UNION CITY – Taylee Woodbury became Mississinawa Valley girls’ basketball all-time leading scorer in the Blackhawks 70-39 win over Twin Valley South Thursday night.
Woodbury was eager to go right from the tip, ready to put the previous game against Arcanum in the rear-view mirror where she would agree she didn’t play her best in the loss to Trojans.
It would create a four-way tie at the top of the WOAC to include Arcanum, Tri-Village, Mississinawa, and Twin Valley South, making the match-up tonight a big game for both teams.
Woodbury didn’t take long to get her team on the board, firing in a long-range triple to start to go up 3-0 just seconds into the contest, and you knew it was going to be a special night.
She would repeat that three more times in the first quarter to help the Hawks to a 15-2 first-quarter lead.
Then, just as Woodbury did to start the game, she connected on her 5th straight triple to start the 2nd quarter.
It would also be a record-breaking shot as she eclipsed the school’s all-time scoring record of 1,282 points. Taylee ended the game with 20 points overall and now sits at 1,288 with plenty of games ahead to continue adding to her totals record.
After a brief stoppage in play and hugs with her teammates, she was presented the game ball and a banner at half court with her coach, mom, and dad while receiving recognition for the accomplishment.
Play resumed shortly after, and the Hawks continued to roll, scoring 23 points in the second quarter.
Twin Valley South offense would find a little spark as well by attacking the basket and getting to the charity stripe. They would make 7-of-8 free throws and couple treys from Kelsey Maggard and Jordan Ritchie for 17 points … but the Hawks led 38-17 at the half.
The third-quarter output resembled that of the second quarter, with the Hawks winning 23-16.
Mississinawa got a spark from junior forward Brooklynn Seubert on 10 points in the paint to lead the way. Maci Arndts led the Panthers with six points in the quarter.
The final quarter aided by a running clock tick away too quickly for South who won the frame 9-6 but was really unable to make up much ground with Mississinawa winning the game 70-39.
The win keeps the Hawks in a tie at the top of the league with Arcanum & Tri-Village, while Twin Valley South falls a game behind.
For Mississinawa Valley Coach Michael Paige he was happy to see his team get back on track offensively and earn the conference win.
“I think the game obviously went really well for us, Twin Valley South is a very aggressive team, we wanted to match that while also pushing the ball. It was also a big day for Taylee, so we wanted to make sure she was able to accomplish getting the record at home with our next two games being on the road. That was our focus in the first half, and in the second half, we just wanted to control the tempo and play under control. I think we managed to do that some but did get out of control a few times. So, we still have got things to work on, but overall it was a good game for us and big night for Taylee,” Page explained.
Mississinawa Valley was led in scoring by Taylee Woodbury and Brooklynn Seubert, both with 20 points.
Twin Valley South was led by Jordan Ritchie with 12 points, Brylii Day who leads the league in rebounding had 10 boards.
The Panthers fall to 7-5 overall, 4-2 in the league and they will host Newton on Saturday.
The Blackhawks improve to 12-2 and 7-1 in WOAC and will travel to Ansonia on Saturday, January 18, for the Rt 47 shootout and then take on Marion Local in a show at Versailles on Monday, January 20th.
The night, however, belonged to Taylee Woodbury as the senior point guard achieved the triple crown in basketball, becoming the all-time assists, steals, and now scoring record holder at Mississinawa Valley.
I had a chance to catch up with Taylee’s dad (Derrick Woodbury) after the game, and it was a surreal and reflective moment for the proud dad.
“Honestly, it’s just great to see your own kid who works hard and puts a lot of time and dedication in the gym earn these accomplishments the way she’s been getting them; she really deserves it,” Dad would say.
“When she first started playing basketball as a freshman, she told me she was going to beat my assist record for a game, and she’s gotten it all right and set the school record for the most career assists as well. She has always had a high set of standards, and she’d like to break more of them if she could … even her own records she has now. You never know what else she’s going to do, she may break another record next week, who knows? She’s probably chasing the free throw record for a career too,” Derrick added.
When talking to Taylee about her three career records she is most proud of the assist record.
“I’m most proud of the assist record, that’s my job, I’m the point guard and it’s the main thing I do, distribute the ball,” Taylee said.
But on this night it was a celebration for the scoring record and even though Taylee wasn’t feeling well, she was ready and went out and knocked down her first five consecutive triples to jump out to a big lead over South in the process of achieving the new scoring mark, while also getting redemption from the previous game.
“I wasn’t feeling the best coming in tonight, but we knew we had to throw that last game out of our heads, it was a tough one and probably shouldn’t have happened, but we made mistakes, life happens, and we all knew we had to come out strong in this game to get a big win,” Taylee stated.
When Taylee’s fifth long-range dart pierced the record books, play stopped as her coaches and teammates embraced her with her family and supporters on hand to witness the moment, causing a stream of emotions to overcome her.
“Like I was crying, it feels really great. Honestly, I couldn’t have done it without my people, coaches and team. None of this could have been done without my teammates and to be able to share this moment with them means everything,” Taylee said.
When I asked Taylee about her family she choked up, fighting back tears and eventually just letting them roll down her cheek.
“The support I’ve gotten from my grandpa/grandma, dad/mom has really helped me to achieve the things I have,” Woodbury commented.
“My grandpa has helped me a lot through basketball he’s always asking me to go to the gym, every time I have a bad game or something, or don’t hit my shots. He’s always like, you want to go to the gym on Sundays, like any day, even after we have practice, he’ll meet me out here, and we shoot after practice. He’s just always there for me,” Taylee commended.
It wasn’t always easy for Taylee, who came down with a serious knee injury her sophomore year in the postseason and a long recovery process to get back to playing.
“I want to thank Tony Cox, my physical therapist, for everything that he has done for me and being able to get me back on the floor and do everything that I can do. I couldn’t have done it without him either,” Woodbury added.
The Woodbury’s are a basketball family with Derrick being a standout player himself and a member of the Mississinawa Valley Athletic Hall of Fame. He also coach’s 7th grade girls’ basketball along with his daughter Tienna on the team. Freshman daughter Tenlee would get the start tonight alongside her sister and at one point in the game Taylee gave her a wraparound pass for an assist.
In some good-natured ribbing with Derrick about who’s the best in the house I think I overheard a challenge of a one-on-one game with Taylee. But he quickly acknowledged that Taylee holds all the records now.
When I told Taylee I heard there might be a one-on-one game, she chuckled.
“Okay, that’s funny, he’s someone I’ve always looked up to, he’s a huge basketball fan, and he was good in his day. I mean, he probably had better handles than me, I will say he could dribble the ball, that’s for sure. But yeah, being able to beat his accomplishments really means a lot to me and he loves it more than anyone, he wants me to beat everything and with that kind of support I can’t lose,” Taylee concluded.
Taylee will graduate this year … but the impact Woodbury’s have on Mississinawa basketball is far from over as Grandpa/Grandma (Gary & Maureen), Dad/Mom (Derrick & Kristen) and the community will get to be fans much longer as Tenlee and Tienna come through the system.
