Bosse taking on leadership role during senior season on Ross girls basketball team
Carmen Bosse knew her senior season with the Ross High School girls basketball team would look different the moment she’d step on the court.
The familiar outlet passes, the quick reads and easy baskets that came from playing alongside Southwestern Buckeye League standout Lanie Lipps were gone. So was the comfort of a veteran backcourt.
But what remained was opportunity — and responsibility — for Bosse to become the centerpiece of a program navigating change.
“I feel like for us, it’s a big change,” Bosse said. “We lost a couple really good seniors we relied on last year. We definitely miss them, especially having Lanie, but it’s kind of forced all of us seniors to step up and just play our roles.”
Ross is 4-3 overall and 3-0 in the SWBL Southwestern Division after Saturday’s win over Franklin, an early-season record shaped by adjustment as much as results.
The Rams went 18-6 a year ago and graduated five seniors, including Lipps, the league’s second-leading scorer at 18 points per game.
That reality has elevated Bosse’s role on both ends of the floor.
“Playing off Lanie the last couple years, it was a little bit different,” Ross coach Ben Buehner said. “Now Carmen is the main focus. The defense is different, the looks are different, and our kids are still learning how to do their jobs to help her.”
Bosse, a Thomas More University commit, has embraced the shift from finisher to creator. Many of her baskets once came off assists from Lipps, who controlled tempo and spacing.
This winter, Bosse is being asked to generate offense, read collapsing defenses and trust teammates to knock down shots.
“I knew the offense was going to be different,” Bosse said. “A lot of my baskets came from Lanie’s assists because she saw the court so well. Now, if they collapse on me in the paint, I’ve got to kick it out because my teammates can hit those threes.”
Senior Sophie Bowers — pressed into point guard duties — has helped steady the backcourt, while shooters on the perimeter have been key to creating space for Bosse inside. Seniors Liv Powers, Mya Montgomery and Kelis Egodotaye will see their duties increase this season as well.
And when the Rams execute, Buehner said, Bosse’s presence changes everything.
“Carmen has so much space when we hit shots and do our job,” Buehner said. “She’s able to get offensive rebounds and finish. When we’re cluttered and forcing things, it’s hard for her to do anything. But when everyone does their job, everybody gets better.”
Ross’ learning curve has shown in stretches. Mental mistakes defensively and tough stretches have tested the Rams, but Buehner believes the growth is steady.
“When we stay solid and make the normal play — don’t try to be the hero — we compete,” Buehner said. “When we don’t, it can be a rough go.”
The leadership extends beyond scoring for Bosse. With five seniors in the lineup, she’s become a steady voice during moments of adversity, a role she didn’t always have to fill before.
“I have a way bigger role than I think I did,” Bosse said. “Not just scoring, but making the right plays and picking up my team when they’re down.”
As Ross continues to find its footing, Bosse remains the constant — the player opponents key on and the leader her teammates rely on.
“But we can’t let one player and one game define us,” Buehner said. “It’s about consistent effort. If we keep doing the right things, we’ll keep getting better.”
Franklin girls basketball ‘just trying to get a little bit better’ one day at a time
The record says Franklin’s girls basketball team is still finding its footing, but the direction is familiar.
Seven games into the season, the Wildcats are barreling forward under the leadership of John Rossi — a proven winner who has returned to Franklin with a steady hand and a long view.
The early wins, hard lessons and visible growth echo a blueprint Rossi helped establish during his previous run with the program.
“We told the kids early on it was baby steps,” Rossi said. “Now they’re big-girl steps.”
Those steps were evident Saturday even in a 52-33 defeat against Ross, a veteran program that has become a measuring stick in the Southwestern Buckeye League.
After Ross jumped out early, the Wildcats responded by winning the second quarter and cutting the deficit to one at halftime. The second half, Rossi said, exposed areas his group — which only has two seniors — is still learning to manage.
“We went four or five minutes without getting anything offensively,” Rossi said. “That’s eight, nine, 10 possessions. Against good teams like Ross, you can’t have those blank spells.”
Still, Franklin stayed engaged defensively and fought through every possession. Rossi credited his players for matching Ross’ poise and physicality, particularly against one of the league’s toughest individual matchups.
“That kid is a beast,” Rossi said of Ross standout Carmen Bosse, a Thomas More commit. “She’s a matchup problem for everybody in our league.”
