Arcanum gets big win over previously undefeated in WOAC Mississinawa Valley

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Arcanum had plenty to get excited about as the Trojans pulled off the upset of previously unbeaten Mississinawa Valley.  (Dale Barger photo)

ARCANUM – The Lady Trojans basketball team turned in an impressive performance handing Mississinawa Valley their first WOAC League loss 51-46 to keep their hopes of winning a league title intact.

The win creates a log jam with four WOAC teams: Arcanum (4-1), Mississinawa Valley (6-1), Tri-Village (5-1) and Twin Valley South (4-1) all tied with just one loss in league play.

Arcanum would stun Mississinawa Valley getting off to a fast start with a 14-6, first quarter lead and 28-13 at the half.

The Lady Blackhawks generate a lot of offense from their defense and will give a steady dose of pressure all game long with their 2-2-1 full court press and a switching zone and aggressive man defense in the half court.

When Arcanum was able to break the pressure and get the ball up the floor they looked to get quick scoring opportunities and was successful a number of times before settling into a half court set.

In the first half senior Alexis Gibbons scored 11 points and sophomore Josie Schwartz 9 for the bulk of the Trojans offense.

The Hawks scored first in the game on a lay-up from junior guard Paige Emrick, but Arcanum answered with a lay-up as well from Caroline Long to tie and then took a 7-2 lead at 3:22 after a short jump shot followed by a triple from Schwartz.

Sophomore Josie Schwartz injected offense into the Trojans game with 9 first half points. (Dale Barger photo)

The Hawks sophomore forward Gretchen Rodeheffer connected on an 8’ shot in the lane to draw to 7-4, followed by an Emrick drive to the rim to make it 7-6 by 2:43.

The Trojans struck back on a trey from Brooke Anderson followed by two free throws from Alexis Gibbons and a bucket at the first quarter buzzer for a 14-6 lead.

Mississinawa struggled offensively shooting just 23% in the first quarter and it didn’t get any better in the second quarter at 20%.

Junior Paige Emrick scored 9 in the first half as the Hawks struggled scoring the ball. (Dale Barger photo)

The Hawks offense generally starts with Taylee Woodbury and Arcanum’s strategy was to put as much pressure on her as they could making her work hard.  Woodbury didn’t score until 2:13 of the 2nd quarter on a free throws after being fouled on a three-point attempt.

Arcanum coach Abbey Moore credited the defensive pressure from her two guards for not allowing the Hawks to get into an offensive flow.

“We gave Josie (Schwartz) and Claire (Hein) the task of slowing down Taylee and they did their job and did it well. We mixed up what we were doing on them, trying to keep them guessing. They did a great job staying aggressive on her the whole game. And that’s the key to their team. I mean, they’re a great ball team, but, you know, when Taylee goes, they go, so I knew that was going to be a big part of our game plan,” Moore explained.

The Hawks scored just 7 points in the 2nd quarter with five of them from Emerick and she would have 9 of the 13 Mississinawa points at the half.

Arcanum got 7 points from Gibbons, 4 from Schwartz and 3 from Long in the 2nd quarter and led at the break 28-13.

One good half of basketball against a good team isn’t enough to win games and Arcanum was looking to put together a complete game after falling to Tri-Village a week ago, after having a big lead at the half to see it slip away in the 4th quarter.

Mississinawa Valley has a lot of offensive weapons and combined with their pressure they can put a lot of points up in hurry which they would do in the third quarter.


Caroline Long scored 6 of 8 Trojan points in 3rd quarter and had 17 points in the game. (Dale Barger photo)

Arcanum started the second half with a fielder by Carline Long for their largest lead of the game 30-13 … but Taylee Woodbury got free in the corner and knock down a three-ball, her first points in the game from the field.

A minute later senior Syenna Purdin connected from the same corner and Paige Emrick from the opposite side as the Hawks narrowed the gap to 33-22 midway through the quarter, and when Woodbury scored on a drive to the rim the lead was under single digits.

Senior Syenna Purdin had 9 points including two triples in the 3rd quarter. (Dale Barger photo)

Mississinawa slowed down Arcanum with their press that kept Gibbons and Schwartz quiet with neither scoring in the 3rd quarter.

Purdin added another trey and free throw for Mississinawa and Arcanum needed a basket.

They got if from Caroline Long by attacking the rim, she scored 6 points in the 3rd quarter for the Trojans.

Trailing 36-28 Gretchen Rodeheffer responded with a bucket and the harm for a 3-point play to close out the 3rd trailing 36-31 as the Hawks were determined to make it a game.

Sophomore Gretchen Rodeheffer scores in the paint, her presence in the lane on defense and rebounding were big for the Hawks. (Dale Barger photo)

Long continued her scoring in the fourth quarter with a lay-up to start and moments later Gibbons got her first score of the second half.   Sandwiched between those two scores was a bucket from the Hawks Brooklynn Seubert to make the score 40-33 at the 5-minute mark.

With the score 44-35, Mississinawa got a triple from Woodbury closing to 44-38 … but it was Gibbons getting up the floor and finishing a left-handed lay-up then a right-handed lay-up on two straight trips extending the lead back out to 48-38.

Big time games bring out a lot of emotions for competitive coaches, players and teams.  Coach Abbey Moore was in tune with the moment letting those emotions show. (Dale Barger photo)

The little spurt visibly evoked emotions from coach Abby Moore and the bench … but with 2:38 left to go and a dangerous Blackhawks team, the Trojans weren’t out of the woods yet.

