Norwayne seniors Madicyn Rupp, Ava Maibach and Allie DeMassimo saw a return trip to state end in the Division V state semifinals with a 40-37 loss to Portsmouth March 13 at the Nutter Center on the campus of Wright State University.
It was an ending that came simply too soon.
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Still, as tough as the ending was, their impact will be one that will be felt for years to come. You can base it on the sheer numbers, or where the bar is now for the program or the culture they leave behind, by simply being themselves. Either way you look at it, it’s one that’s clearly left a footprint of how to do things and what it means to don the Bobcats jersey.
“I can’t say enough about the impact these three seniors have had on our program and the grades coming up,” said Norwayne third-year coach Jake Shoup. “Each of them has become a terrific leader, each in their own right, and that is a huge reason we had the success we’ve had.”
Getting sentimental, the bench boss added:
“I’ve loved having the opportunity to coach each of them,” he said. “They’re very good basketball players, but much better people. The most rewarding part of working with each of them has been getting to see them grow and mature as people. They are fantastic young ladies who represent our school and program incredibly well.”
Madicyn Rupp helped lead Norwayne’s success with her shooting, defensive growth and strong leadership throughout her career.Joshua McWilliams
BY THE NUMBERS
Where do you start? By the numbers that mean the most for any successful program: 14-4 in the OHSAA playoffs over the past four years, and over the past two years, they are 11-2. In known program history, it’s never been done, and spanning back to 2001, the program had only won 17 tournament games prior to this stretch of four years. Over the past four years, the program has gone 80-25 overall and is 40-16 in the Wayne County Athletic League. Making the league record more impressive is that over the past few years, the WCAL has been the best league or conference for girls basketball, bar none, locally. That is backed up by the success metered out in the OHSAA playoffs.
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Two 1,000-point scorers in Maibach with 1,323 and DeMassimo with 1,293. As a program, Norwayne had just four total career 1,000-point scorers prior to the duo wreaking havoc. Three school records and nine career totals that rank top three in program history statistically (points, rebounds, assists, steals, games played and 3-pointers).
Back-to-back trips to state, the first two in program history, the first two regional titles and each with their own story.
“Last year was a huge season for us to find out what we were capable of as a group,” said Shoup. “We couldn’t be more thankful for the contributions from our seniors that year (Grace Wolf, Kendra Berger), but we also knew that we had the pieces coming back this year that could make a run as well.”
BY THE BAR
Bringing back those pieces continued what was already started, raising the bar.
Getting to state once wasn’t enough; these girls were hungry, and one only had to watch them once to understand they had unfinished business. That passion led them through easily the toughest league in the area, as it proved to be a gauntlet nearly every night. With four district champions and nearly a fifth, the league showed its mettle when it mattered most: tournament time.
Norwayne powered its way through that slate of games and beat Tuscarawas Valley 58-39 and Triway 58-24, both nonleague teams that advanced to regionals.
Each time the Bobcats’ bell got rung, they answered the call. When the smoke cleared, these three seniors proved to every younger girl coming up through the program and in the program already that lofty goals like these are attainable. If anything, Maibach, DeMassimo and Rupp left behind a legacy of “this is the new standard.”
BY THE CULTURE
To get there, these three seniors helped build the culture that now oozes out of the program. It’s one of team over self, iron sharpens iron and that, through the work of a collective, each contribution matters, and each contribution adds up in the long run, as two trips to state hammer that point home.
“This run has been an absolute blast,” Shoup said. “While we feel like it is by no means over, these three seniors have played massive roles in their buy-in to our program and the goals we sought out to accomplish.”
Allie DeMassimo helped power Norwayne’s success with her scoring, versatility and selfless, team-first approach.Joshua McWilliams
It started with talks in the offseason and then into the preseason of what this team wanted to accomplish and what it felt like it could achieve. The goals were huge; the girls wouldn’t settle for anything less. The taste of state a year ago only whetted the appetite more. It drove the hunger pains deeper, the desire to get back to the big dance. That became the vision, and everything else just settled in with that.
“We established goals of what we wanted to accomplish,” said the Norwayne skipper. “We even had more talks about the expectations from the outside and the fact that we could be getting every team’s best shot every single night. We talked about adversity and about how we would handle it.”
It was a standard that this team wanted, and it was the standard that these three seniors left behind by simply showing up for each other, working for each other and pushing each other. That team picture got them through the tough moments, and it made the chalking off of goals that much sweeter.
“I couldn’t be more proud of the girls’ response to everything that was thrown at them this year,” added Shoup. “We just have tough, resilient, hard-working kids who love each other and want to win for each other.”
The Bobcats bench boss couldn’t help but smile as he thought of each senior and their contributions.
“Ava, Allie and Madicyn,” he said. “Ava is an incredibly gifted athlete but worked extremely hard to hone her craft. She had an edge, wanted to compete harder than any player I’ve been around, and it was fun to watch her turn into a polished, skilled and knowledgeable player.
“Allie is exactly what every coach wants; she wants to be pushed hard to be her best and is determined to outwork anyone. She is the most coachable, selfless and determined kid that I’ve ever had the opportunity to work with.”
And then Shoup added:
“Rupp is such an extremely hard worker who put in a lot of time to turn herself into a great shooter. The strides she took in her defensive presence and becoming a well-rounded player as her career developed were beyond huge, and her leadership — wow, that will be missed.”
For a program that is still hungry, that still wants more, it only has to look to its trio of seniors this year that raised that bar, that set the culture and put up some incredible numbers. It wasn’t just one girl that did it; it was the three of them, working together, leading the way and living out childhood dreams that carried the Norwayne Bobcats girls basketball program to a new era — an era of excellence.
