
UNION CITY – The Mississinawa Lady Blackhawks defeated the visiting Ansonia Lady Tigers 63-29 in Thursday night WOAC action, scoring 47 middle-quarter points to earn the win.
Ansonia grabbed an early 15-12 first-quarter lead paced by seven London Reichert points and five Charlotte Barga points, including a 3-pointer.

“We saw a gap in their press, and we exploited it when we ran our press breaker correctly that we put in for this game,” said Ansonia coach Connor Custenborder. “We just have to do it for four quarters and not just for one.”
“We have a lot of girls that can score, so we’re never out of a game, which is good for us because we always have the ability to come back,” said MV coach Michael Paige. “We were more concerned with our defense, and that’s where it was. We need to calm down on defense as a team. We just had to settle down and play as a team.”
Mississinawa Valley battled back, taking period No. 2 by a 16-7 score, sending the game to the break with the Lady Hawks holding a 28-17 advantage led by five Paige Emrick points, including a trey.

“We talked about controlling the pace and tempo and playing as a team,” Coach Paige said of his halftime conversation. “The first half, we were still playing out of sorts. Brooklynn and Syenna were in foul trouble, so we were rotating people who weren’t in natural positions. We got out of sync and out of control. We had to calm down, play under control, and run our stuff.”
“We did a great job in the first half beating their press,” said Custenborder. “Once we got one turnover, we were afraid to have the ball in our hands; we were trying to get it out, and that led to more and more turnovers.”
The Lady Hawks exploded for 31 third-quarter points while holding Ansonia to a single bucket to lead 59-24 after three, putting a running clock in play for the fourth quarter.

Taylee Woodbury paced MV with 10 third-quarter points including two triples, Syenna Purdin added nine points including a 3-pointer and 2-2 at the line, Brooklynn Seubert added five points, Stephany De La Torre a triple, and Emrick and Gretchen Rodeheffer each added a 2-point basket to round out MV third quarter scoring.
“The third quarter, we came out with the mindset that we need to extend the lead, we need to push the tempo, we need to open the game up,” said Paige.
“We came out in the third quarter and stopped doing what our game plan was and fell behind,” Custenborder said. “They made a couple of threes from shooters that we had to know where they were and not let them get shots … and then turnovers just kept piling up.”
Ansonia took the final quarter 5-4, but the Lady Blackhawks earned a convincing win, keeping Mississinawa Valley in the driver’s seat in WOAC play.

“We changed a little bit every quarter,” Paige noted. “We wanted to play more under control; we didn’t want to play as recklessly. That fourth quarter was more we have a lead now, let’s control the tempo and take good shots.”
Taylee Woodbury led Mississinaw Valley and all scorers with a game-high 20 points.
With the win, Mississinawa Valley stays undefeated atop the WOAC with a perfect 6-0 record and 11-1 overall at the halfway point of the 2024-2025 season. Ansonia stands at 6-4 overall and 4-2 in the WOAC.
Taylee Woodbury led Mississinaw Valley and all scorers with a game-high 20 points.
BOXSCORE:
MISSISSINAWA VALLEY 63, ANSONIA 29
MISSISSINAWA VALLEY – Taylee Woodbury 20, S. Purdin 12, B. Seubert 12, P. Emrick 9, M Hoggatt 5, S. De La Torre 3, G. Rodeheffer 2 – TOTALS 17 5-10 8 63
ANSONIA – C. Barga 8, C. Reichert 7, O. Leeper 3, S. McKenna 2, K. Barga 2, L Klingshirn 2, A. Best 2, O. Schmitmeyer 2, C. Creager 1 – TOTALS 9 5-8 2 29
3-POINTERS
Mississinawa Valley 8 (Taylee Woodbury 3, S. Purdin 2, M. Hoggatt 1, S. De La Torre 1, P. Emrick 1)
Ansonia 2 (C. Barga 2)
SCORE by QUARTERS
12-16-31-04 63 Mississinawa Valley
15-07-02-05 29 Ansonia