Eight Adams County basketball players earn All-Ohio honors

Adams County put eight players on the All-Ohio map, and the spread across North Adams, West Union, Peebles and Manchester showed the county’s basketball success was not built around one dominant program. The final postseason awards for the 2025-26 season placed local girls and boys on statewide lists selected through the Ohio Prep Sports Media Association’s district nomination process, a media-voted standard endorsed by the Ohio High School Athletic Association.

On the girls’ side, North Adams freshman Tenzlee Burns earned Special Mention in Division V after averaging 17.1 points per game. West Union junior Annabelle McIntosh and North Adams junior Emma Pistole were both Honorable Mention selections in Division V, with McIntosh scoring 14.1 points per game and Pistole averaging 16.4. Peebles sophomore Kendall Myers added another county honor in Division VI, where her 15.6-point average earned Honorable Mention. Those four names reflect a girls’ group that was already gaining traction before the All-Ohio announcements, after eight Adams County girls were named All-District by the OPSMA.

The boys’ list was just as strong. Peebles sophomore Bo Johnson led the county with a Division VI Third Team All-Ohio selection after averaging 16.4 points per game. His teammate, junior Josh McClary, earned Division VI Honorable Mention with a 14.2 scoring average, and North Adams sophomore Carson Davis also picked up Division VI Honorable Mention at 14.6 points per game. In Division VII, Manchester senior Parker Hayslip was named Special Mention after putting up 20.1 points per game, the highest scoring average among the county’s honorees.

The depth of the recognition matters as much as the names on the page. Seven OPSMA districts feed the All-Ohio process, which means these selections were not local popularity awards or conference-only acknowledgments. They were statewide judgments built on regular-season production, and Adams County placed players from four different schools into that conversation.

The bigger story may be what comes next. Six of the eight All-Ohio honorees are expected to return for the 2026-27 season, giving North Adams, West Union, Peebles and Manchester a proven base to build on. With 10 Adams County boys and one coach already earning All-District recognition, the county’s best programs are not just collecting honors. They are establishing a pipeline that has pushed Adams County into the statewide basketball conversation and could keep it there.