UNION CITY – The Mississinawa Valley Lady Blackhawks took advantage of a 23-8 third quarter to easily outdistance the visiting OHSAA DI Northmont Lady T-Bolts 53-34 in Monday night non-conference action.
“It was a very physical game,” said Mississinawa Valley coach, Michael Paige. “A lot of emotions, a history between some of the players and coaches so it was a pretty physical game.”
“They are a Division I team so they are used to playing faster and more aggressive teams – we are DIV,” Paige continued. “We just had to keep our composure and do what we needed to do.”
The Lady Hawks and Northmont battled to a 12-12 tie after one-quarter of play with 6’0” MacKenzea Townsend picking up her second foul. MV was led by four Taylee Woodbury points and Syenna Purdin’s first of three 3-pointers on the night.
“We knew they were going to come out fast,” Paige noted. “For one quarter we knew they would be more athletic than us but we had the long-term endurance and the stamina to outlast them.”
Mississinawa Valley’s stubborn defense limited the Lady Bolts to just five second-quarter points with Townsend picking up for her third foul of the game. Northmont was whistled for a technical foul at 2:04 in the second quarter with a skirmish off the court in the corner that led to Woodbury requiring time on the bench before returning to the game.
“The girl landed on her stomach and knocked the wind out of her,” Coach Paige said. “The girl was saying some stuff to her so one of her teammates went over there to help her and it just turned into a mess. Things were getting a little bit chippy – we just wanted to play under control and finish the game smart.”
The Lady Hawks got balanced scoring with five players putting a total of 14 points on the board sending the teams to the break with MV holding a 26-17 advantage.
The Lady Blackhawks put the game away in the third pushing its lead to 49-23 with 1:43 on the third quarter clock led by six points each from Brenna Price, Purding by way of two triples, and Townsend including 2-2 at the line while picking up her fourth foul at 1:11 in the third. Woodbury added a 3-pointer and Emily Byram knocked down a basket to give the home-standing Lady Hawks a hefty 49-25 lead heading to the final quarter of play.
“We play this style all the time and we knew that we could press the whole game,” Coach Paige said. “We know we can go up and down the court, we have a lot of girls that run cross country on our team so we have a lot of lungs, a lot of stamina and we knew it would wear on them eventually. When we came out in that third quarter they started looking tired and we maintained the composure of the game.”
“I have confidence in all our players,” Paige continued. “We try to teach our players there are going to be situations that are not ideal so we want to be able to put you in that situation and see you be able to keep playing and to be able to overcome it. I told Kenzie, ‘I just need you to wall up, box out, play smart, don’t pick up that next foul,’ and she was able to do it.”
Mississinwa Valley backed down its smothering defense in the fourth and took advantage of its bench with the visitors taking the final period 9-4 giving the Lady Hawks an impressive 19-point win over the GWOC’s Northmont Lady Bolts.
“The game was getting a little sloppy and out of control, that’s why I pulled Taylee out,” Coach Paige said of fourth-quarter play. “I didn’t want her getting hurt after what happened in the corner.”
“Northmont is a Division I team so they’re used to playing teams like Springboro and Beavercreek, Centerville, Wayne, teams like that so we were able to keep our composure when they tried to push us a little bit,” Paige added. “The season we had last year and the season we’re having this year has helped us maintain what we’re trying to do and stay focused.”
Price and Purdin led Mississinawa Valley and all scorers with a game high 12 points each.
BOXSCORE:
MISSISSINAWA VALLEY 53, NORTHMONT 34
MISSISSINAWA VALLEY – B. Price 12, S. Purdin 12, T. Woodbury 11, K. Townsend 11, I. Ojeda 3, B.
NORTHMONT – J. Hall 9, B. Williams 8, A. Rammel 7, B. Byrd 5, L. Barrett 3, J. Gunn 2 – TOTALS 12 4-10 2 34
3-POINTERS
Mississinawa Valley 4 (S. Purdin 3, T. Woodbury 1)
Northmont 2 (L. Barrett 1, J. Hall 1)
SCORE by QUARTERS
12-14-23-04 53 Mississinawa Valley
12-05-08-09 34 Northmont
