GREENVILLE — The Greenville Lady Wave continued to show marked improvement at the midpoint of the season Friday night, battling Vandalia-Butler before falling 47-30 in Miami Valley League action.
While the loss goes into the books, the performance reflected clear progress for Greenville under first-year head coach Shane Hillard, especially when compared to an earlier 48-20 loss to Butler in the third game of the 2025-26 season.
Greenville came out aggressive, jumping to a 7-6 early lead as junior Megan Loudy knocked down a 3-pointer. The Lady Wave pushed the advantage to 13-8 following a Loudy drive to the basket and a Jayda Lyons free throw, taking a 14-8 lead after one quarter of play. Loudy paced Greenville with nine first-quarter points.
The Lady Wave offense cooled in the second quarter, allowing Butler to take its first lead of the night at 15-14 with 1:27 remaining. Back-to-back Aviator 3-pointers sent Butler into the halftime break with a narrow 17-16 advantage.
Butler doubled up Greenville in the third quarter, outscoring the Lady Wave 14-7 to build a 31-23 lead heading into the final period. The Lady Aviators continued to use their size inside in the fourth, taking the quarter 16-7 to secure the conference victory.
Despite the outcome, Hillard said his team’s mindset continues to evolve.
“Here is where this program has changed,” Hillard said. “We really thought we were going to win that game. That’s the mindset now. We played against a really good team, and it was supposed to be worse, but that’s not how we think anymore.”
“We’ve grown, and they didn’t play Butler with any fear tonight,” he added. “I’m proud of them for that, and I’m proud of the fact that they’re in the locker room upset right now because they lost. We don’t care who it is anymore — we feel like we can compete.”
Hillard emphasized the importance of that competitive mentality.
“We’re a team right now that you’re going to have to beat,” he said. “We’re not going to lay down. They’re not going to quit. I don’t care how good you are.”
Hillard also praised junior point guard Megan Loudy, who led Greenville with 14 points.
“People don’t always understand her role,” Hillard said. “She has the ball in her hands all the time. She’s directing traffic, she’s getting pressured, she’s making sure people are in the right spots. That’s more important than whether she scores 15 or 20 points.”
“She understands good shot versus bad shot,” he continued. “She could take 15-20 shots a game if she wanted to, but she knows when to shoot it and when not to. That’s incredibly valuable to us.”
Team chemistry has also been a key factor in Greenville’s development.
“Our offense is action-based,” Hillard noted. “They don’t care who scores. They play hard together, and they play for each other.”
“They’re not afraid of messing up because of me,” he added. “They don’t want to let the person next to them down. That’s what you’re seeing, and it’s a blast to coach.”
Hillard credited the players for buying into the process.
“They’ve done everything they’ve been asked to do,” he said. “I told them when I got here it was going to be hard, but if they stuck with it, we’d get better. The credit is theirs — it’s a great group of kids. We learn from this and we get better.”
With the win, Butler improves to 12-2 overall and 10-2 in MVL play, with both losses coming to undefeated Tippecanoe. Greenville moves to 6-5 in the MVL and 6-9 overall.
Emma Dady led Butler and all scorers with 21 points, while Loudy paced the Lady Wave with 14.
BOX SCORE:
BUTLER 47, GREENVILLE 30
BUTLER – E. Dady 21, A. Moeller 8, A. Dady 6, D. Bardonaro 5, J. Brockert 3, S. Guggenbiller 2, K. Washburn 2 – TOTALS 16 9-12 2 47
GREENVILLE – M. Loudy 14, J. Lyons 5, L. Force 5, S. Loudy 3, A. Baumgardner 2, M. Legenzoff 1 – TOTALS 7 7-10 3 30
3-POINTERS
Butler 2 (J. Brockert 1, D. Bardonaro 1)
Greenville 3 (M. Loudy 2, L. Force 1)
SCORE by QUARTERS
08-09-14-16 47 Butler
14-02-07-07 30 Greenville
