It has been a successful season all-around thus far for all of the basketball programs at North Adams and that is especially true for Coach Shannon Staggs and his seventh grade Lady Devils. The Lady Devils stand at 9-1 on the season, and undefeated at 5-0 in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference as they strive for the number-one seed in the post-season conference tournament.

“When I was hired for this job three years ago, one thing I agreed on was that my job is to develop players and get the high school system in,” said Staggs. “This is something I preach to the girls daily. Of course, we all want to win at any level, but the overall goal is to make these girls better for when they get to the high school program. We don’t really talk about winning the conference this year, but instead talk about developing our system to complete the goals that Coach (Rob) Davis has set for his high school teams.”

The seventh grade Lady Devils have had a successful start to 2016, winning their first three games of the new year. On Jan. 6, they faced Portsmouth Notre Dame and came away with a 32-23 win.

“We knew going into this game that we would be tested by a Scioto County School,” said Staggs. “It taught us how to win a close game in the fourth quarter.”

After leading by just two at the half, the Lady Devils outscored Notre Dame 19-12 in the second half to come away with the win. Wylie Shipley led North Adams with 11 points, with Delaney Harper adding 6 and Brianna Robinson 5.

On Jan. 9. the Lady Devils picked up another victory, hosting Ripley and coming out with a lopsided 50-10 triumph. North Adams came out on fire and racked up 21 points in the first quarter and never looked back.

“Sometimes you hate games like this, said Staggs, but it gives us a chance to mix up our groups and play the whole game as a team.”

In the win over the Lady Jays, Shipley was again the leading scorer, having a big game with 19 points. Karissa Buttelwerth added 9, Braylie Jones 8, and Robinson 6.

Jan. 11 turned out to be another blowout win for the Lady Devils as they rolled past West Union 57-8.

“In the first half, we played a Kentucky style platoon, subbing in five players every 2-3 minutes,” said Coach Staggs. “That gave everyone a chance to get some big minutes and score some buckets.”

Harper took scoring honors in the win over the Lady Dragons with 14 points, with Buttelwerth adding 12, Shipley 10, and Marah Call 7.

The North Adams girls will be back in action on Jan. 20, facing Fairfield in a non-conference match up. On Jan. 23, they travel to Fayetteville, play Fairfield again at home on Jan. 27, and finish the regular season on Jan. 30 at home with Lynchburg.

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5-0 in conference play

By Mark Carpenter

mcarpenter@civitasmedia.com

Reach Mark Carpenter at 937-544-2391 or on Twitter @adamscosports.