(2-16-23) The Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) girls basketball tournament is in full swing with Sectional/District play. Last night in the Northwest District and Southwest District there were two scores that stuck out like a sore thumb.

Northwest District –

Southwest District –

When scores like the two from last night appear with two different teams scoring just 1 point in a game…it shows the issues facing Ohio girls basketball in the future.

The problem has developed over recent years…some schools no longer have a JV team or players have to play a limited number of quarters in the JV games so they can save some if needed for the varsity game. Numbers are so low that if a player has some health issues or injury problems games have had to be postponed or canceled. Good teams are really good and poor teams struggle to compete, the impact is what happens like the two games last night.

SSN article from January of 2017 — Why Two Quarters For JV Girls Basketball?

So what is happening? That’s a good question that many schools are hoping to find an answer to in the future. Over the years additional sports have been added, travel teams, athletes decide to concentrate on just one sport to name just some of the problems.

It is not just girls basketball problem but other high school sports are facing many of the same issues. Much like the shortage of officials to cover games, girls high school basketball is facing a critical time of survival.

Did you know…

SSN story from January, 2017 – Girls HS Basketball At Mendon In The 1930’s

In 1937 the OHSAA sent out a questionnaire to its member schools, part of which dealt with the future participation of girls in interscholastic basketball. 563 schools (55%) said that they did provide both interscholastic and intramural basketball for girls at their schools.

When asked –

“Do you favor dropping girls’ basketball as an interscholastic sport?”

519 schools were in favor of discontinuing girls basketball as an OHSAA sport. In September of 1939 an OHSAA referendum was submitted to the member schools to decide whether or not basketball would be continued as a girls sport in the future.
By a voting margin of 2-1, the schools decided to discontinue interscholastic basketball for girls as of September 1, 1940. This, in turn would lead to the discontinuation of all interscholastic athletics for girls in Ohio.