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Shaye
Thomas (24) will look to help the Tri-Village Lady Patriots to
yet another
district title today as the Patriots will square off
against Miami Valley today
at 3 p.m. at Tipp City. Dale Barger Photo,
tvpatriots.com
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Lady Patriots
ready for district title shot today
By George Starks
NEW MADISON- When Tri-Village goes in to face Miami Valley today for
the district title in the Southwest District D-IV title game at Tipp
City. it won’t be the first time these two teams have met.
It was just two years ago when the Patriots and the Rams squared off
for the right to go to regional’s with the Patriots winning that game.
When the Patriots rolled to a big win over Bradford last Saturday, it
was the first step in what could be a trip to Columbus for Tri-Village.
Coming out against Jefferson and Bethel very sluggish, Patriots coach
Brad Grey said he challenged his team to come out and play Tri-Village
basketball and the team responded.
“This is a veteran team and we understand each other,” sad Grey after
the win over Bradford. “Getting this win was just the first step. We
have bigger fish to fry.”
When the sectional draw took place, teams avoided Tri-Village. Now, no
team is in a position to avoid anyone. It’s a free for all from here on
out.
“In all honesty, I like it this way,” Grey said. “I like to be able to
challenge our kids with opponents and pump these teams up a little bit
and make our kids understand that this is a team we haven’t seen and
getting them to understand how good they are and we better be ready to
go.”
With the exception of its lone loss to Miami East in the regular
season, the Patriots have rolled to big wins in nearly every game
they’ve played. From here on out, that’s not the case.
“It’s hard to get a team pumped up to play against a team they beat by
50 points earlier in the season,” Grey stated.
According to Grey, the Rams are an excellent team and have two kids
that can get things going in a hurry.
“Miami Valley has a great one-two punch,” said Grey. “The Rams have
Shelby Carpenter and Daisy Brown. Carpenter is a tall point guard and
will play D-II college basketball as well as run track at the next
level and is the only player from that team two years ago. She is very
athletic and Brown is another perimeter player and she is extremely
athletic. They have a good supporting cast and they will be ready for
us, there’s no doubt about that. Carpenter and Brown are their two go
to players for that team. They run a lot of ball screens. Two years
ago, they had a better outside presence than what they do this year. I
think this year, they have a post player that is a very good defender
and they didn’t have that two years ago.”
“We will put Shaye (Thomas) on Carpenter and try to slow her down with
Shaye,” Grey said. “Everything they do is geared on trying to get her
into the paint. She likes to get into the paint to hit those 10-15 foot
jumpers. So we are going to guard her hard with Shaye and the other
four players will be in a help position when she gets the basketball.
So all five girls will be responsible for her.”
In the post, the Rams will feature a six footer named Ryan Carr.
“She’s a big girl with a pretty strong body,” Grey said. “She is their
post player and they do a lot of ball screens with her. Kayla (Linkous)
is going to have to sit down and be big and be strong. She will be fine
against her.”
The Rams were the second seed in the Monroe sectional, coming in with
an 18-2 record at the start of sectional play.
“This is a good team,” Grey said in conclusion. “They have won 21games
and you don’t win 21 games by accident.”
In the tournament, Miami Valley beat Lockland in the sectional opener
54-18, snuck by Seven Hills 48-47 and took out the top seed, Country
Day 41-32 to reach the District final.
Tri-Village, now 22-1, hammered Jefferson in the opening round 90-31,
beat Bethel 73-34 and topped Bradford in the sectional final 62-25.
Whether it’s the district or regional, Grey and his team has to remain
focused on the task at hand if they want to bring home the gold.
“We have to be focused at all times,” Grey pointed out. “We have to
take it one game at a time. We are prepared and the kids know what they
are going to see.”
Tip time for the Patriots-Rams game is set for 3 p.m. and will be the
third and final game of the day at Tipp City.
In the first district game, Southeastern and Ft. Loramie will do battle
starting at 11 a.m. while Covington and Russia will hook up in the
second game of the day.
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