NANKIN – If last year was the opening act for the Mapleton girls basketball team, head coach Matt Hess and his squad are hoping this season becomes the main attraction.
For the second year in a row, the Mounties have exploded out of the gates to a big start.
In 2024-25 – starting three freshmen for nearly the entire season – Mapleton opened 11-1 and looked like a serious threat to make a run at its first Firelands Conference crown since 1999.
But back-to-back 14-point losses over a span of five days last January to eventual league champ New London harpooned the opportunity.
The Mounties closed the year 18-6 overall – their most wins in over a decade – and went 11-3 in the FC for a runner-up finish. It was Mapleton’s highest league placement since 1999.
This winter is giving off similar vibes.
After Tuesday’s 71-19 trouncing of Monroeville, the Mounties are 9-1 through 10 games and a perfect 5-0 in conference action.
But where last season’s splashy start included four wins by six or fewer points, this season’s has been headlined by dominance.
All nine of Mapleton’s wins have come by at least 25 points.
“I’ve definitely been pleased with the start,” Hess said. “Our focus in the offseason and preseason was definitely to improve things at the defensive end and I think the team, so far, has embraced that.
“I’m super pleased with the effort so far from the girls and I hope we can keep things rolling.”
The team’s lone loss is to undefeated Norwayne (52-27), a defending Division V state runner-up that Hess thinks is better this season.
Last year, the Bobcats flattened Mapleton, 55-13, in a game Hess said wasn’t even that close.
This time around, the Mounties held Norwayne to its second-lowest scoring total to date, and Hess said a few more made layups could have had MHS finish within 15 of the Bobcats – ranked by MaxPreps as the No. 16 team in Ohio, regardless of division.
These are the kinds of baby steps a program needs to take on the way to greatness.
Hess, a 2002 Mapleton graduate now in his ninth year (and second stint) leading the program, collected the 100th win of his coaching career when the Mounties opened this season with a 40-15 rout of Central Christian.
With five more victories, he’ll surpass Jeff Hill for the most coaching wins in program history (currently 108-98).
And if the Mounties can get back to 18 wins this winter, they will have their first back-to-back seasons with at least that many in 40 years.
One big reason the squad seems well on its way is its defense.
Entering Tuesday, Mapleton was forcing 20.8 steals per game, with starters Kenzie Hellickson (4.1), Audrey Hellickson (3.8), Addison Hess (3.8) and Aubree Hess (3.2) all averaging more than three.
“Based on our athletic ability and understanding of the game, defensively, we’re trying to create intense, aggressive, unpredictable traps that force our opponents into making uncomfortable decisions and taking quick contested shots,” Hess said.
It has worked so far. In their nine wins, the Mounties have not allowed more than 31 points; they’re surrendering a measly 22.1 per game when they win.
One key to that tenacity, coach Hess said, has been the return of senior Audrey Hellickson.
The guard missed all of last season with a knee injury and has seemingly been making up for lost time, averaging a team-high 14.2 points and 5.0 rebounds per game entering Tuesday.
“Seeing her work hard in the offseason and during that time of rehab and have a successful soccer season, then to get her back out on the hardwood this year has been awesome,” Hess said. “Her leadership at practice, how tough of a player she is on the floor, it’s been a game-changer for us.”
The only other upperclassmen on the squad are senior guard Kendall Ramey and junior forward Emilee Beecher – both of whom Hess said have been additional key defensive components.
Those two have helped fill the leadership role left by graduated All-Ohio post player Hailey Bergosh, who averaged 13 points per game last year and now plays at the College of Wooster.
Sophomore Addison Hess has stepped into Bergosh’s rebounding shoes, averaging a team-high 7.2 boards per game. One of the FC’s best all-around threats a year ago, the 5-foot-10 guard has picked up where she left off, totaling 14.0 points and a team-high 4.7 assists per game as well this winter.
Hess’s career-high 24 points Dec. 6 against Western Reserve came on a night when she also tied the school record for single-game 3-pointers made (six).
“Addison has the unique ability to do whatever it takes to win a game,” said coach Hess of his oldest daughter. “That might be on the defensive end, it might be distributing the basketball. She sees the floor so well and throws some strong outlet passes, and she can score it.”
Add in sophomore Kenzie Hellickson (5.3 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 2.2 apg) and freshman Aubree Hess (8.3 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 3.8 apg) and coach Hess has the rare combination of two pairs of sisters in his starting lineup.
Overall, it’s a Mountie group hoping to throw a wrench into the FC three-peat plans of senior-led New London (9-2, 5-0).
The defensive-minded Wildcats are riding a 34-game win streak in league play under head coach Eric Mitchell. They will host Mapleton this Saturday and will visit the Mounties on Feb. 3.
“I would be lying if I didn’t tell you that our girls had this game circled before the season started,” Hess said of Saturday’s showdown. “We’ve been taking things one game at a time, but we’ve been looking forward to that game with the team up north.
“I have so much respect for Eric Mitchell up there and the job he’s done with those girls.”
The Wildcats figure to be the biggest remaining challenge on the regular-season schedule for Division VI Mapleton, along with new non-conference additions Elyria Catholic (7-2, No. 8 in Division IV on MaxPreps) and Triway (8-3).
After a tough ouster in the sectional finals at Loudonville a year ago, Hess is hoping his team learned the lessons it needed to learn and is ready for a finish that is as big as its start this time around.
“(Winning the FC) is definitely on our list of goals to accomplish,” he said, “and we certainly want to make a deeper tournament run than we did last year.”