Arcanum squeaks by Newton Lady Indians

We have to come out from the gate ready to go ... Arcanum Coach Abbey Moore

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Caroline Long drives to the basket for an Arcanum score in WOAC win over Newton. (Gaylen Blosser photo)

ARCANUM – The Arcanum Lady Trojans trailed the visiting Newton Lady Indians at the end of each of the first three quarters before defense and cold Newton fourth-quarter shooting earned Arcanum a 39-34 come-from-behind WOAC win over the pesky Lady Indians.

“We have to come out from the gate ready to go,” said Arcanum Coach Abbey Moore. “They wanted it a little bit more than us; they were aggressive.”

Newton’s Falicity Harbour goes to the basket for a score at Arcanum. (Gaylen Blosser photo)

“We came in, we had a game plan, and the girls executed it to perfection,” Newton coach Stefany Landis said. “The basket just had a cover on it in that fourth period. We didn’t make a single basket and we had a ton of wide-open shots, layups, second chance points, it just didn’t go for us.”

Newton jumped out to an 8-1 first-quarter lead in the opening three minutes of play, with Arcanum playing catchup to trail 8-6 at the 3:34 mark. The Lady Indians upped its lead to 11-6 to close out first-period action.

Arcanum’s Faith Wooten goes for a rebound in Lady Trojans win over Newton.

Arcanum closed the gap trailing 19-17 at 3:07 in the second before Newton closed on first-half play on a 3-2 run, sending the teams to the break with the Lady Indians up 21-18.

Rylee Hess drives to the Newton basket in conference game at Arcanum. (Gaylen Blosser photo)

Trailing 24-22, the Lady Trojans grabbed its first lead of the night on a short 4-0 run to lead 26-24 at 3:44 in the third only to have the hustling Lady Indians take advantage of ten unanswered points taking a 34-26 lead. Arcanum closed out the third with an Alexis Gibbons 3-pointer sending the teams to the final period with Newton holding a 34-29 advantage.

“Hats off to those Newton for coming out and playing hard, beating us to ball, and outrebounded us,” Coach Moore stated. “That is inexcusable for us because we’ve got the size advantage. We have to take care of that a little bit better, so that will be a focus moving forward.”

Alexis Gibbers hits her fifth free to go 5-5 at the line in the fourth quarter to give Arcanum come-from-behind win over Lady Indians. (Gaylen Blosser photo)

Arcanum put 10 points on the fourth-quarter board while keeping the Lady Indians out of the scoring column, giving the Lady Trojans 13 unanswered points extending back to the third period to close the conference matchup. Gibbons was 5-5, and Caroline Long was 3-4 at the fourth-quarter charity stripe.

“Alexis knocked down free throws, Caroline knocked down some big ones too, and down the stretch, we ended up 12 of 17 from the free throw line. That was the difference in the ballgame, so thankfully, we were able to put those in.”

“It’s great for us, I want us to play tough teams,,” said Coach Landis. “I want to play competitive games because it will only prepare us and make us better. Our girls learned a lot and grew tonight. We’ll carry that forward through our season.”

Arcanum was without the services of veteran senior starting guard Brooke Anderson, who spent the night on crutches next to Coach Moore on the bench.

Newton’s Brilie Hines scores in road game at Arcanum. (Gaylen Blosser photo)

“It’s where we’re at, the situation we’re in,” Moore said. “It’s next girl up. We have to get some gelling and learn how to play together when we get different combinations on the floor. Some of our combinations are the first time those girls have been on the floor together. We have a lot of learning and growing to do. We’ll keep working hard.”

“I am really excited about what the future is going to look like for this group of girls,” Landis stated. “If we can execute, stick to the game plan and the girls come to play like they do I think they are going to do many great things. I am proud of the girls for their effort tonight. Hats off to Arcanum; they are a tough team.”

BOXSCORE:

ARCANUM 39, NEWTON 34

ARCANUM – A. Gibbons 15, C. Long 15, F. Wooten 4, G. Wooten 4, J. Schwartz 1 – TOTALS 9 12-17 3 39

NEWTON – F. Harbour 10, B. Hines 7, M. Szakal 6, R. Hess 5, L. VanCulin 4, M. Denlinger 2 TOTALS 13 5-9 1 34

3-POINTERS

Arcanum 3 (A. Gibbons 2, C. Long 1)

Newton 1 (B. Hines 1)

SCORE by QUARTERS

06-12-11-10 39 Arcanum

11-10-13-00 34 Newton