Bob Daniels | The Chronicle-Telegram
Net-cutting season officially opened Saturday night in LaGrange.
The first net of the year was snipped off the rim after the Keystone girls won
their third straight Patriot Athletic Conference Stars Division championship.
The Wildcats (16-2) are undefeated through a dozen PAC games and can run the
table when they play a makeup game with Lutheran West on Wednesday.
As memorable as the “three-peat” is, this team will also be remembered for its
three four-year letterwinners. It’s not all that common for a team to have one
player who graduates with four varsity letters, and two on the same team at the
same time is very unusual.
So seniors Erin Gallagher (6-foot-2), Chloe Irish (5-9) and Taylor Bell (5-8)
will make school history when they go home with their diplomas in June.
“We’ve been playing together since like the fifth grade,” Gallagher said. “We
played together for so long that we probably clicked more than some other girls.
Playing with Chloe and Taylor has been fun.”
“We’re so used to playing with each other for so long and we have so many
memories,” Irish said. “We have a lot of fun just being together. It’s cool to
win the PAC again this year and getting to celebrate it with everybody. It means
a lot to be on the first girls basketball team to win three straight.”
“I’ll mostly remember moments like these, winning the conference championships,”
Bell said. “It’s a big thing for the school, but we’re trying to look past it to
the tournaments.”
Coach Scott Terry said he and his staff decided to elevate Irish, Bell and
Gallagher to the varsity as freshmen because the team was in a rebuilding year.
“I believe we finished second in the conference their freshman year, then ran
off three in a row,” he sad. “I’m happy for everybody on the basketball team,
but it’s kind of special with those three being part of the program for four
years.
“There aren’t a whole lot of four-year letter winners out there and to have
three championships under your belt is pretty special. I think they’re looking
forward to making some noise in the tournament. They’d like to get that third
district championship.”
Gallagher wants to play college basketball and has her eye on Ohio Northern.
Bell, who played as a freshman on Keystone’s state championship softball team in
2006, will play softball at the University of Findlay. Irish will likely play
volleyball in college, but is undecided where.