November 28, 2003 - New Madison

The Lady Patriots fell for only the second time in the opening round game in the 16 years of the Bill Burkett Lady Patriot Classic. A less experienced Arcanum team brought a very aggressive and physical style of play and walked away with a 42-38 victory.

"This is a disappointing loss," commented Coach Maples. "We didn't handle the pressure very well in the second half and made poor decisions. Even then we had a chance to win the game down the stretch, but give Arcanum credit, they made the big plays when they needed them."

Things started off well for the Lady Patriots as they took an 11-6 lead in to end the first quarter. Samantha Coomer led the way with 5 points and the Patriots scoring 8 points in the paints. Defensively, Tri-Village forced Arcanum to shoot outside while contesting each shot with a hand in their face.

The trend continued in the second quarter as the Patriots maintained control of the tempo with their ball control and defensive intensity. Heather Deaton stepped up by grabbing two rebounds and sticking them in the basket while knocking down two free throws for 6 points in the quarter. At the half Tri-Village held a 24-18 lead.

Tri-Village opened the second half off a layup by Sara Burkhardt to extend their lead to 26-18 but that would be the largest lead of the night. The wheels started to fall off for Tri-Village as Arcanum stepped up their defensive intensity by pressing the Patriots. Turnovers began to haunt the Lady Patriots allowing Arcanum to get back into the game as they went on a 12-3 rund and eventually took a 1 point lead to end the quarter, 30-29.

"We didn't attack the basket and stood around too much holding the ball resulting in many jump balls and turnovers," said Coach Maples. "We allowed them right back into the game."

The final period saw the lead slip away even further for Tri-Village as they missed 12 out of 15 free throw attempts, 6 in the last 1:10 of the game. Heather Deaton fouled out at 4:03 left in the game which hurt the Patriots on the boards and defensively. Arcanum took advantage of Tri-Village poor free throw shooting to make 8 free throws of their own in the quarter which eventually was the difference in the game. Arcanum outscored the Lady Patriots 12-9 in the final period to take the 42-38 win.

"This is a game we could have won if we made a couple of more plays and made our free throws down the stretch." concluded Coach Maples. "It's a tough loss but we aren't going to dwell on it as there's at least 20 more games left to play. We're just going to have to come out tomorrow and expect more pressure and learn to handle it better. This team will continue to push the ball up the floor when we get the chance but also have to be more aggressive in a half court set and attack the basket."

Heather Deaton lead the Lady Patriots with 11 points and pulled down 6 rebounds, 4 offensively. Seniors Mattie Burns and Samantha Coomer knocked down 7 points and Coomer grabbed 8 boards. Olivia Frazier has 5 points while Sarah Burkhardt and Brennan Moore had 4 points.

Tri-Village has 24 hours to get ready to play Ansonia Saturday at 6pm in the consolation game of the Lady Patriot Classic.