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Arcanum's Rebecca Deao fights through a double team Thursday against
National Trail. The Trojans
won the Cross County Conference game 56-39.
Deao recorded a double-double, scoring 15 points and
yanking down 10
rebounds. CNO Photo by Dylan Knoop
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Arcanum
improves with win over Trail
Lady Trojans now 4-3 on season
By George Starks
ARCANUM- It might not be the most impressive victory Arcanum head coach
Matt Grote will see this season but it was a well-earned win.
Arcanum senior Rebecca Deao dropped in 15 points and pulled down 10
boardsThursday as the Lady Trojans posted a 56-39 Cross County
Conference victory over National Trail.
Arcanum jumped out to a quick 9-0 lead at the 4:13 mark of the opening
frame and never looked back despite being pushed by the scrappy Lady
Blazers.
“We knew we wanted to get a quick start and we came out and got up on
them early,” said Grote. “I would have liked to have seen a bigger lead
in the first quarter because they hit a few threes and was in this game
right to the end.”
When it came to the three point shooting aspect of the game, National
Trail was literally, ‘Living on a Prayer’.
With the old adage, ‘if you live by the three, you will die by the
three’, the Blazers died a slow death from three point land.
At games end, Trail had hit 16 field goals with nine of them coming
from downtown.
The difference maker for Grote came in the form of a zone trap on
defense.
A zone that created fits for the Blazers, causing 10 first half
turnovers.
“They were living on that three point shot,” Grote acknowledged. “We
knew their dribble drive offense was hard to handle so we went to a
match-up zone and stayed in it. We missed some coverages so that’s
something we need to work on. They get after it on defense.”
On the boards, the Trojans got the job done on both ends of the floor.
Arcanum held the Blazers to only 19 rebounds, five on the offensive
glass.
Something Grote was very pleased with.
“We kept them off the offensive glass tonight and that created some
offense for us,” said Grote. “We stepped up on the rebounds and kept
knocking down shots on or offensive glass. Rebounds is something we
work on every day.”
With the offense scoring when the opportunity presented itself, it was
far from a perfect game for Arcanum.
The Trojans threw the ball away 17 times but one concern for Grote came
from the charity stripe.
Arcanum was a dismal 10 of 20 from the foul line on the night.
“We’ve been really streaky,” admitted Grote. “We started out hitting
about 75 percent the first couple of games and now it’s dropped from
about 75 to 50. It’s something we work on every day and we’re trying to
get better at it.”
In addition to the 15/10 recorded by Deao, junior Stevie Johnting added
13 points with seven boards while Alexis Abner chipped in with eight
points and seven assists.
Now 4-3 on the year and 3-3 in the conference, the Trojans will travel
to Tri-County North today and a date with the Panthers in another
conference battle.
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