|
Tri-Village
senior takes an Arcanum player head on as she drives to the
bucket in the third quarter Saturday at Tri-Village.
The Lady Patriots
defended their title with a 59-52 victory over the Trojans. CNO Photos
by Dylan Knoop
|
|
Patriots
prevail in annual Burkett tournament
Arcanum gives host a scare
By George Starks
NEW MADISON- When Friday night’s opening round games had come to an
end, Tri-Village survived against a scrappy Ansonia team, topping the
Lady Tigers, 53-41.
In the opening game Friday night, Arcanum had cruised to an easy 64-19
victory over Franklin Monroe, setting up the tournaments championship
finale between the Trojans and Patriots.
At games end, the nod went to the Patriots as Tri-Village defended its
tournament title with a 59-52 victory.
In the process, the Patriots had their backs against the wall as
Arcanum gave them all they could handle and then some.
Trailing most of the game, the Trojans took their first lead of the
night at the 2:21 mark of the third when freshman Stevie Johnting
nailed a three, giving the Trojans a slim 39-38 advantage.
After losing that lead briefly, the Trojans popped back on top when
sophomore Alexis Abner hit for two with 6.1 seconds remain in the frame.
At that point, the Trojans took a 41-40 advantage into the final stanza.
Arcanum came out hot as sophomore Rebecca Deao knocked down the first
four points of the quartet, giving the Trojans a 45-40 advantage with
7:16 remaining.
That’s when the Patriots decided to get things turned around.
Tri-Village coach Brad Gray made some changes on offense ant the Pats
started to click.
“We were running dribble drive a lot tonight because of the way they
were defending out on the wing,” said Gray. “When we got our normal
five in there, we have Falknor (Crystal) running out on the perimeter.
Not taking anything away from her, we went to a true four guard set and
Arcanum still had two post players in there and it was a tough match-up
for them.”
Running a four guard set, the Patriots started to make a move.
Tri-Village, led by Raya Mikesell, went on a 10-0 run, taking a
commanding 50-45 lead.
On defense, the Pats held the Trojans scoreless from the 7:16 mark to
the 3:14 point when Abner draind two foul shots.
In that stretch, Mikesell accounted for four of the 10 points and had
two big assists in the process.
“Raya came up big for us and made a pretty big statement,” said Gray.
“She’s a pretty good point guard herself.”
On the night, Mikesell had netted 16 points. Add another six from the
night before with several assists and eight total rebounds, Mikesell
earned the MVP award for the tournament.
While Gray was happy with the successful defense of the title, he was
quick to give the Trojans high praise.
“This is a very good basketball team and they are going to win a lot of
games,” Gray stated. “They are well coached. It’s a good thing for
Rachel (Ferron) and bad for the rest of us is that she is playing
mostly freshman and sophomores. They are going to get better as the
year goes on and they will be dangerous in the next couple of years.”
Jumping on the Trojans early, taking a 10-0 lead, Tri-Village had
employed a diamond press that dropped into a 2-3 zone trap, creating
turnovers that led to the 10 point lead.
By the end of the opening eight minutes, Tri-Village looked to be in
command, leading 19-8.
As for the Arcanum coach, it was an emotional ride with plenty of ups
and downs.
“There were a lot of emotions weighing on the line tonight,” said
Ferron. “They were up and ready to go before the start of the game. I
told the girls we could not afford to get down early to them and right
off the bat, we were down ten.”
In the second quarter the Trojans started to come back strong, trailing
at the break, 29-27.
“We came out of the locker room at halftime and I told them they had to
understand that this was it,” said Ferron. “We had to come out strong
and we did. We hit it hard in the third quarter and came up short in
the end.”
After falling to the Patriots the night before, Ansonia was able to
bounce back in the consolation game, taking a 49-31 victory over
Franklin Monroe.
Tuesday, the regular season for all teams will open as the Tigers (1-1)
will travel 12 miles west to Mississinawa Valley, a place Ansonia coach
Jim Bolin knows all too well.
“It's always fun to go back to my alumni,” said Bolin. “I played
basketball there and I coached there. No matter where we play, I always
hate to go back to Mississinawa because I'm a Blackhawk through and
through but you have to play the game. I'm looking forward to it but
it's hard for me to go back there sometimes.”
Arcanum (1-1) will travel to Miami East while the Patriots (2-0) will
head to Newton for a date with the Indians. Franklin Monroe (0-2) will
head to Bethel.
Also on that night, Bradford will travel to Covington while Versailles
will be at home with Tipp City and Greenville will welcome in Ft.
Recovery.
|
|
Arcanum's
Alexis Abner finds the going rough during first quarter action Saturday.
|
|
The
2014 Bill Burkett champions
|
|
The All Tournament Team from left to right: MVP Reha Mikesell (TV),
Echo Brown (TV),
Heather Ferris (TV), Lexi Bruner (TV), Alexis Abner
(Arcanum) and Abby O'Donnell (Arcanum)
|
|
|
|
