Badin vs. Fredericktown
Miamisburg graduation 2012
Valley View vs. Greenville
Home > Blogs > Springfield, Ohio High School Sports > Archives > 2009 > March > 31 > Entry
On this date in area sports history …
Seventeen years ago today, March 31, 1992, the News-Sun published a story about Tecumseh’s Cindy Cremeans being named Clark County Miss Basketball.
CREMEANS NAMED MISS BASKETBALL
GREENON’S ALLISON TOP COUNTY COACH
By Kim Byrum, Sports Writer
As heartfelt emotion trickled down Cindy Cremeans’ face, four years of line drills, lay-ups, and endless shooting sessions flashed before her wet eyes.
Realization of where she’d been and what she’d become rendered her shaky voice all but inaudible.
“I guess I should start off by saying I’m very honored,” the teary-eyed Tecumseh senior said softly after county coaches selected her “Miss Basketball” in a Monday evening banquet at Clark State. “I want to thank my parents for pushing me when I needed pushing … and Coach (Mike) Smart for changing my shot. He’s helped me not just as a player, but as a person.”
Four years ago, Cremeans struggled to get the ball to the rim as a small, unimposing freshman enduring a black-and-blue initiation into varsity competition’s school of hard knocks.
She hinted anything but future star.
“When she first came in as a freshman, she didn’t have a shot. It was more like a heave,” mused Smart, himself a young rookie that year. “She was so small that she had to just throw it up there.
“And she wore kneepads then, too, and now I can see why,” he added. “Looking back, she spent most of her time on the floor.”
But somewhere along the way - between one post-practice session after another - Cremeans found stardom, blossoming from an anemic 2.6 scoring average to 11.3, 14.8 and 16.3 over the next three years.
A weak, scrawny girl had developed into a three-time, MVP athlete her team simply couldn’t do without.
The Arrows, once an area girls basketball doormat of sorts, went on to produce four of the program’s five best seasons during her four-year varsity stay, improving from 14 and 17 wins her first two years to back-to-back 20-4 seasons.
Cremeans, a point guard, will graduate with school records for steals, field goal, free throw and three-point percentage (56, 83 and 43, respectively), and three-pointers in a single game (five).
Smart labels her “the purest shooter” he’s ever coached. “I think it was just having goals that made me stay with it,” Cremeans said, recalling days when her statistics were low but her work ethic high. “To be a successful person you have to set goals. I looked ahead to the future and realized it could be positive if I worked hard enough.”
Joining Cremeans as all-county selections were teammate Kim Deering (Tecumseh), Amanda Bobst and Carrie Ferguson (Southeastern), Jennifer Estep (Kenton Ridge), Megan Foley and Mandy Shepherd (Shawnee), Shannon Hale (Catholic Central), Jackie McCoy (South), and Michelle Terry (North).
Jack Allison, whose Greenon team improved from 6-15 a year ago to 9-12 this season - including a 7-7 slate in a competitive Central Buckeye Conference that included two games each with Division I Tecumseh and Division II state champion Urbana - was named county coach of the year.
“I’m very humbled, overwhelmed, and honored. It’s the ultimate compliment to be honored by your peers,” said Allison, whose team played Urbana within 15 points in second-round CBC action after trailing by just two 28-26, at the end of the third quarter.
“As the year went on, we improved, and it’s nice to see your team get better and end up going out not wanting the season to end.
“I’m the only coach in the state of Ohio who can say he got beat by a state champion three times - twice in the league and once in the tournament,” Allison added, chuckling. “And by the way, Mike, as a fellow CBC coach, I’m not going to miss Kim or Cindy graduating one bit.”
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: Girls Basketball, Greenon High School, On this date, Tecumseh
Comments