LOUDONVILLE — Nothing Corri Vermilya does on a basketball court surprises Loudonville coach Tyler Bates anymore.
Bates, who has quietly rebuilt one of north central Ohio’s most tradition-rich small-school programs during his 10 seasons, never raised an eyebrow when his do-it-all junior broke Loudonville’s single-game scoring record with an impossible 59 points in a 71-68 win against Ohio Cardinal Conference leader Mansfield Senior on Jan. 17.
The 5-foot-9 Vermilya scored 35 of Loudonville’s 38 second-half points in the win over the Tygers, including all 19 points in the fourth quarter. She was 6-for-8 from beyond the 3-point arc and 23-for-24 from the free throw line.
“And we needed every one of those points that night,” Bates said after Vermilya outscored Lucas by herself in Saturday’s 62-28 Mid-Buckeye Conference win. “She has put in a lot of time working on her craft and she never misses weight-training or conditioning.
“She’s one of the best players in the state and one of the hardest workers in the state.”
Loudonville’s former single-game mark was held by Vermilya’s older sister, Grace. A sophomore center for the Mount Vernon Nazarene women’s team, Grace Vermilya scored 53 points in an overtime win over Dalton in the Division IV district semifinals in 2021.
So how did big sister feel about Corri breaking her record?
“She just laughed and told me good job,” the younger Vermilya said. “She was happy for me.”
According to the Ohio High School Athletic Association’s unofficial girls basketball record book, Vermilya’s 59-point outburst was tied for 11th all-time. As for Vermilya, the personal achievement took a backseat to the team’s accomplishment.
“People have asked me about the 59-point night, but I looked at it as a revenge game from last year,” Vermilya said. “We lost to Mansfield Senior in overtime by three points last year and we came back this year and beat them by three in regulation.
“That is what that night was about for me. The 59 points wouldn’t have meant anything to me if we wouldn’t have won.”
Vermilya is averaging 30.5 points a game through 18 games, up from 26.6 points a game as a sophomore and 15.6 points a night as a freshman. She scored her 1,000th career point last February — in just her 47th high school game — and is on pace to become the area’s first 2,000-point scorer since Crestview’s Renee Stimpert in 2016.
The Vermilya story is not only about scoring, though.
As a sophomore she averaged 12.9 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 5.6 steals and 1.2 blocks a game en route to a spot on the Division IV All-Ohio first team. Remarkably, Vermilya has improved in every category this season — accounting for 13.1 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 7.4 steals and 1.7 blocks a night.
More importantly, Loudonville just keeps winning. The Redbirds are 15-3 and already have clinched their seventh consecutive MBC crown despite playing without a full roster for a majority of the season. Vermilya missed some time earlier in the season with a foot injury. Guards Addison Wolford (wrist) and Sophia Spangler (concussion) also have been sidelined.
“We have battled some major adversity,” Bates said. “Our team is undefeated when our entire group has played. Unfortunately, that hasn’t occurred often.”
As a team, Loudonville averages 55.7 points a game. As skilled as she is offensively, Vermilya is hardly a one-person band.
Spangler averages 9.6 points a game and scored 12 in the win over Lucas. Jena Guilliams averages 7.7 points a game and is among the top 3-point shooters in north central Ohio.
“Everyone on this team cares about each other, the coaches and the community,” Vermilya said. “We don’t put in work for ourselves. We do it for each other.”
The Redbirds moved up to Division III this year after reaching the Division IV district final last year. Loudonville is the smallest Division III team in the state and is seeded seventh in the always-rugged Wooster district field. The Redbirds could see top-seeded Smithville (17-2) in the district semifinals.
“We’re going to play as hard as we can and keep doing things the right way in practice and see where that can take us,” Vermilya said. “If we play our hardest and come out and play defense like we have in stretches this season, I think we can play with anyone.”
