BASKETBALL: Ogden tabbed as new Greene girls’ coach

Staff Report

Consistent victories have eluded the Greene County girls’ basketball for awhile.

The Rams, owners of just two winning seasons in the past 14 years, hope they’ve found their antidote in their latest hiring.

The local school district announced their fourth different head coach in five years, hiring Fairfield High School graduate, Tori Ogden last week.
The Truman State University alumnus has spent the last five years as an assistant at Southeast Warren High School in Liberty Center.
She’s also coached AAU basketball under the Iowa-based Kingdom Hoops organization.

Greene County activities director Todd Gordon, who led the Rams to a 6-13 record this past winter in his only year at the helm, expects Ogden to be a good fit for a program in search of some consistent direction.
“I am thrilled to welcome Coach Ogden to Greene County and look forward to having her work with our girls from elementary to high school,” Gordon said in the hiring announcement Thursday, March 11. “I believe she will be a great addition to our coaching staff, school and community.”

Ogden averaged 8.7 points per game as a senior at Fairfield during the 2011-12 season. She was a few points better the year prior, securing 11.1 points per game to go with 3.5 rebounds per and 1.1 blocks per game.
Southeast Warren won 13 of 21 games over the winter with Ogden on the bench, including a 6-6 record in the Pride of Iowa Conference. The Warhawks won at least 10 games in each of the last four seasons, including a 15-9 record back in 2017-18, aided by a 10-6 conference record.

The Rams are in dire need of a spark, having only won more than five games once in the last three years, including a stretch from 2018-20 in which they attained victory in four total games while losing 41. Greene County’s girls teams have cracked the double-digit win plateau just four times in the past 10 seasons, last achieving the accomplishment during the 2017-18 winter in which the Rams were 11-10. That season was the last time Greene County put together a winning record. Greene County’s high-water mark for wins during the last 14 years was 12 during the 2008-2009 season.

Greene County does return its leading scorer, all-conference, second team selection, Brianna Habben (10.8 ppg, 9.2 rpg, 1.8 bpg) while the Rams four other starters graduate this spring.

The Rams averaged 29.8 points per game this past winter, knocking down just 31.4 percent of their shot attempts and 18.5 percent of their shots from three.

Ogden is ready to embrace the challenge, hoping to eventually turn a struggling program around.

“I am so grateful for this opportunity to be able to lead these girls on and off the court,” the coach said. “Greene County seems like such a great community that I am looking forward to being a part of. Go Rams.”

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