For the 2025-2026 season, the Chagrin Falls Tigers Girls Basketball program has chosen the word “Hustle” as a motto to keep their focus on the hard work necessary to achieve success.
Photos click here.
For the 2025-2026 season, the Chagrin Falls Tigers Girls Basketball program has chosen the word “Hustle” as a motto to keep their focus on the hard work necessary to achieve success.
On Dec. 9 the Tigers demonstrated excellent hustle and effort in an early season CVC matchup with the Berkshire Badgers at Chagrin Falls High School.
In an intense hard fought conference contest, both the Tigers and Badgers played tough, gritty defense which led to a low scoring first half.
With the Tigers holding an 18-14 lead as the third quarter commenced, both teams continued to compete hard. In the final quarter, the Tigers overcame a four-point deficit to secure a 34-31 triumph.
In obtaining the victory, the Tigers excellent hustle and effort created many turnovers and 10 steals. In fact, Chagrin Falls junior point guard, Abby Kay, led the Tigers with 5 steals, while Avery Russell added three steals and
Ivy Levey and Olivia Kruse each had one steal each.
In her post-game analysis, Tigers Head Coach Brittany Laseak said that the Badgers presented a tough challenge due to their gritty, aggressive play and talented perimeter and low post players.
“Berkshire’s a scrappy team, they got some nice talent both inside and outside,” Coach Laseak said. “We knew it was going to be a battle and it sure was.”
In competing with the Badgers throughout the contest, Coach Laseak was happy with the Tigers excellent effort and hustle.
“(Our hustle), it was outstanding, we had to press a little earlier than we typically would at the end of the game. And everybody still had gas and was ready to go and gave all out effort,” the coach said.
In addition to the Tigers excellent hustle which led to many steals and Badgers turnovers, Berkshire Head Coach, Dave Albert, said that the Tigers’ All-Ohio point guard, Avery Russell was a difference maker.
“Tonight we knew we had to shut down number three (Avery Russell),” Coach Albert said. “She hit some shots at the end to help the (Tigers) pull away. That was just one of the differences in the game.”
In agreement, Coach Laseak said that Russell was instrumental in the Tigers success.
“Avery really stepped up big for us, making sure we got the offense going,” Coach Laseak said. “To see her hit three’s like that, you know, she was fired up. (And) just all around, (she) did a great job of knocking down shots, handling pressure. And it may have been a quiet defensive game, but she did all the little things right.”
In discussing her performance against the Badgers, Russell emphasized the importance of hard work, hustle, and effort in obtaining the victory.
“It was a battle, our team, we really wanted it tonight,” Russell said. “We came off a loss, we worked hard in practice and we knew we had to come out here tonight and give it our all. We all had to work together, find each other on our shots, (get) assists, steals (and) just work as hard as we possibly could.”
She continued: “We hustle hard, we always keep that in our head. We’re just a bunch of hard working girls that want to work as hard as possible.”
In addition to Russell’s excellent performance, Coach Laseak said that junior point guard Abby Kay did a great job of handling the Badgers defensive ball pressure.
“Abby’s so steady, she has had to handle a lot more pressure for us this season with some of the graduations we had at the guard spot. Abby is just cool and calm under pressure.”
Kay said that one of the main keys to success in handling the pressure was to stay positive when facing adversity throughout the game.
“I think it’s just important for everyone to keep their head up, especially like I had turnovers, everyone had turnovers, but just making sure that everyone is staying positive throughout the game is really important,” Kay said.
For the game the Tigers were led by Russell (22 points, 5 rebounds, 3 steals, 1 assist).
Through seven games so far this season, Russell has scored in double digits every game, while averaging 19.7 points per game.
Also leading the Tigers against the Badgers were Kay (5 points, 8 assists, 5 steals, 4 rebounds), Olivia Kruse (4 points, 6 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 assist) and Ivy Levey (3 points, 1 steal).
The Badgers were led offensively by Ivy Martin (17 points) who knocked down five three pointers, as well as Stella Bateman (10), and Blythe Bors (4).
In reflecting on the start of the season, Kay said that she is happy with the excellent hustle the Tigers have shown.
“I think (our hustle) is great especially with six freshmen coming up this season and (only) five upperclassmen,” Kay said. “So I think it’s important for everyone to hustle and it’s such an important word this year since we have such a little bench. Every minute that you’re out there you need to be hustling and everyone needs to be talking to each other. So hustle is just really the main key this year.”
