Day’veonna Boynton, Jada Crockran, Kleighonna Grable, Daryn Hitchcock, and Milly Portis all can be remembered as the group that began a potential turn around of the Springfield girls basketball program.
Credit: Steven Wright
Credit: Steven Wright
“I would just say I’m so proud of the way that they fought and they’ve stuck together,” Springfield head coach Brooks Russell said. “This senior group, they’ve had two or three different coaches in their time in high school. They’ve weathered all those different chances and different systems and schemes and terminology. Really proud of them for the way that they’ve stuck with it.”
All five have been standout performers for Springfield in their different roles.
Portis ranked in the top-five of the Greater Western Ohio Conference for scoring average each of the last three seasons. Crockran accomplished the same feat in assists.
Boynton and Grable both led the league in rebounding at different points of their careers. Hitchcock transferred in from Wayne and immediately became a key piece to the offensive attack finishing as one of six league players shooting above 40 percent from three before her season after 10 games ended due to transfer rules.
Since Springfield combined into one school district, its girls basketball program won a combined total of seven GWOC games over 14 seasons from 2009-2022 and finished in last place in the league 11 times. It had a 21.1 win percentage over the same timespan and only one at least 10 games in a season once.
Springfield’s class of 2026 vastly surpassed those marks over the last four years. The Wildcats tripled its GWOC win total to 21 and had two fourth place finishes in the standings. The team also won more than 45 percent of its total games and had 11, 12, and 13-win seasons in each of the past three years.
Credit: Steven Wright
Credit: Steven Wright
“They had 42 wins which is the most of any four-year class,” Russell said. “They competed in a sectional final and a district final. And then this year I think we finished tied for fourth in the GWOC which is two of our best finishes the last two years.
“And I told them in the locker room, I said the legacy is not necessarily wins and losses.”
That’s because the groups coming up now have been able to see something different developing ahead of them. They can look up to and potentially say they want to be like the members of the class of 2026 that put in the time and stayed together to lay a new foundation for the program.
And then juniors Aubrey’Onna Smith and Ava Valle, or sophomore Ta’Riyah Dotts-Beal, a cousin of Boynton, can step into bigger roles while others that have yet to advance to high school can enter into different expectations that, according to Russell, has been part of the long-term planning by the coaches.
“We have a lot of underclassmen that we’re really high on and really excited about coming in for next year,” he said. “This summer is going to be big for us to develop and expand some of our games and things like that to fill some of those roles that are going to be left by the seniors. And really the experience they played probably over 75 or 80 games together at the varsity level.”
The group of five seniors are done playing at Springfield, but their careers are not over yet. All five are planning to continue taking the floor at the collegiate level.
Credit: Steven Wright
Credit: Steven Wright
Three have already committed. Grable is set to play at NCAA Division I South Carolina State. Hitchcock is committed to Muskingum University which competes in NCAA D-III, and Portis will play at Saint Leo University in Florida will competes in NCAA D-II.
Both Boynton and Crockran are still weighing offers and will likely announce their decisions later this year.
Russell said the team’s coaching staff have been doing a great job of getting film cut and sending it out to coaches to promote the girls to get them as many opportunities as they can.
Springfield isn’t at the level of Fairmont yet. The groundwork to get there is in place for the first time in a long time.
“The sophomores and freshman have been with me as the head coach for the last two years and so we’re looking to continue to build off of what we have in our terminology and our goals and what we want to accomplish,” Russell said. “I’m just proud of everybody’s fighting, everybody’s effort, and excited for what the future holds.”
About the Author
