by Gregg Meadows
Tri-Valley girls basketball senior standout Lexi Howe became the school’s all-time leading career scorer on Tuesday night, Jan. 17 in Dresden at The Dawg House, when she hit a third-quarter three-point shot in the Lady Dawg’s thrilling come-from-behind 44-43 win over Bishop Watterson in a non-conference game. Howe also made a crucial steal and the winning basket with a lay-up in the game’s final seconds as well.
The girls basketball career scoring mark for the past 38 years was held by Lady Dawg All-Ohioan Julie Hoag, who finished her Hall of Fame hoops career at Tri-Valley in 1985 with 1,421 points. Hoag was a key member of the 1984-85 Scottie state-runnerup girls team.
Hoag was in attendance in Dresden at The Dawg House for Howe’s big night to ‘pass the torch’, and congratulate Tri-Valley’s new scoring queen during a short break in the action to commemorate the big event.
Lexi has had a storied hoops career at TVHS. Her freshman year, she was the starting point guard on TV’s 2019-2020 Final Four team; but the state tournament was scrubbed due to the COVID-19 national pandemic. Howe earned All-Ohio Special Mention honors her freshman year, and was Second-Team All-Ohio her sophomore year. Last season, she eclipsed the 1,000-point plateau during the regular season, broke the single-game scoring mark of 34 points (set by Julie Hoag) when she scored 35 points vs. Coshocton, then led her team to its third straight district title while earning 1st Team All-Ohio laurels.
After graduation, Howe – a two-sport All-Ohioan at TVHS – is headed to Ashland University on a volleyball scholarship, with plans as well to play basketball.
Congratulations to Tri-Valley’s Lexi Howe!
