Division V State Championship Portsmouth vs Creston Norwayne

[vladimir]

Still 2 minutes away, but congratulations to Portsmouth! What a performance and season for the Trojans

Portsmouth Lady Trojans win 53-38

Congrats ladies!!

[TigerBob]

Left no doubt. Congrats!

[Eugene 2011]

Congrats Portsmouth well deserved

[art_vandelay]

Congrats to the Lady Trojans and Coach Amy Hughes! Fun team to watch and could be right back there next year.

Also cool to see Mike with her on the bench…entire family puts the work in, and great to see it rewarded!*

[RBH23]

Congrats to Portsmouth!! Great season and fantastic job by the young women and coaches!!

[smurray]

Congratulations from Waverly. It was a pleasure to announce your District games. You’ll be back at it next year.

[Geronimo]

Congratulations Portsmouth !!!

[The Nature Boy]

Congrats to Portsmouth and Coach Hughes. I remember watching Coach Hughes at the Burg and in college. Your team plays a lot like you did, gritty tough defense and a well thought out offense. Way to represent Portsmouth and Southern Ohio.

[Gator B Long]

Great combination of coaching and playing. Would love to see a bio of Mike’s coaching career-schools, wins, etc. Know he was highly successful at many stops.

[VetteMan]

Congrats to the Lady Trojans.

[transplant]

Congratulations lady Trojans! Way to represent.

[noreply66]

Congrats Portsmouth

[FIDO]

Congrats to the Lady Trojans.

[Prime Time]

Speed kills, quick hands, high I Q basketball most disciplined group I have seen, executes plays each time down floor and to top it off , the best Coach's that know the game and have played the game at high levels of competition! They k now exactly how to execute game strategy's, players know exactly how to execute each play! I can see greater things ahead for this group!

[baseball16]

Speed kills, quick hands, high I Q basketball most disciplined group I have seen, executes plays each time down floor and to top it off , the best Coach's that know the game and have played the game at high levels of competition! They k now exactly how to execute game strategy's, players know exactly how to execute each play! I can see greater things ahead for this group!

Not disputing your claim on the coaches, however 4-5 years ago when these same coaches were coaching their team only won 2-3 games per season. They are good quality coaches , but without GREAT players that doesn't matter! I am sure they were running a lot of the same plays to an extent.

[BuckeyeBlood]

Speed kills, quick hands, high I Q basketball most disciplined group I have seen, executes plays each time down floor and to top it off , the best Coach's that know the game and have played the game at high levels of competition! They k now exactly how to execute game strategy's, players know exactly how to execute each play! I can see greater things ahead for this group!

Not disputing your claim on the coaches, however 4-5 years ago when these same coaches were coaching their team only won 2-3 games per season. They are good quality coaches , but without GREAT players that doesn't matter! I am sure they were running a lot of the same plays to an extent.

Was this Amy’s 7th year as HC? Indeed it was, but great season in her 6th year with a final 4 appearance, pretty stellar season in her 5th year when they had 7 players. One of those years was a Covid year so that doesn’t count with the limited amount of games, kids having to miss and what not. They played 12 games total I believe. So it took her 3 seasons to right all the wrongs from the previous staffs. Portsmouth girls basketball was a laughing stock when I was in school. They would win 2 games per year, get beat by 40+ almost nightly. So really if it only takes 3 season to turn a program around that’s quite good. Do they have really good players, yes they do. But do you not think the coaching has helped those players become even better? 3 of them are her nieces, you don’t think she had a hand in their basketball development growing up? Her and her father are really good coaches regardless of the talent. Portsmouth had some talent when she first took over, but if the whole team doesn’t buy in, put in the work then the results won’t be there. You think Ironton football wins state this past season just because they had 2-3 really talented kids going on to play college ball? No, they worked hard in the summer, the weight room and everyone bought into what Pendleton was selling. It was a team effort, with good coaching. Same thing in this case, 4 really solid players for Portsmouth, but 5 must take the court and the bench must know how to play. COACHING

[trojandave]

BuckeyeBlood: Very good post. No doubt a state championship team comes about because it's the result of a combination of coaching and talent. Portsmouth had talented players for sure, but Amy and Mike coached them to be a team. 4 girls averaged in double figures for the season. That shows that there was the ultimate team concept that these girls displayed. One cannot separate the two elements that are necessary to produce a state champion.

Amy is now 96-62 in her 7 years as the Lady Trojans' HC. She's now the 6th winningest coach in PHS history, which includes all boys or girls coaches. 2 Final 4's and a state championship, 11-1 in the tournament the last 2 years, an outright OVC title this season and a co-OVC title last year. I venture to say that next year could be very similar to what we've seen the last 2 seasons, given that 7 girls are back and some help is coming up from JH. 4 starters return, Allen, Carter, Woods and KK Mays. Together they averaged around 40 PPG combined. There will have to be some girls step up for the loss of Daysha, but the returning girls have a lot of big stage experience.