PITSBURG – The visiting Arcanum Lady Trojans battled back from an early 9-4 deficit to outscore the home-standing Franklin Monroe Jets 45-13 over the final 27 minutes of play to earn a 49-22 conference win.
“We have to come out and play our game and have our energy,” said Arcanum coach, Abbey Moore. “It felt like we were back on our heels defensively and had too much space to start the game. We have to come out and set the tempo, set that level from the start of the game.”
The Lady Jets jumped out to a 9-4 lead with just under three minutes to play in the opening period before the visiting Arcanum battled used a 5-0 run to close out first-quarter action with the teams tied at 9-9.
“The girls played very well the first quarter,” said Franklin Monroe coach, Tim Barga. “Alivia Addis had four rebounds, she had a couple of points, she had an assist the first or second time she started so she did well.”
The teams played to a 10-10 tie at 6:25 in the second before the Lady Trojans took advantage of an 11-4 run sending the teams to the break with Arcanum leading 21-14.
“When you give them four threes in the first half – little things just hurt us,” Barga stated. “When you don’t hustle and they score two points you think it’s no big deal but it is a big deal. It builds confidence on the other team and that is what hurts us.”
Arcanum used period No. 3 for its best offensive quarter of the night taking the period 17-6 to give the Lady Trojans a comfortable double-digit 38-20 advantage with three quarters in the book.
“Kyra Barnes has been sick the last two or three days and Olivia Sease has been out the last couple days,” Coach Barga noted. “Shellabarger’s been out a few days also so we’ve had some sickness here.”
The Lady Trojans’ solid defensive play was on display in the fourth quarter holding Franklin Monroe to two points while adding 11 points to the board for a 27-point WOAC victory.
“We came out a little flat more so with that energy on defense,” said Coach Moore. “Something we hit hard in the locker room at halftime. That showed with only giving up eight points in the second half. That was the difference that allowed us to stretch the lead a little bit. We have to find that energy and that effort from tip to finish.”
“We didn’t play bad,” Baga said. “Hopefully, it gets a little going for the last two games of the year and tournament time coming up – then we can do something there.”
Alexis Gibbons led Arcanum and all scorers with a game-high 18 points.
Arcanum improves to 13-6 (8-2) while FM drops to 7-12 (4-6) on the season.
BOXSCORE:
ARCANUM – A. Gibbons 18, B. Anderson 13, C. Long 7, M. Noe 6, C. Hein 3, A. Miller 2 – TOTALS 8 12-22 5 49
FRANKLIN MONROE – K. Barns 6, O. Sease 6, A. Figel 3, A. Addis 2, P. Cox 2, C. Nichols 2, E. Shellabarger 1 – TOTALS 9 1-4 1 22
3-POINTERS
Arcanum 5 (A. Gibbons 3, B. Anderson 2)
Franklin Monroe 1 (A. Figel 1)
SCORE by QUARTERS
09-12-17-11 49 Arcanum
09-05-06-02 22 Franklin Monroe
