When Steve Lasman was offered to head both Wellsville-Middletown boys and girls basketball teams earlier in the school year, he didn’t waste any time accepting it.

“I’m glad to do it,” Lasman said. “I volunteered to do it. I enjoyed doing it. That’s not a problem. I’ve done it before. When I was in Louisiana, I was head football, head basketball and head baseball coach. So this is no big deal to me.”

Lasman worked double duty in two games so far, including the home game against the Community R-6 Trojans on Nov. 25 at Roundtree and Johnson Court, where the Tigers got swept in both boys and girls contests. The W-M boys lost 53-30 and the girls fell 40-28.

Lasman said he’s concerned about the boys after a week of play. W-M committed 54 turnovers after two games, including 24 against Community.

“I’m just disappointed that our boys are not playing better because I think we’re better than this,” Lasman said. “We just get out of sync. We have periods of time in the game where we just get out of sync and we kind of get lost out there. Then, they revert to doing stuff they did last year, like throwing up shots. I can’t have that. We have to have some kind of structure.”

The W-M boys lost 79-27 to Liberty Christian in their season opener on Nov. 21 at home. A year ago, they knocked off the Eagles 55-46 in double overtime.

The Tigers returned just one starter from last year’s team, junior Willard Shireman. He was the team’s leading scorer in the contest against Community with 11 points.

Junior Shane Joles had five, followed by sophomores Garrett Poage and junior Urich Lobb with four each and sophomores Brandon Murphy and Nathan Mitchell and freshman Andrew Maskey with two apiece.

Lasman is in his second stint as boys basketball coach. He replaced Josh Albregts, who coached only one season. Lasman coached the boys program for seven years before stepping down last year to take over the girls team.

W-M, which won seven games last year, was scheduled to play a road game on Dec. 2 against Missouri Military Academy. Lasman said he’s optimistic his team will bounce back from its slow start.

“We have some games coming up now in which we will be competitive in, maybe get our kids confidence,” Lasman said. “Right now, we’re kind of reeling. I think that Liberty Christian game really hurt our kids.” 

Foul trouble and injuries forced the W-M girls to play shorthanded for the most of the second half against the Trojans. The Tigers started the contest with six players, but ended the game with three after sophomore Mia Romecka and senior Helanea McKenzie fouled out in the third and fourth quarters, respectively, and freshman Alexis Brennan suffered an injury in the third quarter.

“Our girls showed so much heart,” Lasman said. “More than half of that game, we had three freshmen on the court. So I have to give those kids credit.”

Junior Elly Cash led the W-M girls with 17 points, including 10 in the second half. She and freshmen Julieanna Dodd and Emma Null were the only Tigers on the floor in the final 3:25 of the game.

Dodd scored seven points and Romecka and Null each had two points. Romecka is a foreign exchange student from Poland.

Junior Aubrey Harmon and freshman Ava Geisler sat on the bench for the Tigers. Lasman said Harmon – who is back for her third season with the Tigers – is out for several weeks due to meniscus issues.

McKenzie and Cash are the other returning players from last year’s team that won six games.

W-M started its season on a high note, winning 33-7 over Liberty Christian on Nov. 21. It’s the second time in three years the Tigers began their season with a victory.

Lasman is coaching his second season with the girls squad. Last year, he replaced Todd Cripe, who retired after the 2023-24 season.

W-M’s next game will be on Dec. 4 against Bevier, which will be played at Moberly.

The Tigers’ next home game in both boys and girls divisions will be on Dec. 9 against Chamois.

Lasman said after a week, he likes working with his 19 players on both boys and girls squads. He is assisted by Sherri Slovensky on both teams. Layton Maskey – a 2021 W-M graduate – joined the boys coaching staff this year.

“I love the kids,” Lasman said. “I enjoy every minute of it.”