January 10, 2004 - New Madison

The Arcanum Lady Trojans came to town tied with Covington, Franklin Monroe and Tri-Village in the conference at 4-0 and already victorious over the Lady Patriots this season in the Bill Burkett Tournament Tri-Village was looking to extract revenge for the early season loss and remain undefeated in conference play. They would come up good on both counts defeating Arcanum 58-54 in a close battle.

Arcanum came out of the gate firing - red hot behind Molly Clark and Abbie Eilerman knocking down three treys and an 18-14 first quarter lead. Senior Mattie Burns and junior Heather Deaton kept the Patriots close with four and eight points each.

In the second quarter Arcanum ran a very balanced offense spreading the ball around with 6 different players scoring led by freshman sensation Ashley Falknor. Mary Skidmore and Heather Deaton again paced Tri-Village with 5 and 6 points. Going into halftime Coach Maples had to wonder what it would take to get back into the game trailing 35-28 and playing a good first half. The defense was good but Arcanum still shot a high percentage in the first half.

To start the third period Coach Maples had his Lady Patriots go to a 1-2-2 matchup zone to try and slow the Lady Trojan offense. The plan worked as they held Arcanum to only one field goal. Again behind the inside play of Deaton going 4-5 from the free throw line... and scoring 9 in the quarter, gave Tri-Village their first lead 43-41 into the final stanza.

The matchup zone continued to hold Arcanum and they were forced to foul down the stretch. Tri-Village struggling all year with free throws was able to convert 11-20 and won 58-54, but more importantly remained undefeated in conference play at 5-0.

"This game mirrored our first matchup only in reverse", said Coach Jim Maples. "We handled the pressure better and committed fewer turnovers 18 to 24 for Arcanum" "We also hit more free throws when it mattered", commented Maples.

The Lady Patriots were led by Heather Deaton with 26 points and 9 rebounds with Brennan Moore adding 7 assists. This was a good team victory playing good defense and 7 different players scoring.

Tri-Village is back in action January 15th when they will face Ansonia at home in another league contest.

Go Lady Patriots!

Box Scores
Tri-Village
#10 - Burns - 5
#24 - Moore - 6
#32 - Deaton - 26
#35 - Burkhardt - 5
#42 - Skidmore - 5
#44 - Frazier - 6
#50 - Coomer - 5
TOTALS - 58

Arcanum
Strayer - 2
Printz - 3
Clark - 15
Eilerman - 14
Falknor - 11
Brown - 2
Denlinger - 5
Eib - 2
TOTALS - 54