NEW MADISON – Tri-Village girls basketball team jumped out to a 39-9 halftime lead over Arcanum and went on to claim a 66-31 WOAC win over the Trojans to remain undefeated this year.
Arcanum was hit hard by graduation last year and is mostly comprised of younger players this season with 7 sophomore and freshman and that youth showed in the 1st half as the Patriots pressure was suffocating at time, with the Trojans struggling to get into offensive sets.
Arcanum started in a diamond and two early … but the Patriots were successful in finding open players, they then switched to a box and one, but the Patriots were able to get to the rim, prompting coach Abbey Moore to switch things up yet again.
The Patriots had 5 players score in the opening frame to go up 15-4.
In the 2nd quarter their trapping full court pressure generated some easy scores to expand their lead to 39-9 at the half. Rylee Sagester nailed 2 triples and had 15, 1st half points for the PATS.
“I thought we could have been better defensively in the 1st quarter but amped it up in the 2nd quarter, Tri-Village coach Brad Gray said on the Patriots 39-9 halftime lead.
The break was good for Arcanum who came out in the 3rd quarter a bit more aggressive offensively with sophomore guard Brooke Anderson finding success driving the ball into the lane scoring 6 of her game high 10 points for the Trojans. Arcanum put up 14 points in the frame and trailed 54-23.
Arcanum coach Abbey Moore was disappointed about the team’s slow start but realizes that comes with playing younger players.
“I was really pleased to see the way we responded after the half and how much grit and determination the girls played with in the 3rd quarter,” Moore stated.
Tri-Village used the 3rd quarter as an opportunity to try and get other girls involved and in the mix to get game shot experience.
“Offensively, we tried to encourage a couple of kids to be willing to shoot open shots and build confidence. We wanted Sydney Delong and Bella Black to take shots in the second half, because we need them to be confident shooters. If those kids aren’t willing to shoot the basketball that puts more pressure on Rylee and Morgan. So, we need to make sure those kids are offensive threats as well,” Gray stated.
Bella was good for 5 points in the 3rd quarter and had 8 points in the game. Tri-Village won the quarter 15-14 but coach Gray wasn’t happy with his defense.
“I wasn’t happy with how we played defense in the 3rd quarter. But that’s a credit to Arcanum, they came out of the locker room a little bit more inspired in the second half. My message in the locker room is we can’t allow a score at halftime to dictate how we’re going to come out and approach the second half. We’ve got big goals and got to hold ourselves accountable for how we’re playing, regardless of what the score is,” Gray said.
Tri-Village was happy to finally get senior Morgan Hunt back into the line-up after missing a few critical games with an ankle injury. Hunt scored 12 points and grabbed 6 steals in the game.
Bella Black, Torie Richards and Kynnedi Hager each scored 8 points in the game as well for the Patriots. Richards also had 9 swipes in the contest
Arcanum was led by Brooke Anderson’s 10 points,
The Patriots won the 4th quarter 12 – 8 and the game 66-31 to improve to 9-0 on the year and 4-0 in the Western Ohio Athletic Conference. Tri-Village will host Ansonia on Thursday December 22nd.
Arcanum falls to 2-7 overall and 1-3 in the conference. It won’t get easier as the Trojans will host 6-2 Mississinawa next Thursday 22nd.
“We’re young and these types of games are good for our team, plus our non-conference schedule is extremely tough, so we’re going to keep getting tested and hopefully, we’ll be clicking at the right time of the year,” Moore concluded
Box Score:
Score By Quarters:
Arcanum: 04 05 14 08 – 31
Tri-Village: 15 14 15 12 – 66
Team Scoring:
Arcanum: Miller 3, Gibbons 7, Anderson 10, Leeper 5, Toy 2, Freeman
Tri-Village: Sagester 23, Delong 5, Hunt 12, Richards 8, Wilcox 2, Black 8, Hager 8