Rossi’s return to Franklin brings a track record that few in the area can match. He coached the Wildcats from 2018 through 2022, guiding the program to a Southwestern Buckeye League Southwestern Division title in 2019, back-to-back district championships in 2018 and 2019, and a regional runner-up finish in 2019.
In 25 years as a girls basketball coach in Southwest Ohio, Rossi has earned more than 300 career victories.
That experience shapes his approach now, as Franklin works through a demanding early schedule and a 3-4 start. The Wildcats can match last year’s win total at 4-16 with one more victory.
“My job’s a teaching coach,” Rossi said. “Make sure we’re putting a really good product out there that the community can be proud of.”
Progress is also showing across the program. Franklin’s junior varsity team recently earned an overtime win against Ross, something Rossi views as a key building block.
“We’ve all got to find ways to win,” he said. “It’s not just going to snap your fingers.”
With 19 players in the program, Rossi and his staff have made difficult early decisions, including moving players between varsity and JV. Rossi said the way those decisions have been handled reflects growth beyond the box score.
“When kids 15, 16, 17 years old accept that, that shows character,” he said. “That shows maturity.”
Practices remain purposeful and efficient, especially during stretches with multiple Monday games. Rossi leans on a disciplined routine — focused scouting, shooting and concise workouts — while keeping the long view in mind.
“It’s one day at a time,” Rossi said. “Just trying to get a little bit better than we were the day before.”
That philosophy helped Franklin reach championship heights before, and Rossi believes it will again. The Wildcats may still be shaping this season’s identity, but under his guidance, the steps are steady, intentional and unmistakably forward.
“I hate losing more than I like winning,” Rossi said. “But this thing takes time.”
For Franklin, the path is familiar — and the climb has already begun.
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Bellbrook head coach Jason Tincher didn’t want to provide excuses for the opponents his squad have trounced.
Yet he had something at the ready for everyone.
His Bellbrook team defeated Kings 48-24 in its first home game of the season Monday. The two teams have now played a non-league game for five straight seasons. The average margin of victory for either side was five points until Monday’s 24-point win for the Golden Eagles.
“They don’t have any seniors,” Tincher said. “(Steve Green has) all juniors and sophomores and so his numbers are a little down which, with playing our style, probably wasn’t beneficial to them.”
Bellbrook typically asks a group of seven or eight players to rest up during their in-game bench time in order to continue playing its 94-feet of pressing style. The first quarter line change utilized by Tincher is telling this is a deeper group of Golden Eagles this season.
Tincher said he is comfortable going with 10 players as needed to be part of his rotation. The girls want to keep playing that way, he said.
“It’s better when it looks like chaos for the other team, but not chaos for us,” he said.
Two All-Ohio performers last year, junior Lauren Fabrick and sophomore Libby Bunsold, are the invaluable leaders.
Fabrick led the team in scoring last season at 15.7 points per game and both was the primary shooter and remained in the frontcourt to point the defensive press. Bunsold was a triple-double waiting to happen at times during her freshman year in having separate games reaching double digits in either points, rebounds, steals or assists. She already had 19 points, nine rebounds and eight steals in their season opener Nov. 22 against Toledo Notre Dame Academy.
The team has four of its top six scorers back from last year’s 22-4 squad with seniors Zoe Howard and Ainsley Gregory joining Fabrick and Bunsold.
There is one freshman listed on the roster, Macy Miller, and her contributions could prove to be important if her role solidifies. She led Bellbrook with a season-high 15 points against Kings and had her own 11-0 run during the third quarter.
“From what we see in practice, it was just a matter of time,” Tincher said of Miller’s early breakout. “She’s one of our pure shooters, so when she has space I feel confident it’s going to go in.”
Bellbrook’s first Southwestern Buckeye League game was set for Wednesday against Monroe. The Golden Eagles are the five-time reigning division champions and have won 17 straight against league teams.
Tincher had something at the ready for each of their opponents. Toledo Notre Dame Academy lost its point guard due to injury before Bellbrook won by 28. Newark only had three guards to use that caused their side to only muster six points in the fourth quarter of a 22-point Bellbrook win. Oakwood’s surrounded by walls court made it feel Bellbrook players were everywhere in that 43-point drubbing.
The one constant in each of the four games is the depth Bellbrook has employed. And Tincher happily won’t come up with an excuse for that.
