DARKE COUNTY – A pair of point guards who helped lead their teams to successful seasons are this week’s Daily Advocate athletes of the week.
This week’s Daily Advocate athletes of the week are Arcanum girls basketball player Alexis Abner and Versailles boys basketball player Alex Wendel.
Abner reached the 1,000 point milestone for her high school career in an Ohio High School Athletic Association sectional tournament game vs. Northwestern on Tuesday.
“That says a lot for her, her hard work, her dedication,” Arcanum girls basketball coach Matt Grote said. “She really loves the game of basketball.”
Abner was one of the top scorers in Darke County this season, averaging 9.3 points per game. She was a top scorer even though she transitioned to more of a distributor role under the Trojans’ new coaching staff.
“Alexis played really hard this year,” Grote said of his senior point guard. “She kept working hard, wanted to reach team goals of winning games and also reach that individual goal of 1,000.”
With Abner’s leadership, Arcanum was one of the top teams in the Cross County Conference with a 9-3 league record.
“She leads by example,” Grote said. “She does things the right way. She always knew what was going on.
“She’s a gym rat. Her hard work paid off.”
Wendel helped lead the Versailles boys basketball team to the Midwest Athletic Conference championship with an 8-1 league record.
“He’s played really well for us, leads us in assists and steals,” Versailles coach Scott McEldowney said.
Wendel is third among all Darke County boys with 4.5 assists a game this season.
“He handles the ball a lot for us and makes good reads, makes good decisions and also shoots it pretty well,” McEldowney said.
The junior is a capable scorer, averaging 5.6 points per game. None of his shots this season were bigger than a game-winning buzzer beater against St. Henry.
“That was definitely, definitely a big one,” McEldowney said. “He stepped up and hit.”
In addition to being a great point guard on offense, Wendel is tasked with being one of Versailles’ top defenders as well.
“He’s usually the kid who guards their best guard and plays really good defense,” McEldowney said.
