{"id":485736,"date":"2026-02-23T13:31:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T13:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/485736\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T13:31:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T13:31:10","slug":"freshman-breaking-records-leading-team-to-ohsaa-tournament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/485736\/","title":{"rendered":"Freshman breaking records, leading team to OHSAA Tournament"},"content":{"rendered":"

CINCINNATI \u2014 As the OHSAA girls\u2019 basketball tournament begins this week, it\u2019s the start toward crowning seven new state champions.<\/p>\n

For one team, it\u2019s a chance to prove everyone wrong after having a standout season thanks to one freshman breaking all kinds of records.<\/p>\n

What You Need To Know<\/p>\n

Kev’iya Parrish is averaging 39.1 points per gam, which ranks first in the state and third in the nation
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She’s scored 30 or more points in 17 of the team’s 20 games\u00a0
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But beyond the points, she’s helping turn a program around after many years of losing records\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the gym at Western Hills, there aren\u2019t many banners or trophies for state championships. But there is Yaya Parrish.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Western Hills hasn’t won a state championship in any sport in 40 years (Spectrum News\/Katie Kapusta)<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s my spot, right there,” Parrish said after sinking a deep three-point field goal. “I don\u2019t miss from right there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The freshman came to Western Hills this year to bring new energy to a Cincinnati program that was just 2-14 last year.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Parrish is averaging 39 points per game (Spectrum News\/Katie Kapusta)<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to turn it around,” she said. “I just wanted to come to a school that really wasn\u2019t that good with sports and, like, give them a name, like turn them around because I knew I could do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

And that she has; the team has only lost four games this season and is seeded eighth in the region.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt definitely does feel good,\u201d she said. \u201cBut you can\u2019t take advantage of it. Just got to keep putting in work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parrish likes that feeling; she\u2019s broken several school records, scoring 30 or more points 17 times this season, with a season high of 54 points earlier this month. She\u2019s first in the state and third in the country, averaging just over 39 points per game, according to MaxPreps<\/a>. But she says she doesn\u2019t keep track.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never be keeping track of my points for real; I just be going out there and hoopin,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Parrish says she doesn\u2019t feel pressure, and a lot of that has to do with first-year head coach LaRonda Castleberry.<\/p>\n

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Coach Castleberry is a Western Hills grad (Spectrum News\/Katie Kapusta)<\/p>\n

\u201cI just remind her every day, \u2018You\u2019re still a kid,5\u2019\u201d Castleberry said. \u201cEverybody makes mistakes. You have three more years. We don\u2019t even know if this is what you want to do in life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Castleberry began coaching Parrish in AAU last year, and as a Western Hills grad herself, she wanted to make a mark on the program.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know some people don\u2019t expect Western Hills to even get past the first round,\u201d Castleberry said. \u201cSo we\u2019re going to try our best to get past the first one. That is a goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regardless of the points she scores, Parrish said she\u2019s ready to show the state the new and improved Western Hills Mustangs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey just think we\u2019re going to come in there, just get blown out,\u201d Parrish said. \u201cI feel like we could prove them wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Western Hills takes on seventh-seeded Sycamore Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

The winner will take on either Springboro or Centerville in the district semi-finals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CINCINNATI \u2014 As the OHSAA girls\u2019 basketball tournament begins this week, it\u2019s the start toward crowning seven new…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":485737,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[41445,2722,4,450,15056,54478,451,223474,3,6454,54479,99,452,453],"class_list":["post-485736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","tag-app-sports","tag-app-top-stories","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-cincinnati","tag-ctv","tag-headlines","tag-katie-kapusta","tag-news","tag-ohio","tag-ohio-what-you-need-to-know","tag-sports","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=485736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485736\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}