Riverdale's Bonham BVC POY, L-B's Lieb top coach

FINDLAY – Multi-talented Riverdale guard Marissa Bonham was named player of the year, McComb's Morgan Kern continued her quest to be a four-time first-team all-leaguer and Liberty-Benton's Chad Lieb and Arcadia's Randy Baker shared coach of the year honors in the 2025-26 all-Blanchard Valley Conference girls basketball selections.Bonham, a 5-foot-10 junior, averaged a double of 16.5 points and 10.5 rebounds. She broke the girls school record for career rebounds this season, led the BVC in steals (3.9 spg) and was first-team District 6 in addition to being BVC Player of the Year.The BVC Player of the Year in 2024-25, Kern, a 5-11 junior wing, earned first-team all-BVC honors for the third straight year and will have a chance next season to go for a four-year first-team sweep. Kern averaged 17.4 points, was second in the league in both rebounding (9.1) and steals (3.7) and was among the top 3-point shooters in the BVC (44-122, 36.7 percent).Lieb guided Liberty-Benton to a perfect 10-0 BVC record and the school's tenth straight BVC championship. The Eagles were 19-6 overall and reached the Division IV district finals.Baker had a milestone-achieving season at Arcadia. The veteran head coach guided a young team to a 17-5 regular season record and second-place (7-3) finish in the BVC standings. Arcadia's 18-6 overall mark elevated Baker's career record to 641-342 and moved him into tenth place on Ohio's list of winningest girls basketball coaches.With 14 underclassmen earning first-, second- or third-team all-BVC recognition last year, the 2025-26 all-BVC selections, switched from three six-person to two 10-person teams, look familiar.In addition to Bonham and Kern, Liberty-Benton's Corra Dehart and Megan Gerken earned first team honors for the second straight year and Pandora-Gilboa's Ava Huffman and Savannah Knueven, Arlington's Jada Smith and Elmwood's Salena Deal all moved from second- to first-team status. Arcadia's Liberty Voges, third-team a year ago, and Leipsic freshman Kya Brandt rounded out the 10-girl first team.Dehart, a 6-3 junior, averaged 10.9 points and 5.4 rebounds, and Gerken, a 5-11 junior, averaged 12.1 points for L-B's BVC championship team.Deal, a senior guard, averaged 15.7 points for Elmwood while Voges averaged 15 points and knocked down 43 3-pointers for Arcadia.Huffman (15.4 ppg) and Knueven (15.8 ppg, 64 3-pointers) were two of the key offensive cogs for a Pandora-Gilboa team that went 12-10, and Smith averaged 11.3 points and 8.3 rebounds for Arlington.Brandt had a break-out year for Leipsic. The 5-10 freshman led the BVC in scoring at 22 points a game, averaged 6.2 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.4 steals, and was among the league leaders in free throw (112-147, 76.2 percent) and 3-point (40-117, 34.2 percent) shooting.Brandt also headlines another group of talented young players in the league. Three other freshmen – Riverdale's Claire Inbody (9 ppg, 7.2 rpg), Ada's Tea Griffith (10.2 ppg) and Liberty-Benton's Emelia Kin 9 ppg, 7.5 rpg) –were second-team all-BVC, along with Arcadia's Addy Colman (9.9 ppg) and Ryleigh Bostic (10.4 ppg), Ada's Anna Conley (11.6 ppg, 8.9 rpg), Van Buren's Brooklyn Wilkin (13.6 ppg, 7.3 rpg), Pandora-Gilboa's Kelsie Carlson (12.9 ppg), Arlington's Mea Alexander (8.6 ppg) and Elmwood's Molly Barringer (8.9 ppg, 8.8 rpg). FIRST TEAMMarissa Bonham, Riverdale, jr.; Morgan kern, McComb, jr.; Kya Brandt, Leipsic, fr.; Ava Huffman, Pandora-Gilboa, sr.; Liberty Voges, Arcadia, jr.; Corra Dehart, Liberty-Benton, jr.; Megan Gerken, Liberty-Benton, jr.; Selina Deal, Elmwood, sr.; Jada Smith, Arlington, sr.; Savannah Knueven, Pandora-Gilboa, sr.PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Marissa Bonham, Riverdale.CO-COACHES OF THE YEAR: Randy Baker, Arcadia; Chad Lieb, Liberty-Benton.SECOND TEAMAddy Colman, Arcadia, sr.; Anna Conley, Ada, sr.; Emelia Kin, Libedrty-Benton, fr.; Brooklyn Wilkin, Van Buren, jr.; Kelsie Carlson, Pandora-Gilboa, sr.; Meda Alexander, Arlington, sr.; Claire Inbody, Riverdale, fr.; Ryleigh Bostic, Arcadia, jr.; Molly Barringer, Elmwood, jr.; Tea Griffith, Ada, fr. HONORABLE MENTIONADA – Kenley Poling, Lucy Carter. ARCADIA – Elyse Boes, Kate Seem. ARLINGTON – Madison Ernst, Madeline Hartman. ELMWOOD – Grace Morgart, McKenzie Laird. LEIPSIC – Peyton Schroeder, Nora Schroeder.LIBERTY-BENTON – Emma Lieb, Sophie McDaniel. MCOMB – Madison Beckman, Claire Bryan. PANDORA-GILBOA – Nevaeha Mangas, Keelin Miller. RIVERDALE – Dylann Thacker, Annalese Woodruff. VAN BUREN – Kami Bowman, Maddie Hudak. VANLUE – Adrienne Phillips, Alison Brooks.