Girls basketball: Season tips off this weekend for many Lorain County teams

Though it seems like yesterday that Avon Lake was headed to Dayton to play in the Division III state championship game, where the Shoregals ended Lorain County's three-decade drought of appearances, a new season is ready to tip-off. More than half of the area's teams will be in action this weekend as the 2025-26 Ohio High School Athletic Association season gets underway. One of the highlights of the opening weekend will take place tonight in North Ridgeville, where the Rangers will look to get off to fast start against Brunswick. "I'm ready to go and so are our girls," Rangers coach Amy Esser said. "Brunswick is a good matchup for us. They are a physical, scrappy team. I like opening up the season with them." This is the third year in a row that North Ridgeville has battled the Blue Devils in the first week, with the team splitting the previous two meetings. "I like the idea of opening up at home on a Friday night," Esser said. "To start off the season, it's great to have the energy of the home crowd behind you." The only opening weekend match of two Lorain County teams will take place tonight at Clearview when the Clippers host Open Door. The Patriots are led by first-year coach Jessy (Verhoff) Bendik, a former Lorain County Miss Basketball winner during her playing days at Elyria High. When Elyria takes the court at Normandy, the Pioneers will see a familiar face on the opposite sideline, as former Wellington boys coach Anthony Schmook is leading the Invaders girls program. Amherst and Brookside will open the year against Cleveland West Conference teams, as the Cardinals travel to North Olmsted while the Comets will host Bay. Keystone is hoping to end the season with a fifth consecutive Lorain County League and another deep postseason run, but the Wildcats will start the year with its traditional opening night opponent, Western Reserve. "It's a game that's carried over from when coach (Scott) Terry was at Keystone," said Houston, who is in seventh season. "The first couple years I was here, they handed it to us then we had a couple of really competitive games, and last couple of years we've had the advantage." Though Keystone returns second-team All-Ohio guard junior Madyson Sokolowski, who led Lorain County in scoring with 18.3 points a game, the Wildcats will be working a number of freshmen and sophomores into the rotation for the first time. "Everyone has to go through the maturation process of getting integrated to the varsity level," Houston said. "Sometimes it's only one or two girls. This year we have seven who are trying to get integrated to what we do and how we do it." Keystone's biggest rival in the LCL, Firelands, will also open its season against Western Reserve at home Saturday. Vermilion is also home Saturday to take on Chagrin Valley Conference foe Fairview in a non-league game. But Saturday's biggest game will take place even further west, as Lorain travels to Sandusky to open the year. The Titans, fell to Sandusky at home in their opener last season, but this year Lorain is looking to make a statement against the Blue Streaks before beginning its first season in the Greater Cleveland Conference. And what about the Shoregals? Well, Avon Lake is sitting out the opening weekend to focus on starting its season Nov. 29 against defending Division IV state semifinalist Laurel at Baldwin Wallace in the Cleveland Basketball Classic. "You only get eight non-conference games and we believe in using them to play eight really good teams," Avon Lake coach Paul Appel said. "We use those games to prepare ourselves for the really tough Southwestern Conference and the tournament at the end of the year. "We're not really worried about Laurel at this point. We just want to get Avon Lake better, and this gives a chance to work on us and get better on all of the little things we need to improve on." Columbia, Lorain County's only other district champions in the 24-25 season, opens its season Monday at First Baptist. Contact Todd Shapiro at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.