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Arcanum's Madison O’Daniel (40) snatches the ball away from
Mississinawa Valley's Kylie
Willis (23) during action of their Cross
County Conference game Thursday. Arcanum rolled to a
convincing 56-40
victory. CNO photos by Dylan Knoop
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Defense shines
for Arcanum
By George Starks
ARCANUM- It was the kind of game Arcanum coach Rachel Fearon had been
waiting on.
On a night when the Lady Trojans shined brightly, it was Arcanum’s
defense that turned the trick in a 56-40 Cross County Conference
victory Thursday.
“This was the kind of game I’ve been waiting on and I thought my kids
capitalized on it tonight,” said Fearon with a smile. “Their all-out
hustle and desire was there tonight I thought. I felt like I was
coaching a team that was responding”
On offense, junior Alexis Abner and sophomore Stevie Johnting combined
for 36 of the Trojans 56 points with Abner netting 22.
“They did a nice job with their shot selection,” stated Fearon. “The
distributed the ball well and got other involved in the offensive flow
of the game. I have to commend my bench. When I had girls in foul
trouble, they came in and played positions that they don’t normally
have to do. I really commend them on that.”
With the offense clicking for Fearon, it all started with the Trojans
defense.
Arcanum hit the Hawks with a full court press and fell back into a 2-3
zone in the first half.
Holding a 17-13 lead after one, the Trojans headed into the break with
a comfortable 33-22 lead.
Mostly due to 15 MV turnovers in the half and 26 on the night.
“We have been working hard on our defense and that has been a weakness
in our game,” said Fearon. “When you have kids with the kind of
athletic ability and quickness, you think you should be able to go out
and play defense. It’s been a lot of hard work for us and I think that
tonight it showed that we’ve been working hard defensively and tonight
that was going to be the name of our game was to pressure up and I
thought they did a nice job.”
What the defense didn’t get done in the opening 16 minutes of play, it
did in the final 16.
Holding the Hawks to 22 first half points, the Trojans held their
opponents to only 18 second half points and a mere five in the third
quarter.
“The kids played tough defense as well in the second half,” commented
Fearon. “I told them to keep their man in front of them and we’d be
right there and that’s exactly what they did. “
With the defense shining, the Trojans got the job done on the boards
when needed.
“I think that would be point number two for tonight is our rebounding,”
said Fearon. “It pleases me to see that I’ve got kids crashing the
boards and going for a ball. Tonight, they did a nice job going for
balls. I’m pleased with their effort.”
With the win, the Trojans improve to 6-7 (4-2) on the season, while the
young group of Hawks fell to 5-10 (4-4) with the loss.
“This was our fifth game in eight days,” said Hawks coach Roger
Collins. “We are a young and inexperienced team. We have a freshman and
two sophomore’s guards and two sophomore post players. When we first
started the season, we were averaging 22 turnover a game and we cut
that down to eight or ten a game. We blew off some lay-ups but when you
don’t have your legs under you, then you’re not going to get your
shots. This is the worse game we’ve played since the second game of the
season (at Union, Modoc). We have some really good kids but they just
don’t know how to play to win. Things will get better.”
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Arcanum Junior Alexis Abner goes in for two of her game high 22 points
as
MV senior Heather Johns defends.
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