Clay girls off to 8-2 start in 2025

6 days ago 2

It's always ideal for a team to have more players to choose from — as having additional players helps with not only resting players effectively but also providing different matchups and looks for opponents on the schedule.

However, a program can overcome lack of depth by having a group of individuals that not only play hard but play for one another.

The Clay girls basketball program certainly has those ingredients.

That's how the Lady Panthers, with six players, sit 8-2 overall to begin the 2025-26 season — and have posted double-digit victories in seven of its eight wins across its first 10 contests of the campaign to date.

The start to the season certainly has Clay head coach Drew Emnett thrilled with how far the program, which has went 9-13, 7-11 and 11-12 over the last three seasons prior to this one, has come.

"Two years ago, three years ago, if you said we were 8-2 coming back from Christmas Break, I would've been tickled to death," Emnett said. "I am tickled to death. I'm really happy with how far we've come over the last few years."

Winners of five straight games to start the season, Clay averaged 64.8 points per game in its first five wins while allowing just 15 points per bout en route to its 8-2 overall record.

Most recently, Clay, in addition to posting an SOC I conference win over East and a nonconference triumph over Miller on top of its 5-0 start, defeated SOC II member Symmes Valley by a 51-44 count Saturday afternoon on the road.

Clay accomplished this while essentially playing five players throughout much of the contest, as Sophia Craft, the team's second-leading scorer and second-leading rebounder, dealt with foul trouble throughout much of the contest — making the win even more wholesome in the fact that the Lady Panthers found a way to pull through on the road against an opponent with talented guards such as Brenna Tibbs among others.

"Symmes Valley is definitely better than their record says," Emnett said. "They're really quick and their guards are good. This was a really good win for us. (Sophia) Craft was in foul trouble, and when she went down in the third quarter, we had to sit her. I'm not going to lie — I was worried — but the girls have improved a lot, really stepped up and kept the lead with her on the bench. It was an important win for us. Symmes Valley is a hard place to go play."

Craft and Emma Emnett, who are co-captains of Clay's group, have continued to provide a strong punch for the Lady Panthers. The duo have combined to average 35.2 points, 17.6 rebounds, 10.6 assists and 7.2 steals per contest as dependable threats throughout the season.

Emnett, who is particularly skilled as a facilitator and a defensive stalwart, broke her own single-game assist record of 12 during the 2024-25 season by posting Clay's new single-game record with 15 in the Lady Panthers' 80-19 victory over Hannan (W. Va.).

For the season, Emnett is averaging 18.7 points, 8.3 assists, 6.5 rebounds and 4.8 steals — up from 15.4 points, eight assists, 5.9 rebounds and four steals per contest as a sophomore. She posted 21 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocks against Symmes Valley.

"It's really special to coach Emma," Drew Emnett said. "Because she's my daughter, I am probably a little bit harder on her, but she knows that and she deals with it. She's tough and has to play a lot of post defense, but she's willing to do that. She's up for the challenge, willing to do whatever it takes to win, and she'll do whatever she needs to."

Craft, who sits right behind Emnett, has been a nightly double-double threat for the second consecutive season. Craft, who has finished the season as a double-figure point and rebound producer, is averaging 16.5 points, 9.3 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 2.4 steals and two blocks so far through Clay's first 10 games. Craft averaged 11 points and 12 rebounds as a sophomore and was a 16.1-point, 10-rebound per game producer as a junior.

"You will not meet a better player or a better person than Sophia," Emnett said. "Since we've started in grade school together, she's done everything that I've asked her to do. She's improved, extended her range where she can shoot outside, can rebound and play as a stretch four and the three a little bit. She plays bigger than her size and just gets out there, puts her nose in there and does whatever you need her to do. She's just another kid who wants to win, whether it's scoring, defense or whatever she has to do."

However, the team is much more than what those two players provide.

Ava Demorest, who has been a dependable shooter throughout her career early on, is developing her scoring ability at all three levels, and it's shown in each of Clay's last two contests against Miller and Symmes Valley, where Demorest notched 12 and 17 points, respectively. Demorest is currently averaging 10.8 points per game.

Then, there's Maddie Penix, Mia Lunsford and Caroline Ridenour, who have played well in complimentary roles. Penix, in particular, is enjoying a great season as a sophomore, averaging over 10.5 rebounds and nearly seven points per contest while shooting above 55 percent from the field, and had a 21-point, 19-rebound effort against East on Dec. 18.

Lunsford and Ridenour have combined to chip in between 6.5 to seven points per outing with Lunsford also adding in 6.8 rebounds per night as well.

"After last season, I was pleased with how Ava improved," Emnett said. "We just wanted her to get to the rim so she could get to the free throw line more, which she's doing for us. Besides those three, I felt like I needed between 10 to 12 points a night from Maddie, Mia, and Caroline, and they're averaging between 13 to 15 points together, so they're doing their part. Everybody's playing their role and that just makes us better."

The understanding of the roles that each of the six girls on the team have taken on, Emnett said, is a credit to the team's overall chemistry and buy-in.

"They all get along well," Emnett said. "That's a great group of six girls to have. They all understand what their role is and when they need to step up. It's really been a lot of fun to coach this group."

With SOC I contests against New Boston, Notre Dame and Green all coming within the next week as well as a nonconference bout at home against East Clinton on Saturday, Clay has an opportunity in front of it to potentially work toward claiming a high tournament seed if the Lady Panthers can continue to string together positive results. Emnett is simply thrilled to see what happens as his group heads into the heart of its conference schedule.

"I am looking forward to it," Emnett said. "New Boston always presents you a nice challenge, Notre Dame always puts a good product and good group of girls out on the floor, and we all know about Green. We're in the middle of our season here, and it's time to see what we can do, time for the girls to go out and play, and see where the ball goes. We've worked hard, so it's time to see what happens and have a little fun with it."

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