COLUMBUS – Sunbury Big Walnut junior Sydney Mobley was announced as 2026 Ohio Ms. Basketball Thursday by a statewide media panel. She will lead her team into the Division II state tournament this weekend, taking on Cincinnati Mount Notre Dame in the semifinals Friday night.
Now in its 39th year, the prestigious award was first given by the Associated Press in 1988. It has been voted by the Ohio Prep Sports Media Association since 2017.
Mobley tallied 93 points from the statewide panel. Lyndhurst Brush junior Tatiana Mason was the runner-up with 59 points, while Kettering Fairmont senior Kayla Thornton was third with 37 points and Lewis Center Olentangy senior Whitney Stafford was fourth with 32 points.
Other finalists included Ottawa-Glandorf senior Karsyn Erford, Copley senior Evelyn McKnight and Steubenville senior Nylah McShan.
Mobley handles pressure, joins Ms. Basketball sorority
By Dave Purpura, Columbus Dispatch
The first of Sydney Mobley’s 42 offers to play Division I college basketball came when she was in sixth grade, straight from the hometown school in Ohio State.
Whether Big Walnut’s star junior forward ultimately ends up a Buckeye remains to be seen, but what stands out to Mobley’s father is how she handled the pressure that comes with prominence then – and continues to do so today.
“She’s had a lot of attention on her since she was very young,” David Mobley said. “Some kids tend to get content with where they are, but she has managed to stay the course and keep working no matter what comes.
“When something like that happens, that’s huge. There are kids who go through ninth-, 10th- and 11th-grade hoping to be seen like that.”
No matter what happens in this weekend’s Division II state tournament, Mobley will henceforth be seen as something else – Ms. Basketball.
The 6-1 Mobley was named Thursday afternoon as Ohio Ms. Basketball by a statewide media panel.
Rated a four-star recruit and Ohio’s top player by both ESPN and 247 Sports and one of seven finalists for Ms. Basketball, averages 20.3 points, 9.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists to lead the Golden Eagles (23-4).
She enters Friday’s state semifinal against Cincinnati Mount Notre Dame at Vandalia Butler with 1,485 points, 829 rebounds, 227 assists, 185 steals and 144 blocks for her career.
“When you watch a kid work like she’s worked … I’ve had the privilege of knowing her since she was in fourth grade, so I’ve seen the progression, and to see what it has progressed to, this type of award and achievement is pretty cool,” Big Walnut coach Carey Largent said.
Now in its 19th year, the prestigious Ohio Ms. Basketball award was first given by the Associated Press in 1988. It has been voted by the Ohio Prep Sports Media Association since 2017.
The eighth junior all-time to win Ms. Basketball, Mobley is the fourth Columbus-area player to do so and first since Brookhaven’s Brittany Hunter in 2003. The others, Latoya Turner (1999) and Beth Ostendorf (1995), both played at Pickerington.
Mobley starred at Lewis Center Olentangy as a freshman, when she averaged 17.0 points, 12.0 rebounds. 3.5 assists and 2.5 steals and earned first-team all-state in Division I after helping the Braves to their first district championship in 26 years.
By then, she already had earned 25 offers, but her stock took off even more last season for Big Walnut, when she led the Golden Eagles to their first state tournament with 20.0 points, 11.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 2.5 steals and 1.5 blocks.
This season has featured more of the same. Mobley scored a career-high 38 points twice, against 2024-25 Division I state runner-up Cincinnati Princeton and Olentangy, and one-upped that with 42 points in Big Walnut’s first district tournament game against Dublin Scioto.
She was named Central District Player of the Year.
Mobley, whose final 12 college choices include Ohio State, Illinois, Notre Dame and South Carolina, said she has added finesse to what she called “brute force.”
“I just think being more aggressive offensively and knowing when to turn it on when my team needs me to really put the ball in the hole [has been key],” she said. “[Then there are] other times when it’s not as necessary and I can be more of a passer.
“I really worked on my conditioning. That’s always something I’m working on. Playing without fouling offensively, too. In high school basketball, I get a lot of offensive fouls just from being a bigger player, so I’ve definitely worked on shooting over people and not always going through people.”
