LEAGUE WIN … Pettisville’s Ashalyn Rice gets off a shot in the lane during a 50-21 win over Montpelier.
PHOTOS BY REBEKAH DELL / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
MONTPELIER LOCO … Janessa Humbarger dribbles on the perimeter in the fourth quarter of Thursday night’s BBC game at Pettisville.
By: Joe Blystone
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
PETTISVILLE (January 22, 2026) – All anyone needed to see who watched the Pettisville-Montpelier game was a sequence three minutes into the contest.
That’s when the Blackbirds used no less than six offensive rebounds to score on their seventh chance at the rim to make it a 6-2 game.
The score seemed innocent enough, but the tone was set for the rest of the night as Pettisville used a big advantage on the glass in the first half to take a 25-point lead, then coasted to a 50-21 BBC win over the Locos.
“That has actually been a weakness of ours,” Blackbird coach Jason Waldvogel said about the work of his team on the boards.
“We have been putting a lot of time in, doing what we call paired-rebounding and just going and getting the ball. We talk a lot about 50-50 balls, and we haven’t been winning those.”
“Tonight, I think we were the aggressors on the boards and that’s what we are looking for.”
Madison Miller worked a hi-lo game to Addison Davis 30 seconds into the game to give Pettisville an early lead, then Becca Strauss scored off a steal 17 ticks later to make it 4-0.
Morgan Bechtol countered for Montpelier, but then came a series of missed Blackbird attempts, where Pettisville scrapped for six boards.
Davis finally scored on the seventh try at the rim, a basket that set off a 16-2 run to end the quarter.
Strauss and Miller each hit from outside the arc, and Davis scored twice more – once on a Loco turnover, then on another putback – to boost the Blackbirds up 18-4.
Strauss tripled again to begin the second, then Miller hit 3-3 from the foul line after being fouled on a three-point try to put the Blackbirds up 20 at 24-4.
“We wanted the game to be faster tempo,” Waldvogel explained of the fast start. “We wanted to speed the game up. We knew some pressure would get to them, and when our defense plays well, that turns into offense.”
Kaida Feeney stopped the Pettisville run with a three-pointer, but the Blackbirds answered with another 10 straight points.
Grace Hastings and Ashalyn Rice each hit three-pointers during the burst, then Davis and Miller each scored off the offensive glass to make it 34-7.
Neriah Thorp’s triple got Montpelier (1-14, 1-4 BBC) back to a 36-11 deficit at half. Thorp nailed another three-ball to start the third quarter to make it 36-14, but Montpelier never got closer than 22 the rest of the night.
Rice’s bank shot with 2:18 left gave Pettisville their largest lead at 50-21, which turned out to be the last score of the night as well.
Strauss led three Blackbirds (7-10, 3-2 BBC) in double-figures with 13. Davis added 12 points and Miller 10. Pettisville enjoyed a 32-22 advantage on the glass.
MONTPELIER (21) – Thorp 6; Brown 0; Uribes 2; McGee 3; Humbarger 0; Ramos 0; Feeney 6; Bechtol 4; Wade 0; Totals: 4-4-1 – 21
PETTISVILLE (50) – Rice 8; Strauss 13; Fox 4; Hastings 3; Boulton 0; Schwartz 0; Beck 0; Ripke 0; Miller 10; Davis 12; Bieber 0; Tietje 0; Totals: 13-7-3 – 50
MHS 4 7 5 5 – 21
PHS 18 18 6 8 – 50