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Former Ursuline standout Tanaya Beacham now with Toledo Rogers
The former Ursuline standout will be relied upon to step up for Toledo Rogers
BELOIT
To win a championship, teams need a little luck along the way.
The West Branch girls basketball team received some earlier this week, but not the kind of luck anyone hopes to get.
Division II co-player of the year Akienreh Johnson of Toledo Rogers will miss Friday’s state semifinal at Value City Arena in Columbus because of a torn ACL in her left knee. The 6-foot junior guard suffered the injury in last week’s regional final.
“When I found out about her, I instantly was just disappointed,” said Warriors point guard Melinda Trimmer, who earned co-player of the year honors along with Johnson.
“I felt so bad for her, because you never want to wish an injury upon anyone and it’s heartbreaking just for me because I know the dream is always to get to state. And for her to not be able to do that with her teammates right now is really — I just feel for her.”
With Johnson sidelined, some of the scoring load is going to fall on the shoulders of junior forward Tanaya Beacham — a name that should be familiar to Valley basketball fans.
Beacham started her career at Ursuline High School, where she averaged 16.8 points and 13.2 rebounds as a sophomore last season. There were questions surrounding her transfer to Rogers (23-5, AP No. 10) and she was forced to sit out the fall sports season while the OHSAA investigated her move across the state.
She was cleared in early December, just in time to join her team for their season opener.
“She’s a great kid, first of all,” Rogers coach Lamar Smith said. “She brought a lot to the team as far as good rebounding, a strong inside presence and great size and length.
“But she’s had to buy into our system and get used to what we do here at Rogers. She’s done very well with what we’ve asked of her.”
What the Rams ask of Beacham is going to intensify on Friday. Johnson led Rogers with 14.5 points per game, so it’s going to fall upon others to replace that scoring. With the ability Beacham showed at Ursuline, her coach wants her to be aggressive.
“We talked and her scoring is gonna have to go up,” Smith said. “Everyone is going to have to step up, I’m not just gonna put that on Tanaya. They’re gonna have to help her out, but she’s going to have to be in attack mode.”
The Warriors (27-1, AP No. 5) are somewhat familiar with Beacham and the talent she possesses. They opened their season last year against Ursuline, a game the Warriors won easily, but DeShields could see the potential then.
“Talented player,” he said of 6-foot-1 forward. “She still had a decent game against us, but it’s easy to remember her and how talented a player she is. On this team, she’s got three or four just like her, so we got our work cut out for us.”
The Rams are stocked with Division I talent. Brelynn Hampton-Bey (5-foot-7) and Keasja Peace (6-3) are both committed to Michigan, along with Johnson, while Sydney Petty (6-2) is committed to Cincinnati. Beacham has given Xavier a verbal to round out an all-Division I starting rotation. And they’re all juniors except for Hampton-Bey — who is a sophomore.
“It does probably change their preparation a little bit, especially at the offensive end because she’s real talented,” DeShields said about the loss of Johnson.
“It’s something where we just gotta go down and prepare, because they’re still a darn good team without her.”