The Big Walnut-Mount Notre Dame winner will play Akron Archbishop Hoban or Olmsted Falls in the state final at 5:15 p.m. Saturday at University of Dayton Arena. The Golden Eagles lost to Cincinnati Winton Woods in overtime of a state semifinal last year.
“Usually people don’t want to reflect on the last game, but for us we were so close to getting to the state [final], beating Winton Woods the whole game and then we lost in the fourth quarter [and overtime],” Mobley said. “From the start of our season, in the fall with preseason workouts, we’ve been working like we’re in that Winton Woods game again.”
Ohio’s Ms. Basketball winners
2026 – Sydney Mobley, Sunbury Big Walnut, junior
2025 – Dee Alexander, Cincinnati Purcell Marian, senior
2024 – Dee Alexander, Cincinnati Purcell Marian, junior
2023 – Dee Alexander, Cincinnati Purcell Marian, sophomore
2022 – KK Bransford, Cincinnati Mount Notre Dame, senior
2021 – KK Bransford, Cincinnati Mount Notre Dame, junior
2020 – Madeline Westbeld, Kettering Fairmont, senior
2019 – Kierstan Bell, Canton McKinley, senior
2018 – Kierstan Bell, Canton McKinley, junior
2017 – Kierstan Bell, Canton McKinley, sophomore
2016 – Jensen Caretti, Hannibal River, senior
2015 – Hallie Thome, Chagrin Falls, senior
2014 – Kelsey Mitchell, Cin. Princeton, senior
2013 – Ashley Morrissette, Twinsburg, senior
2012 – Ameryst Alston, Canton McKinley, senior
2011 – Ameryst Alston, Canton McKinley, junior
2010 – Natasha Howard, Tol. Waite, senior
2009 – Kendall Hackney, Cin. Mount Notre Dame, senior
2008 – Amber Gray, West Chester Lakota West, senior
2007 – Jantel Lavender, Cleveland Central Catholic, senior
2006 – Tyra Grant, Youngstown Ursuline, senior
2005 – Maria Getty, Dayton Chaminade-Julienne, senior
2004 – Mel Thomas, Cincinnati Mount Notre Dame, senior
2003 – Brittany Hunter, Columbus Brookhaven, senior
2002 – Barbara Turner, Cleveland East Tech, senior
2001 – Michelle Munoz, Mason, senior
2000 – Michelle Munoz, Mason, junior
1999 – (TIE) Kaayla Chones, Eastlake North, senior; LaToya Turner, Pickerington, senior
1998 – Tamika Williams, Dayton Chaminade-Julienne, senior
1997 – Semeka Randall, Garfield Hts. Trinity, senior
1996 – Semeka Randall, Garfield Hts. Trinity, junior
1995 – Beth Ostendorf, Pickerington, senior
1994 – Na’Sheema Hillmon, Garfield Hts. Trinity, senior
1993 – Marlene Stollings, Beaver Eastern, senior
1992 – Katie Smith, Logan, senior
1991 – Vonda Ward, Garfield Hts. Trinity, senior
1990 – Vonda Ward, Garfield Hts. Trinity, junior
1989 – Carol Madsen, Reading, senior
1988 – Janet Haneberg, Cincinnati Seton, senior
Notable
Three-time winners: Dee Alexander, Cincinnati Purcell Marian (2023, 2024, 2025) and Kierstan Bell, Canton McKinley (2017, 2018, 2019)
Won as junior (8): Vonda Ward, Garfield Heights. Trinity (1990, 1991); Semeka Randall, Garfield Heights Trinity (1996, 1997); Michelle Munoz, Mason (2000), Ameryst Alston, Canton McKinley (2011), Kierstan Bell, Canton McKinley (2017), KK Bransford, Cincinnati Mount Notre Dame (2021), Dee Alexander, Cincinnati Purcell Marian (2024), Sydney Mobley, Sunbury Big Walnut (2026).
Won as sophomore (2): Kierstan Bell, Canton McKinley (2017); Dee Alexander, Cincinnati Purcell Marian (2023).
Co-winners (1): 1999 – Kaayla Chones, Eastlake North and LaToya Turner, Pickerington.
All-Ohio teams announced
The girls and boys basketball All-Ohio teams will be announced beginning March 23. The teams are selected by members of the Ohio Prep Sports Media Association. More about the OPSMA can be found at: http://www.ohsaa.org/news/OPSWA