Whether on the basketball court or on the soccer field, Marysville High School’s Katy Turner has gained the respect of her coaches.

Led by Turner, the girls basketball team has improved as the season has progressed, coach Aric Tucker said.

The 5-foot-10 junior had 10 points and 17 rebounds in a 49-42 win Jan. 27 over Westerville Central.

“Katy is doing a good job of leading by example,” Tucker said. “She has played very hard by being strong in the post. Hopefully, our younger post players will learn from her as well as the rest of our kids in this is how hard you have to play.”

The win over Central was the Monarchs’ first road victory this season.

“You go on the road to Westerville Central in the OCC and our girls are starting to understand to run our system and look ahead and hit the girl in the middle with the ball and do all those things that we’ve been talking about,” Tucker said. “We’ve been fighting that battle all year with our big learning curve. It seems like as we come down here towards the end, we’re finally starting to understand and good things are happening.”

Before playing Westerville South on Feb. 3, Turner led Marysville in scoring and rebounding, both at 7.4 per game.

Tucker said the emergence of sophomore point guards Brooke Napolitano and Maranda Wilson also has been making a difference for the Monarchs.

“We’re definitely improving and we’re finally to an understanding where we’re getting together as a team and coming together and trying to do it as a team instead of trying to be individuals,” Turner said.

Turner plays basketball year-round through AAU. Last year, she visited Italy as a member of the Ohio Lady Hoopsters.

She also plays soccer in the offseason with the Central Ohio Elite Soccer Club.

“It’s definitely tough,” Turner said of her schedule. “For AAU we went to Italy for a basketball tournament last year and I had to make up a bunch of work for that. You kind have to juggle it. Like learning to go to college, you have to juggle playing a sport and doing all your work.”

Turner is a defender for the Marysville girls soccer team, which finished 8-9-1 overall last fall after losing to Westerville Central 3-0 in the second round of the Division I district tournament.

“Katy is a great girl whose first love is basketball,” said Joe McSwords, who stepped down as Marysville soccer coach last month. “I loved having her take free kicks because I really believed that she could put the ball on frame from anywhere on the field. She had a very strong leg. She was a great offensive threat from the defensive third. She was a defender that could switch the ball from our defensive third to our offensive third in one kick. That was with her placing all her energy into basketball. I would have loved to see what would happen if she loved soccer. She is a great girl.”

•The boys basketball team was looking to build on a 54-43 win Jan. 31 over Bellefontaine when it played Westerville South on Feb. 3.

Against Bellefontaine, Kody Davisson and Craig Runyan each scored 13 points and Corey Gould and Steven Romesburg each scored 12.

The Monarchs avenged a 67-41 loss to the Chieftains last season.

“We went over there last season and kind of got embarrassed,” coach Ryan Grose said. “It was a 26-point ballgame and it really wasn’t even that close. We wanted to come back and make sure that we played well in a rivalry game É and our guys stepped up.”

The Monarchs play host to Dublin Jerome on Tuesday, Feb. 7, looking to avenge a 57-53 loss to the Celtics on Jan. 3.

“It was a close game,” Grose said. “There’s two or three games on our schedule right now that looking back we probably should have got. We had an overtime loss (61-53 to Olentangy on Jan. 24) and then that loss to Jerome that we feel like we should have won.”

Marysville was 4-12 overall and 0-10 in the OCC-Cardinal Division before playing South.

•Marysville seniors Craig Runyan and Dakota Romine will play football on the collegiate level after signing letters of intent Feb. 1 during a ceremony at the school.

Runyan will play at the University of Toledo and Romine will play at Notre Dame College in South Euclid. Toledo competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision, formerly Division I-A, and Notre Dame College competes in NCAA Division II.

Last season, Runyan was first-team all-OCC-Cardinal Division and second-team all-district in Division I.

A tight end who also played running back because of injuries to teammates, Runyan rushed for 470 yards and six touchdowns on 59 carries and caught a team-high 13 passes for 259 yards and four touchdowns. He missed the final two games with a broken right hand.

Runyan will play in the North-South All-Star Classic on April 20 at Ohio Stadium.

Romine played linebacker and defensive end for the Monarchs. He was special mention all-league and all-district last season.

Marysville finished 6-4 overall and 4-3 in the OCC-Cardinal last fall. The Monarchs tied Dublin Jerome and Olentangy for fourth in the league. Olentangy Liberty, Westerville Central and Westerville South shared the title at 5-2.