Season Review
*** Information for the 1974 season comes from the TVHS yearbook and newspaper archives

The 1974 girls' basketball team signaled a changing of the guard for the basketball program. Virtually the entire 1973 team was gone due to graduation with senior Donna Barnhart being the only returning letterwinner. Despite their inexperience, the Trojanettes would acquit themselves quite well as they finished the '74 campaign with a 10-2 record.

The Trojanettes started off the season in fine fashion as they domianted Sandy Valley 41-9 in the first ever meeting between the two schools in girls' basketball. Following an opening victory, the team would drop their next game as the came up short in a hard fought 40-38 loss at Ridgewood despite 21 points from Barnhart.

After the Ridgewood loss the Trojanettes would rebound and begin an 8-game winning streak. While all of the wins were impressive there were two games that stood out in terms of significance.

The first game was the February 6, 1974 game vs. Indian Valley South. The Trojanettes defeated the Rebels 41-32 to improve their record to 6-1 on the season. However, the signficance of this game is that it marked the coming out party for fabulous frehsman Linda Deibel as she led the team in scoring with a season-high 21 points. Deibel would go on to become the most dominant female player in Tuscarawas County over the remainder of her career.

The second game of sgnificance came at the end of the streak as Tusky Valley traveled south to face New Philadelphia. The Trojanettes entered the game on a 7-game winning streak while the Quakers came into the game undefeated. This time it was the senior Barnhart who came up big as she scored 20 points and the led Tusky Valley to a thrilling 47-46 victory.

The Trojanettes would then face Newcomerstown in a Inter-Valley Conference showdown. A victory would have given the Trojanettes a share of the a league title for the 5th consecutive season. However, the team fell jsut short of their goal as they dropped a 31-28 decision.

Despite not winning the league, the Trojanettes would finish the regular season on a high note as they defeated Stark County's Perry Panthers 37-29 to end the season with a record of 10-2. The Trojanettes two losses came by a combined total of five points.

The '74 team was led in scoring by senior Donna Barnhart. While the Times Reporter's articles did not always contain Barnhart's individual game point totals, the February 28, 1974 edition credited Barnhart with ending the season avering 20 points per game. Barnhart would go on to play at Kent State University where she led the team in assists during the 1977 season and was the team captain for the 1978 season.

The 1974 team also helped play a role in changing the way that girls' sports were viewed at TVHS and in Tuscarawas County. On February 25, 1974 the Times Reporter began a week long series entitled, "Why Not Girls' Athletics? The System Puts it Down." The series visited each Tuscarawas County high school and detailed the disadvantages that female athletes faced at each school. The 1974 Trojanettes and head coach Mary Sweitzer were featured prominently in the series.

The February 28, 1974 edition of the Times Reporter focused specifically on the conditions for female athletes at Newcomerstown and Tuscarawas Valley High Schools. The article pointed out that both Newcomerstown and Tusky Valley were the leaders in the county when it came to supporting girls' athletics. However, it also pointed out some of the inequities faced by female athletes. For example, the girls' basketball team was only allowed to practice after 6:00 PM and in an elementary gym during the week because the high school gym was reserved for the boys' team. Other inequities stated in the article included a lack of coaches (one teacher coached all sports for the girls), the girls' track and volleyball teams not being invited to the sports banquet, girls receiving smaller letters, and a lack of uniforms/equipment for the girls.

In the article both Athletic Director Bob Fleming and Coach Sweitzer agree that the student and community response to girls' sports, especially basketball, had been good. The article noted that over 50 girls tried out for the 1974 girls' basketball team. However, Coach Sweitzer also pointed out that while girls' athletics were going strong at Tusky Valley there were still girls in the school who wouldn't go out for sports because "their boyfriends don't approve of it."

Thankfully it wouldn't be long until such views towards girls' athletics would be completely erased.