Photos by Steven Wright | Greene County News
Bellbrook seniors Taylor Scohy (12) and Alayna Meyer (4) have helped their team get off to a 5-0 start in the SWBL this season. The seniors have been key components in the Golden Eagles’ four-year run atop the league.
Alayna Meyer receives her commemorative basketball for setting the Bellbrook school record for made three-point shots in a career.
Taylor Scohy reached the 1,000-point milestone in her high school career.
When opponents leave Meyer this open, it’s usually bad news for them as she entered her senior season as a career 44 percent shooter from three.
Creating fast break opportunities has helped Scohy shoot nearly 60 percent from the floor during the past three seasons and become one of the league’s top scorers.
BELLBROOK — A pair of Bellbrook seniors have been inseparable off the basketball floor and a record-setting duo on it together.
Alayna Meyer and Taylor Scohy are the primary returners for the Golden Eagles’ girls basketball team this season that has been on top of the Southwestern Buckeye League for the entirety of their high school careers.
Together they have helped the team win three straight league championships in which they compiled a 36-2 league record in those seasons, and be voted as a No. 1-seed for sectional play in the 2023 tournament. The duo also recently entered the school record books for a pair of individual career goals they achieved.
Meyer set a school record for made three-point shots on Dec. 7, 2023, in a game at Monroe. Four baskets away from reaching the record of 146, she made five for good measure during that contest and has since continued to fly past the mark.
The next time the Golden Eagles took the floor — Dec. 14, 2023 — Scohy reached the 1,000-point mark with a basket she made early in the second quarter against Ross at home.
“It’s super cool and I thought we were gonna hit them on the same night,” Scohy said of accomplishments. “But it’s so cool to watch each other’s success because this is always what we wanted. We’ve sat here watching the varsity team since we were little, so we always wanted to be on the floor and be like Cassidy Hofacker, Bekah Vine, and all of them. We’ve looked up to them and wanted to be them our entire career.”
Both were honored during the Ross game, with Meyer receiving a commemorative basketball prior to the game and Scohy getting one during an immediate stoppage of play after she scored her milestone bucket.
“It’s everything to me,” Meyer said. “I’ve always loved shooting since I was a little kid. I’ve always been really passionate about it. I’ve always put in extra work and preferred shooting specifically since middle school and really throughout my whole life, but middle school is where I consistently began going early before school to shoot in the morning and put in a lot of extra work.”
Bellbrook girls basketball head coach Jason Tincher said he can’t of two more deserving players that he has coached to be honored.
“I’ve coached some great players and they’re right there with them all,” he said. “Alayna has been doing this since elementary school and she’s never stopped. And Taylor is just the most strong-willed person as she wants to do well at everything all the time. They just want to be the best that they can be at their craft and that’s what the both of them display all the time.”
The two recall playing on the same teams for as long as they can remember after getting into organized basketball in second grade. Even into high school and outside of the OHSAA season, they had together been members of the AAU-level Ohio Lady Attack squad with several other local players that won championships is national events.
Opposite styles in their basketball skills have not made it easy for opponents trying to stop them. The two being nearly a foot difference in height, and the perimeter-natured game of Meyer with the drive-capable and inside presence Scohy has consistently presented issues over all areas the floor for opponents.
Scohy has finished in the league’s top-three for scoring and field goal percentage the previous two seasons, while Meyer has done the same for three-point makes.
“We’ve really only played maybe a season not together,” Scohy said. “She’s one of my best friends. We are always hanging out together, we’re always partners in practice. We’re always pushing each other to be our best and rooting each other on in these big milestones that we’re getting.”
In addition to being friends, Meyer and Scohy noted how close their families are with one another. The groups have taken vacations together and crossed over other interests in the process.
Meyer picked up the game of golf with assistance from Scohy’s father, Jeff, and brother, C.J. Jeff is the Bellbrook golf coach and C.J. has been on the team multiple years and was golfer of the year. Meyer, after not touching a golf club for the first time until almost entering high school, went on to become the SWBL individual league champion and girls golfer of the year for the fall 2023 season.
While golf may not be Taylor’s forte, she said she appreciates how it’s one example of the many things she is able to share and be close with Meyer.
“I just can’t wait to see her continue on in college if she’s doing her own golf thing or basketball,” Scohy said. “It’s just been so fun over the past few years together.”
Even with some goals being reached and their names etched into the record books, Meyer and Scohy are not satisfied with several more coming in their crosshairs. Scohy said they and their teammates still have things to play for through the end of the season, including trying to get to an elusive district final that could be on top of a fourth consecutive SWBL title the school last accomplished from 2010-2013.
Tincher said he remembers Meyer and Scohy coming out to youth camps, and being able to watch them grow as players and friends since then is what coaching is about. He called the two the best role models he has seen and is happy they have been recognized and achieved the accolades they’ve worked so long toward accomplishing.
“Just to see her hit this accomplishment is special for me,” Meyer said of Scohy. “It’s amazing to see how we’ve always pushed each other in practice, made each other better since we can either remember. It’s just amazing to see all the hard work and time that we’ve both put in pay off and I’m so glad I get to spend my senior season closer with her.”
Contact Steven Wright at 937-502-4498 and follow on X (formerly Twitter) @Steven_Wright_.
