February 12, 2004 - Covington
By Bob Moore, Editor CCCBasketball.com for tvpatriots.com
It was Senior Night at Covington tonight and the Covington faithful gave their final goodbyes to Heather Fields, MaryBeth Bayman, Audrey Doseck and Meribeth Besecker. This delayed the start of the game to 7:05 PM. Most people who talked about this game ahead of time figured this game would be over at about 7:06 PM. The Patriots had other plans.
The Patriots came out with an aggressive man to man and took a 4-0 lead and held the Buccs scoreless until 5:06 left in the first quarter. Covington started in a zone defense against the Pats and they took advantage of the Bucc zone and a 10 – 4 lead with 2:42 left in the first quarter. After a time out, the Buccs went to a Man D and stuck with it for the rest of the game. The Buccs cut the lead to 10 – 6 and got the ball with less than 17 second left in the first. With time running out in the first, Covington’s super sophomore, Michelle Meyer gets free from Brennan Moore on a double pick and drains the first of her three timely 3 pointers at the buzzer to cut the lead to 10-9 at the first break.
At the start of the second, the Covington man defense made their adjustments and held the Patriots scoreless, while going on a 5-point run of their own. Coach Maples calls a timeout with 6:03 left in the second to settle the troops. The Patriots came out of the time out and tied the game with buckets by Moore and Samantha Coomer and force the Buccs to call a timeout of their own at the 4:26 mark. At this point the #8 ranked team in the State AP Poll took over the rest of the quarter and outscored the Patriots 9-1 to take a 23-15 lead at the break. Covington’s Heather Fields does most of the damage on this run and finishes the first half with 13 points.
The Patriots get off to a good start in the second half and score the first bucket in the third. The Pats switch some defensive assignments on man and make the Covington offense stall enough to do some catch up work. Mattie Burns drains a 3 to help spark the Patriot offense. Heather Fields gets injured with 3:16 left and the Pats get a few calls go their way with a 3 second lane violation on the Buccs with 2:48 to play in the third. The Pats get within 3 points at 32 – 29 and another Mattie Burns 3 pointer just misses on the front of the rim that would have tied the game. That would be as close as the Pats would get the rest of the game as Covington takes a 36 – 29 lead at the end of three.
The Buccs extend the lead to 39 – 29 at the start of the 4th quarter. Burns drains her second 3 of the night to get the Pats within 7 and Covington calls another timeout with 6:36 left in the quarter. The Patriots just couldn’t get the ball to roll their way or get any calls in their favor in the 4th. A call that could have gone either way, was determined to be a blocking call on Moore with 4:09 left. After Fields converted the free throw for an “old fashioned” 3 point play, the Buccs lead was extended to 10. Coomer collects a questionable foul with 3:11 left and eventually fouls out with 1:41 to play. However, the real thorn in the Patriot’s side was the Covington defense. The Buccs continually stopped the Pats on the offensive end and their athleticism shown through in the 4th quarter. The Pats played a great game and their hustle and defensive effort made you proud to be a part of the Red, White and Blue! Final score was 45 – 35.
The loss drops Tri-Village to third place at 8-2 in the conference place behind 9-1 Franklin Monroe and 10-0 Covington.
In the JV contest - Covington won 38 – 21.
TV Patriots
Burns - 6
Deaton – 6
Coomer – 4
Moore – 8
Frazier – 11
Skidmore - 0
Burkhart – 0
Totals - 35
Covington
Field – 19
Meyer – 11
Bayman – 2
Doseck – 2
Besecker – 11
Totals - 45
Score by quarters:
Tri-Village – 10 – 15 – 29 – 35
Covington – 9 – 23 – 36 - 45
