United’s Ines Vilela Rego scores past Southern’s Makenna Jones on Monday at Southern Local. (Photo by Michael Burich)

SALINEVILLE — Technically Southern Local’s girls basketball team had been idle since Dec. 22, but the Indians never stopped working over the holiday.

Using the aggressive defense and clutch threes it used to dominate the 2025 part of the season, the Indians were once again lethal in their 2026 debut with a 77-26 win over United.

“We had practice ever day over the break and the practices kept getting harder, harder and harder,” Indian senior Haylee Kellogg said. “We do a lot more running at practice and that’s how we win these games.”

Coach Mike Skrinjar said it is necessary to push the girls in practice since the competition at times in the Eastern Ohio Athletic Conference hasn’t challenged the Indians. After Monday’s game Southern Local is winning games by an average of 69-20.

“In practice all the coaches hold them to a high standard and an expectation,” Skrinjar said. “They are constantly being challenged and sometimes they feel like they’re getting yelled at a little bit, but it’s just a matter of holding them to a higher standard.”

The Indians are 13-0 overall and 8-0 in the EOAC. So far United (8-6 overall and 5-3 in the EOAC) has scored the most points against the Indians in the league — including 33 in the first meeting — and the Eagles weren’t remotely close.

“They get four or five girls hitting multiple threes a game and that’s hard to guard,” United coach Cory Leek said. “On defense, they always seem to have a hand on the ball. They’re always in the passing lanes. Anything you throw over your head or not a strong bounce pass, they are knocking it out of bounds or starting their transition.”

Superstar freshman Katie Kellogg once again had a complete game for the winners with 15 points, 11 steals, nine assists and four rebounds. Senior Allyssa Shroades made her mark with 18 points, four rebounds and four steals. Freshman forward Kalayah Crute was a force on the boards with nine of her 12 points in the first half. Crute also had 10 rebounds, two assists and three steals. Makenna Jones was consistent with 16 points, four rebounds and three assists. Haylee Kellogg added eight points and two assists.

Shroades, who watched her sister Ashley become Columbiana County’s all-time leading scorer during her first two years of her career, is a unique position to have played alongside perhaps what could be two of the school’s greatest girls basketball talents.

Allyssa said by the time Katie Kellogg hit third grade they knew she’d be a star. Katie Kellogg was so good, in fact, that she has been practicing against the Southern varsity squad well before she ever got to high school.

“She’d come up to the varsity practices all the time and I remember one time she got pushed into a trash can,” Shroades said. “It proved that she was a tough player even though she was younger than us.”

Katie Kellogg was averaging about 25 points per game coming into Monday’s game. Her sister Haylee said she is always working on her game and it shows.

“She works every single day during practice and she’ll be out here every morning when we don’t have school — especially during Christmas break she went twice a day,” Haylee Kellogg said. “It would be once in the morning with shooting two or three hours at a time and if we had practice in the morning she’d come in the evening.”

While most fans and opposing teams have been in awe of what the freshman has done so far, her sister is more down to earth with her assessment.

“I don’t think she’s doing that bad, but there are still a lot of things she needs to work on,” Haylee Kellogg said. “She needs to be a little bit tougher and work on making her layups.”

The Indians will host Toronto on Wednesday.

For United, Maelee Smith led with nine points, seven rebounds and four steals. Spanish foreign exchange student Ines Rego turned in a strong effort with six points and three steals. Reagan Good added five points and six rebounds.

United hosts Wellsville on Thursday.

Game notes

¯ Southern has eight coaches this season. Four are fathers and one is a mother of the players.

¯ Leek is a Southern Local grad and isn’t ready yet to call this one of the school’s best.

“We’ll see what happens when they get to the tournament,” Leek said. “I was going to school here when Dennis Dunham went 20-0 in the regular season. Those were really good teams.”

Southern’s record for wins was set in the 1978-79 season when the team went 21-3.

¯ Southern sits first in OVAC Class 2A and barring any collapse, should go into the OVAC tournament with the top seed. Caldwell sits second with a 10-3 mark. No other team is over .500 in Class 2A.

¯ As for the Div. VI Northeast district tournament, Skrinjar believes the Indians could be in line for a high seed if they continue to win. Other significant challengers within the region include an unbeaten Canton Central Catholic and teams from the Wayne County Athletic League.

UN: 6-7-7-6–26

SL: 24-18-16-21–77

UNITED SCORING: Addie Butream 0-0-0, Malae Smith 4-1-9, Kyle Holmes 0-0-0, Marin Stryffeler 1-0-3, Danika Anderson 0-0-0, McKenzie Cope 1-1-3, Bella Thompson 0-0-0, Carli Binckley 0-0-0, Ines Vilela Rego 3-0-6, Audrey Wilson 0-0-0, Reagan Good 2-1-5, Atlee Brinker 0-0-0. TEAM TOTALS: 11, 3-10: 26.

SOUTHERN LOCAL SCORING: Katie Kellogg 5-2-15, Allyssa Shroades 6-2-18, Ava Reed 0-0-0, Kalayah Crute 4-2-12, Makenna Jones 7-1-16, Sarah Hawk 0-0-0, Hailey Maines 0-0-0, Haylee Kellogg 3-0-8, Raelea Carosiello 0-1-1, Lidia Spahlinger 0-0-0, Emma Boyle 1-0-3, Maddy Jones 2-0-4. TEAM TOTALS: 32, 8-14: 77.

Three-point goals: United 1 (Stryffeler), Southern 13 (Shroades 4, Katie Kellogg 3, Crute 2, Haylee Kellogg 2, Jones, Boyle).