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The Portsmouth Lady Trojans won the first girls state championship in school history with a 53-38 win over the Creston Norwayne Bobcats in the initial D5 state championship game held last Saturday at UD Arena.

The Lady Trojans jumped to a 16-8 lead after 1 quarter, and expanded the lead to 27-14 at the break. Portsmouth's quickness, combined with a suffocating defense, forced the Bobcats into 15 turnovers. In the 2nd half, PHS expanded the lead to 44-22, which was the 2nd time in the Final 4 that they had doubled up the opponent. Against Fairland, they had a 60-30 lead before winning 63-40.

Sienna Allen had 17 points, while Hayven Carter and KeKe Woods had 11. Daysha Reid added 10, while Salem Allen scored a 3 pointer, and Brianna Shannon added a FT.

The Lady Trojans ended up with a 27-1 record, matching the 1988 boys state championship team for the most wins in school history. The girls also put Portsmouth HS in an exclusive club, with only 12 schools in Ohio having won a state title in both boys and girls and having at least 5 state championships.

The Lady Trojans also won every tournament game by at least 13 points, also a PHS record for the widest margin of victory by any PHS state championship team. Portsmouth is now 5-4 in state championship games, and have now played in 30 state tournament games total, with a 14-8 record in Final 4 games, and an overall record of 18-12 in state tournament play, boys and girls combined.

Seniors Daysha Reid and Savannah Cantrell took home lasting memories in their last game as a Lady Trojan, while the remaining 7 girls will return to defend their state championship. PHS' roster of only 9 girls was the smallest of all 28 teams in the 7 divisions of the Final 4.

Congratulations to our Lady Trojans!! They climbed and conquered the mountain, kept their eyes on the prize, and took home a nice shiny trophy that says................STATE CHAMPIONS!!

Congrats to the Lady Trojans

Congrats to these young ladies for making history. What a fun and dominant season they just had. Glad to have been there in person to witness it. Returning 7 girls next season means this team could very well go back to state. Replacing Reid will be very tough, and although Cantrell didn’t play a ton of minutes, her height was very useful, she could hit the 3 and she was a hard worker. Reid was a great 3 pt shooter and could handle the ball, second on the team in scoring. Not sure if any 8th graders coming up will see much time, but you would hope 2-3 continue at the high school level to keep adding depth to the girls program. Well deserved championship lady Trojans!

Congrats to Portsmouth Girls! I select D Reid and S Allen as best duo in Div 5 boys or girls because they the got the top prize of a state championship , everybody else no better than 2nd behind them, they got the top prize!

Hopefully there were some young girls at the game Saturday thinking that they would like to see themselves playing for a state championship. Maybe this will start some momentum at the junior high and youth levels.

BuckeyeBlood: From what I'm hearing, we should see at least 10 girls on the varsity next season. The last 2 years we've had only 9 girls.

While we are losing a great player in Reid ,and she will definitely be just about impossible to replace, I still like the lady trojans chances of making another great run next year...
Because if that Defense!!! Salem Allen got some minutes this year as a freshman, and she can play some Defense top!

Sienna Allen is getting better by the game , numerous D1 offers already, and she loves to pass the ball to her teamates seemingly more tthenshe likes to score herself.
She may have to be just a little more selfish next year to try to.make up for a little of Reids points. Then get her assist when we get a decent lead

Congratulations to the Lady Trojans on your State Championship, great job representing Southeastern Ohio.

Congrats. So long ago there must have been more than 4 teams in the state tournament making some of those extra games quarterfinals or something?

mhs95_06: The girls state tournament started in 1976, and there were 3 divisions then AAA, AA, and A. There was the typical setup of sectional, district, regional, and Final 4. In 1988, the OHSAA went to a 4 division system, with the same setup leading to the Final 4. Now with 7 divisions the sectional is obsolete with the first round being designated as the district quarterfinals.

In 1976, Adena won the very first girls state title.

Sienna Allen has just been named the Ohio D5 Player of the Year. Very high honor to go along with being a STATE CHAMPION!!

She could become the all time leading scorer since she has already passed the 1,000 point mark in her junior year. Kyre Allison is the all time leading scorer with 1,688 points.

trojandave wrote: Thu Mar 20, 2025 10:56 am mhs95_06: The girls state tournament started in 1976, and there were 3 divisions then AAA, AA, and A. There was the typical setup of sectional, district, regional, and Final 4. In 1988, the OHSAA went to a 4 division system, with the same setup leading to the Final 4. Now with 7 divisions the sectional is obsolete with the first round being designated as the district quarterfinals.

In 1976, Adena won the very first girls state title.

The Lady Trojans also won every tournament game by at least 13 points, also a PHS record for the widest margin of victory by any PHS state championship team. Portsmouth is now 5-4 in state championship games, and have now played in 29 state tournament games total, with a 14-8 record in Final 4 games.

So this statement must be referring to State tournaments for all Portsmouth teams, not just girls basketball?

mhs95_06: That does include both the boys and girls teams. The 4 boys state champions did not win every tournament game by at least 13 points. Also the total number of tournament games is now 30, with the 3 games the girls played in 2024 and 2025. PHS was 12-7 in Final 4 games up to 2024, then the girls went 2-1 in the two Final 4's they played in. So the 14-8 record is correct. PHS is 18-12 in state tournament play.