Arcanum 1/17/05
Tri-Village entered the weekend with a critical three game stretch needing to win all three to stay in the hunt for CCC Crown. Thursday they played a lackluster game against Ansonia but were able to come away with the win. Saturday’s feature was a big match-up with front-runner Franklin Monroe but TV never got on track in a losing effort. The PATS needed a big win tonight not only for confidence but to keep any slim outside shot of any title alive made the game against Arcanum even more important. Fortunately for the Patriots it would be their night as they put together a strong second half performing strong down the stretch shocking the Lady Trojans in a 44-40 win.

The Patriots opened the game on a fast break basket by Heather Deaton. Playing a 2-3 zone TV wanted to force Arcanum to shoot from the outside but it was mostly the inside game, second and third chances from Bethany Eib and Ashley Falknor that gave Arcanum a first quarter lead of 12-8.

Deaton would open the second quarter with another basket off the break but Falknor and Eib struck back again expanding the Trojan lead to 16-10 with 5:10 to play. Two free throws one by Dill and Skidmore made it 18-12 with 2:19 to play. Falknor stole the ball with 36 seconds and her lay-up made it 20-12. Tri-Village was almost desperate at this point when Karli Dill drained a big three ball making it 20-15.

The next few seconds made for an interesting end to the first half. With 5.1 seconds to play and Arcanum to inbound the ball from under their basket a Lady Patriot was assessed a technical foul for what appeared to be a very soft comment that in no way showed up the official. Falknor netted both free throws swinging the momentum back to Arcanum giving them a 22-15 lead and the ball with a few seconds to play. Arcanum taking what they thought would be the last shot of the half was whistled for an over the back foul as time ran out. Olivia Frazier was given a 1 and bonus with no time on the clock. Frazier was good on both and swung the momentum just a little for the PATS going into the locker room down 22-17.

The third quarter would belong to Eib for the Trojans scoring 8 of the Trojans 10 points most in the paint. But Karli Dill found her groove again drilling two treys, Olivia Frazier delivered 5 points with a three, Brennan Moore and Tina Allison each contributed a free throw and now TV only trailed 32-30 to end the third.

In the final stanza Dill showed she still had the hot hand tying the game 32-32 at 7:29 on a 15’ jumper. Arcanum answered quickly as Brandy O’Dell got one behind the arch and the lead was 35-32. Tina Allison dropped in a free throw but Molly Clark quite for much of the game got one to fall and the Trojans looked like they were poised to pull away leading 37-33. Dill came up big again with her 4th three-pointer on the night and now the lead was just one 37-36 with 5:53 to play.

The Lady Patriots switched up from their zone defense and went man to man to try and stop the inside game of Arcanum. Allison got a big stick back to give the Patriots the lead 38-37, a lead they relinquished in the first minute of the game. A Deaton free throw and two by Dill at 3:44 expanded the lead to 41-37. Needing a score badly Arcanum got a leaner in the lane from Falknor but… another bucket off a rebound by Allison made it 43-39. The Trojans went back inside to Eib who was fouled and converted both throws and at 2:36 down just 43-41. Allison again would use her height inside to get two more for the Lady Patriots and the lead was back to four, 45-41. Eib again was fouled making one free throw, she would follow that up with another inside score and the Tri-Village lead had shrunk to one 45-44 with 1:20 to play. But the Trojans would fail to score the rest of the way and TV would win it at the line as Frazier, Skidmore and Moore each added a free throw to get a needed win 48-44.

“This was big game for us after the way we played on Saturday, said Coach Maples. The difference for us tonight versus the first time we played was our girls made good decisions as they handled the pressure much better and showed patience running a good half court offense when needed. They also did a nice job of getting out on the break when it was their and kept Arcanum off balance. I thought switching to man defense in the 4th period allowed us to box out better limiting the second and third chances Arcanum was getting in the first half. Even though our free throw shooting wasn’t tremendous 13-28 we did make 7 in the 4th quarter to help seal the victory. This was big win for us tonight,” commented a happy Coach Maples

Tri-Village was led in scoring by Karli Dill with 19 points. TV is back in action on Thursday as they host the Bradford Railroaders at home.

Scoring:
3 – Pointers Tri-Village 5 (Dill 4, Frazier 1); Arcanum 1 (O’Dell)

Tri-Village
B. Moore – 2
K. Dill – 19
H. Deaton – 8
T. Allison – 9
M. Skidmore – 2
O. Frazier – 8
Totals – 48

Arcanum
B. O’Dell – 3
M. Clark – 4
A. Falknor – 14
L. Brown – 2
B. Eib – 21
Totals – 44

Tri-Village……..8…….17……30…..48
Arcanum………12……22……32…..44