Lady Red lauded for historic season

BELLEVUE — Many community members came together to celebrate the Bellevue Lady Red's historic season, which ended with a runner-up finish in the Division IV state final game on March 13 from the University of Dayton Arena. On Monday, a ceremony occurred within Bellevue High School's gymnasium. The event highlighted many successes from not only this season but so many more, cementing this program as among Ohio's best for girls basketball during the past two decades. Among the accomplishments mentioned: • The Lady Red finished the 2025-26 season with a record of 29-1, the only loss coming in the state final, 60-58, against Laurel. This set a new record for Bellevue: wins in a single season for a girls basketball team. • When factoring in the 2024-25 season — which ended with a state title, the first for Bellevue girls basketball — this team put together a 45-game win streak. The Lady Red went a combined 57-2 these past two seasons. The school also won back-to-back regional championships, earning consecutive appearances in the final four. • The girls basketball team has won 16 conference championships in a row, dating back to 2011. • Two returning starters, junior point guard Ellie Freitag and freshman Ava Jakubcin-Theis, received mentions on the all-Ohio girls basketball teams. Kaitlyn Turinsky, who just finished her senior year, made first-team all-Ohio. Speaking up Four people with ties to the program spoke during Monday's event. Here's an excerpt of what they said in order of who spoke: • Cody Cramer, athletic director: They represented our school and community with pride, determination and resiliency. Being a state runner-up team is an accomplishment that no other girls basketball team here at Bellevue has ever accomplished • Kory Santoro, head coach: We, the coaches, are very proud of these girls and the two-year run they have had. Finishing as state runners-up is nothing to be ashamed of. It was great to see how much this meant to a lot of people in our community. With the talent we have returning next year, we are going to try to make another run at this, and I really do believe we will. • Bailey Nichols, senior player: I'm so grateful for every friendship and every memory we've made together. I'll be gone next year, but you guys have so much potential to make it right back in Dayton again. So keep putting in the work, stay together and show everyone what you're capable of. • Turinsky: Even though I would have liked another state championship, the moment did not define us. We represent pride in our school, community and the way we carry ourselves both on and off the court.