ARCANUM – The Arcanum Lady Trojans lost a close game in the closing seconds of a non-conference home game with the visiting Minster Lady Wildcats by a 53-48 score.
“I am very thankful for God allowing us to come out here and play,” said Arcanum coach, Abbey Moore. “I tell my girls life could be a whole lot worse and to have the opportunity to come out here and have fun and do it together, we’re thankful for it and we’re going to keep getting better.”
After trailing early in the opening period, Arcanum battled back to close out first-quarter play with a 13-12 advantage with Ashlyn Miller leading the way with 5 points including her first of two triples on the night.
“We had to respond,” Moore said. “We got down there a little bit and had to make a response to that first quarter. It could have gone one way or another. We were able to knock down a big shot to take the lead at the end of that first quarter and that was big.”
The Lady Trojans trailed by eight in the early minutes of quarter No. 2 and again battled back to trail by 2-points at the break 25-23.
“I felt like we had the momentum going and to be able to keep it a ball game,” said Coach Moore. “I knew that was very important to keep it close at halftime.”
Arcanum owned the third quarter outscoring the visitors by a double-digit 18-8 count taking a 40-35 lead to the final period of play led by eight Caroline Long points including 4-4 at the line.
“I kind of got on her a little bit,” Coach Moore said of Long. “I thought we had a slow start and she responded and now I have to get that out of her in the beginning.”
Minster clawed their way back in the fourth to lead 49-47 with 0:17 showing on the fourth quarter clock. The Lady Trojans were forced to foul a good free-throw shooting team in coming up short on the night.
“We finished up with about 20 turnovers and handing that ball back to them didn’t do us any favors because we bust our tails on defense and we come up with a big stop and then hand it back to them,” Moore said, “and that kind of deflates you.”
Ashlyn Miller led Arcanum with 14 points including two 3-pointers and 2-2 at the charity stripe.
Both teams shot well at the free throw line; Minster `4-16 for 87.5 percent and Arcanum 10-12 good for 83.3 percent.
“We have to take positives from this, and learn from our mistakes,” Coach Moore stated. “I know it’s hard to gain confidence from a loss but there were moments that we did grow up a little bit. We made some big plays so we have to take that, we have to gain confidence and we have to learn from our mistakes.
“I have very high expectations for this team,” Moore added. “When we put it all together and start clicking it’s going to be some fun basketball to watch.”
BOXSCORE:
MINSTER 53, ARCANUM 48
MINSTER – A. Larger 16, A. Inskeep 12, S. Niemeyer 9, K. Schmiesing 4, A. Hemmelgarn 4, A. Wuebker 4, A. Stammen 2, I. Lamm 2 – TOTALS 15 14-16 3 53
ARCANUM – A. Miller 14, C. Long 11, L. Gibbons 9, B. Anderson 6, C. Hein 4, N. Noe 4 – TOTALS 13 10-12 48
3-POINTERS
Minster 3 (A. Larger 2, S. Niemeyer 1)
Arcanum 4 (A. Miller 2, L. Gibbons 2)
SCORE by QUARTERS
12-13-10-18 53 Minster
13-10-17-08 48 Arcanum
