There were a number of youngsters who came away with awards after a strong showing at the Georgetown Lady G-Men basketball camp. They include: Gracie Fischer, Tori Utter Sydney Porter, Hannah Gregory, Anna Swisshelm, Laura Standberry, Lily Taulbee, Modi Hudson, Lila Gullet, Nancy Hastings, Emma Laubach, Madi Benjamin, Grace Burrows, Mattilyn Griffith, and Juanita Frost.

More than 40 campers attended the 2015 Georgetown Lady G-Men basketball camp at Georgetown High School between June 8-12.

The Georgetown Lady G-Men welcomed a near-record number of campers from grades three to eight to their annual Lady G-Men basketball camp held June 8-12.

According to head coach Bernie Cropper, 41 girls signed up for the Lady G-Men basketball camp, a number that left him humbled after what he called a “great week of basketball.”

“It’s been at least ten years since that many kids attended,” Cropper said. “Just really happy about the number of kids that attended. They all were very attentive, they worked hard trying to improve our skills. It was a great week for us.”

The campers participated in a number of drills, mainly revolving around ball handling and shooting, with high school varsity and junior varsity players helping to run the drill stations.

Cropper said that he and the coaching staff are looking to see which campers have made improvements in their skills from a year before. Plenty of players also exhibit an improvement in their skills over the course of a week.

“We do a lot of ball handing and shooting,” he said. “We do a little defense and rebound but mostly ball handling, shooting skills, and footwork. We spent a lot of time on those areas of the game and we’ve seen some kids make some progress. Basically we go year-to-year and you’d really like to see that jump they’ve made from one year to the next, and a lot of them certainly have.”

There were plenty of awards to hand out to the campers on June 12 at the conclusion of the camp.

In the seventh and eighth grade category, Team All-Stars, consisting of Gracie Fischer, Tori Utter, Sydney Porter, and Hannah Gregory, won the four-on-four tournament. In the elementary school category, the six-player team of Anna Swisshelm, Laura Stansberry, Lily Taulbee, Modi Hudson, Lila Gullet, and Nancy Hastings won their tournament.

The camp’s defensive award went to Emma Laubach and Madi Benjamin. The free throw award went to Swisshelm and Fischer. The hot shot champions were Utter and Grace Burrows. The most improved players were Mattilyn Griffith and Juanita Frost. The two-ball layer champions were Utter and Fischer.

Cropper said the camp could not have gone as well as it did without the help of the high school players.

“They were very helpful,” he said. “With the number of kids we had, we had to have a lot of help. They were tremendous, they worked hard, they enjoyed it, and they enjoyed the week too. That’s one of their favorite weeks I think, working with the younger kids. It’s just a great week of basketball. The camp’s always enjoyable and you kind of hate to see it’s over.”

With the camp now in the rear-view mirror, the focus now turns to the upcoming season. The Lady G-Men have won six straight sectional titles and 14 straight league titles, but will need to replace key starters Kayla Seigla, Morgan Gast, and Ally Dowd.

Under OHSAA rules, Cropper gets 10 days between June 1 and July 31 to put the team through its paces and teach them basketball instruction, but he can also teach players skills as much as he wants as long as there’s no more than four players in attendance at a time.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” Cropper said.