western Buckeye League tournament earlier than hoped, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-113527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-01 22:26:08","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113527\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}