Big Walnut's Sydney Mobley named Ohio Ms. Basketball

The first of Sydney Mobley's 42 offers to play Division I women's basketball came when she was in sixth grade, straight from hometown school 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." Mobley will henceforth be seen as something else: Ms. Basketball. The 6-foot-1 Mobley earned the award from the Ohio Prep Sports Media Association. Rated a four-star recruit and Ohio's top player by ESPN and 247 Sports, Mobley was averaging 20.3 points, 9.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists for the Golden Eagles (23-4), who played Cincinnati Mount Notre Dame in the state semifinals Friday. Mobley had 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 Ms. Basketball award was first given by The Associated Press in 1988. It has been voted by the OPSMA since 2017, though most of the voters are members of both organizations. The eighth junior 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 Division I first-team all-state 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 averages of 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 against 2025 D-I state runner-up Cincinnati Princeton and Olentangy, then one-upped that with 42 points in a district win against Dublin Scioto. The Central District Player of the Year, 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 Golden Eagles lost to Cincinnati Winton Woods in overtime of a state semifinal last season. "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."