Arcanum girls get fired up in win over South

As long as we got more points at the end of the game, that’s where it matters right now ... Coach Abbey Moore

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Arcanum senior Alexis Gibbons goes to the line to knock down one of her 18 free throws to lead the Lady Trojans with 24 points in WOAC win over Twin Valley South. (Gaylen Blosser photo)

ARCANUM – The Arcanum Lady Trojans battled back from a three-point second-half deficit to defeat the visiting Twin Valley South Lady Panthers 53-44 in Thursday night WOAC play.

“I am proud of my girls for being able to pull it out,” said Arcanum veteran coach Abbey Moore. “I told them at the end of the day, as long as we got more points at the end of the game, that’s where it matters right now.”

The Lady Trojans jumped out to a 16-10 first-quarter lead with Arcanum junior forward Caroline Long going 5-5 around the basket, good for 10 points.

Caroline Long scores at the bucket in Lady Trojans win over Twin Valley South. (Gaylen Blosser photo)

The Lady Panthers were two points better in the third quarter, outscoring Arcanum 10-8, with the Lady Trojans getting a Matty Noe 3-pointer and Alexis Gibbons going 5-6 at the charity stripe, sending the teams to the halftime break, with Arcanum leading 24-20.

“They were hitting, came out, and battled,” said Moore. “When we were able to make a play, they were able to make a play and a big shot. We talked about it before the game, this is fighting for a league championship so you’re going to get everybody’s best, everybody wants to knock you off.”

Twin Valley South continued to outscore the Lady Trojans, taking a 33-30 lead with 3:11 on the third quarter clock, and won the quarter 16-13 with Arcanum clinging to a one-point 37-36 advantage with three quarters in the book.

Period No. 4 was jam-packed with action including a rare Coach Moore technical foul that paid large dividends for the Lady Trojans in securing a come-from-behind win.

The Lady Panthers grabbed the momentum to open fourth-quarter play, taking a 38-37 lead. Gibbons drove to the basket on a shot that was missed, bringing Coach Moore to comment on the call, resulting in a technical foul.

Lady Trojans coach Abbey Moore (L) coaches from the Arcanum bench with her staff in conference win over South Lady Panthers. (Gaylen Blosser photo)

“In that moment, I don’t know if I would say I did it on purpose, but I went a little bit harder in that moment,” Coach Moore explained. “I don’t want to get a technical. I respect officials. We have great officials in our conference and I would never, ever talk badly about an official. I tell my girls we will never lose a ballgame because of officials. We have to overcome adversity at times, and if things aren’t going our way, you have to play harder, but it’s never the officials’ fault.”

“When we were in those adverse moments, I felt like we got weak, and we needed some excitement to get things going,” Moore continued. “It happened. I jumped, got a little louder, and got that ‘T’ and had to sit down. I remember in that moment going and sitting down and looking at my senior on the floor and I told her, ‘get those girls together and let that fire you up’ and they were able to do that.”

South missed the technical foul free throws and, putting the ball in play, were unable to score.

Arcanum’s Matty Noe brings the ball upcourt for the Lady Trojans in league win over Twin Valley South Lady Panthers. (Gaylen Blosser photo)

The fired-up Lady Trojans went on a 12-0 scoring run in support of Coach Moore being relegated to a seat on the bench, ending with a Caroline Long drive to the basket to lead 49-38 with 2:35 remaining on the game clock. Arcanum pushed its lead to 51-40 before the teams settled on a nine-point Arcanum win.

“In that fourth quarter, we switched defense up a little bit and that kind of threw them for a loop,” Coach Moore noted. “We were able to make some plays on defense, take them out of what they wanted to do offensively so that was big. That was a whole team effort of everybody on the floor to get that done.”

Josie Schwartz puts up an Arcanum jumper in win over Twin Valley South. (Gaylen Blosser photo)

“In the end, without Lexi, who was 18-22 from the foul line … so being able to shoot free throws at that consistency is going to put you in a good spot at the end of a game,” added Moore. “She was able to do that. Caroline Long was able to finish and make some good big plays, but everybody, defensively, was the difference maker in that fourth quarter.”

Gibbons led Arcanum and all scorers with 24 points, including an impressive 18-22 (82 percent) at the charity stripe.

BOXSCORE:

 ARCANUM 53, TWIN VALLEY SOUTH 44

ARCANUM – A. Gibbons 24, C. Long 17, M. Noe 5, J. Schwartz 3, C. Hein 2, F. Wooten 2 – TOTALS 14 1 22-32

TWIN VALLEY SOUTH – B. Day 15, J. Ritchie 11, K. Maggard 8, M. Nelson 5, A. Suggs 3, M. Arndts 2 – TOTALS 10 4 12-18 44

3-POINTERS

Arcanum 1 (M. Noe 1)
Twin Valley South 4 (K. Maggard 2, A. Suggs 1, J. Ritchie 1)

SCORE by QUARTERS

16-08-13-16 53 Arcanum
10-10-16-08 44 Twin Valley South