UNION CITY – The Mississinawa Valley Lady Hawks dropped a hard-fought 51-45 Senior Night non-conference decision to a very good Legacy Christian Lady Knights squad.
Six Lady Hawks seniors — No. 10 Makenna Hoggatt, No. 12 Aitana Sanabria, No. 15 Trinity Reichard, No. 24 Cora Hoggatt, No. 30 Paige Emrick, and No. 31 Brooklynn Seubert — were honored prior to tipoff.
“They are great kids, they work really hard,” said first-year Mississinawa Valley coach Kirk Comer. “As good as they play on the floor, they are even better people off the floor, and we’re going to miss them tremendously when we’re done. I’ve been blessed to be able to come here and coach them. Even though it’s only been a year, it’s been a blessing for me.”
Comer highlighted several of his seniors individually.
“Brooklynn is a competitor,” Comer said. “She has really improved. She’s one of our go-to players — her and Paige — and we’re going to go as far as they take us.”
Speaking of the Hoggatt twins, Comer added, “They are both great kids — super kids. I’ve never coached nicer kids than them. It took about three-fourths of the season to get them to talk to me, but they are very quiet and just super kids. One plays inside and does a really good job in the post, the other shoots the ball really well when she’s open. Two different types of players for being twins, but both are huge assets to us.”
“Trinity is a great kid,” he continued. “She doesn’t get a lot of playing time, but she never complains. She’s a great teammate and always tries to help our team get better.”
Mississinawa Valley jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the opening minute on an old-fashioned three-point play by Brooklynn Seubert. Legacy Christian answered by taking control of the first quarter, holding a 12-9 advantage after one period of play.
The Lady Hawks battled back in the second quarter, highlighted by a Lilly Geesaman three-pointer at the 2:09 mark that gave Mississinawa a 20-18 advantage. Mississinawa edged the period 11-10, sending the teams to the halftime break with Legacy Christian narrowly holding a 22-20 lead.
The Lady Knights pushed the margin to double digits in the third quarter, leading 38-28 with 2:49 remaining before the Lady Hawks responded late. The teams entered the fourth quarter with Legacy Christian on top 40-34.
Mississinawa Valley made one final push in the opening half of the fourth quarter, outscoring the visitors 9-5 to trim the deficit to 45-43 with 3:46 left on the clock. Legacy Christian, however, closed the night with a 6-2 run to secure the non-conference win.
“We have a really good team,” Comer said following the loss. “Right now, we’re not where we need to be mentally. We have a couple of weeks to get that fixed, and if we do, I think we can make a run. If we don’t, it won’t be much of a run.”
With the loss, Mississinawa Valley slips to 16-4 overall while remaining a perfect 9-0 in WOAC play.
BOX SCORE:
LEGACY CHRISTIAN 51, MISSISSINAWA VALLEY 45
LEGACY CHRISTIAN – A. Allport 19, A. Combs 9, L. Drye 6, M. Kinnison 5, A. Sweeney 4, M. Frueauf 4, L. Charles 2, G. Breeding 2 – TOTALS 14 8-11 5 51
MISSISSINAWA VALLEY – B. Seubert 18, C. Hoggatt 14, P. Emrick 6, L. Geesaman 3, T. Woodbury 3, M. Hoggatt 1 – TOTALS 12 15-20 2 45
3-Pointers
Legacy Christian 5 (L. Drye 2, A. Allport 1, M. Kinnison 1, A. Combs 1)
Mississinawa Valley 2 (L. Geesaman 1, B. Seubert 1)
SCORE by QUARTERS
12-10-18-11 51 Legacy Christian
09-11-14-11 45 Mississinawa Valley
