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Arcanum
junior Stevie Johnting hits in the paint during first quarter
action Tuesday against
Northwestern in sectional action at Franklin
Monroe. Johnting netted 18 for the Trojans but it wasn’t
enough as
Arcanum fell 49-42 to the Warriors in overtime. CNO Photos by George
Starks
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Lady Trojans
come up short in overtime loss
Arcanum bows out of state tournament
By George Starks
PITSBURG- It was one of those nights for the Arcanum Lady Trojans.
A night when the Trojans needed two miracles bit got only one.
Tuesday in sectional action at The Hangar on the campus of Franklin
Monroe High School, the Trojans hooked up in second round action
against Northwestern.
Despite a miracle shot at the buzzer to force overtime, the Warriors
were just a bit to much for Arcanum as the Trojans fell by the
sectional wayside, 49-42.
It all came down to the final 2.8 seconds.
Coming out of a timeout, down 39-37, Arcanum senior Abby Ross unloaded
a 14 foot jumper right before the horn sounded, getting the Trojans in
the overtime situation.
“I thought at that point, we final had the advantage,” said Arcanum
coach Matt Grote. “We practice this and try to execute it in a game
situation. She hit a big basket for us and at that point, I thought we
had the advantage but it wasn’t to be.”
With the extra four minutes forced to be played, the Warriors came out
and took control.
Northwestern went on a 6-1 run and with 1:03 left in the extra frame,
the Warriors had taken a 45-40 advantage.
It would be a hole the Trojans would not be able to crawl out of.
There were many things that factored in to the Arcanum demise.
At games end, the Trojans had no less than 25 turnovers.
Many were unforced.
“That’s something we’ve been struggling with all year,” admitted Grote.
“We have to be able to back the ball out and not try to force
something. We knew it was something that would eventually hurt us in
the end.”
With unforced turnovers contributing to the loss, the Trojans failed at
the free throw line, hitting a dismal 9 of 20.
“When you hit only nine if twenty from the foul line, that doesn’t help
at all,” Grote pointed out. “We work on foul shots every day in
practice and it’s something we need to get better at. If we knock some
of those foul shots down, it’s a different game and we might not even
go into overtime.”
Up 7-5 after one, the Trojans led 14-12 at the half.
Northwestern came out of the break, going on an 8-0 run at the 3:51
mark of the third, taking a 20-14 lead.
The Trojans would finally get on the board with 2:26 left in the
quarter on a free throw by Ross as she would hit one of two attempts.
Fifty seconds later, Arcanum would get its first bucket of the frame
when Stevie Johnting would hit in the paint making the score 20-14 in
favor of the Warriors.
With all that, the Trojans would trail 26-19 with eight minutes left in
regulation.
Trailing by as much as eight in the final eight minutes, Arcanum’s
defense would keep things close while the offense looked to get on
track.
Arcanum would close to a 35-31 count with 2:44 remaining when senior
Rebecca Deao would grab an offensive rebound and get the stick back.
Johnting would drill a trey 38 seconds later getting the Trojans
to within one at 35-34.
The ability to stay close allowed for the miracle shot by Ross at the
buzzer to force the extra four minutes.
The loss brings down the curtain on the high school careers of Deao,
Ross and Alexis Abner.
“They will be missed,” said Grote. “We have a lot to look forward to
because seven of the tem we had on the roster are coming back so we
have a lot to look forward to.”
Two of those returning will be Stevie Johnting and Madison O’Daniel.
Johnting led all scorers with 18 points as the Trojans ended the year
at 13-10.
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Junior
Madison O’Daniel battles senior Katelyn Partlow for a rebound for the
Trojans.
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