Seubert, who was held scoreless before the 4th quarter, finished with 7 points including an old-fashion 3-point play, then back-to-back lay-ups from Woodbury would cut the margin to 48-45 with just under a minute to go.

Arcanum then missed free throws on two straight trips and gave the Hawks an opportunity to tie.

Taylee Woodbury had a good look from deep to try and tie the game late.  She ended the game with 12 points. (Dale Barger photo)

Woodbury got a good look from the top of the key, but it bounded off the back of the iron and Arcanum got the rebound and drew a foul.  Matty Noe converted both tosses for the Trojans, who were just 5-for-13 in the 4th quarter, to go back up 50-45.

Rodeheffer made a free throw with 28 seconds bringing the score to 50-46 … but Arcanum added a free throw after an intentional foul was called sending Gibbons to the line and then the Trojans ran out the clock to claim a 51-46 WOAC win.

Mississinawa Valley was led in scoring by Page Emerick and Taylee Woodbury with 12 points each and Syenna Purdin had 9.

The Blackhawks fell from the ranks of undefeated on Monday in a 44-42-loss to Botkins and then suffered their first league loss to Arcanum is now 11-2 overall, 6-1 in the league.

They will look to get back on track Thursday when Twin Valley South comes to town in a match-up of two one loss teams in the WOAC.

Emotions run high in games of this magnitude and although coach Michael Paige acknowledged his team didn’t play well, he felt the referee’s impact on the game caused frustration and affected his teams moral and execution.

Coach Michael Paige addresses his team during the game.  Despite the frustration and loss to Arcanum, he said all their team goals are still attainable. (Dale Barger photo)

“I think part of the reason our offense wasn’t clicking is because of the frustration. I mean, when you take a teenage girl, and you tell her to stay focused when she feels like it’s unfair, it’s hard for her to keep her mind on execution and running the plays,” Paige stated

“I don’t argue our calls, not one time with the referees do I argue our calls. My arguments are usually, why aren’t we getting the same call? Hey, if this is a foul here, it should be a foul down there, and when it’s not the same call on both ends that’s where it’s frustrating,” Paige exclaimed.

In losses to Botkins and Arcanum the Hawks were whistled for twice as many fouls and saw several players foul out of each game.

“I give Arcanum the credit. They played hard and I like a lot of the girls on their team. Abby’s a good coach and I don’t have anything bad to say about them … but the officiating was terrible, absolutely terrible,” Paige said.

Despite the two recent losses Paige acknowledged all their team goals are still intact.

“We control what we do, if we win out in WOAC play it will probably end up being a split conference title.  And our goal of reaching state is still there, those have always been our goals,” Paige concluded.

Those same emotions ran high for Arcanum who finally got over the hump of winning a big game giving them a huge confidence boost.

Arcanum coach Abby Moore gives credit to her kids for the win.

“Heart and Soul. That’s what that was, these girls, man, they deserve it. They put the time in. They work hard every day. And I told them before the game, I think my exact words were, you know, I’d take a bullet for any one of you, and I’m going to ask you to go run through some brick walls for me. And every single one of them did, so I’ll forever remember this one. And I these kids. I just I love them, and good things are going to happen this year, definitely,” said an elated Moore after the game.

Moore praised all her kids but wanted to mention her two seniors Alexis Gibbons and Brooke Anderson and their contributions.

“I’ll tell you, it starts with these two next to me, my two seniors. this one’s special, they wanted it,” Moore declared.

Alexis Gibbons finishes a left-handed lay-up & led all scorers in the game with 18 points. (Dale Barger photo)

“Take Brooke for example, fighting back and playing that game with a torn ACL. So let that one sink in,” Moore stated.

“Lex has been playing her butt off all year to try to compensate, the heart that these two have shown and how they treat each other takes our team to another level,” Moore added.

Lexy talked about her performance after the game.

“I think how I perform impacts the team a lot, what I bring, like, energy wise, because I got to get everybody up. If I’m down, then everybody else is down,” Alexis said.

But it’s her relationship with her senior teammate Brooke Anderson that motivates her the most.

“My biggest motivation is playing for Brooke, because we played together since second grade, and her going out in our first game, I think, put like a chip on my shoulder for the rest of the year and to get this win together is special,” Lexy expressed.

“Seeing Mississinawa blowing out teams by 20, 30 and 40 points and for all of us doing this together to get this win means a lot and I’m excited for the rest our journey this season,” Gibbons added.

Brooke Anderson was thankful for the opportunity to be back out on the court with her senior teammate as well.

Senior Brooke Anderson was an inspiration to her team playing with a torn ACL. She connected on this triple in the game. (Dale Barger photo)

“It felt good to get back out there and to get this win was huge for us mentally and for the rest of season and everything that’s to come.  Basically, we need to  keep playing the way we did today,” Anderson concluded.

It was a complete game for the Trojans  who was led by Lexy Gibbons with 18 points and Caroline Long with 17.  They improved to 6-4 overall and 4-1 in the WOAC and will be back in action Tuesday hosting Dixie in another WOAC contest.

Coach Abbey Moore &her Lady Trojans control their destiny after beating Mississinawa Valley.  Win out & they could attain their first-ever WOAC Girls’ basketball title. (Dale Barger photo)