New Madison – December 11, 2004
By Bob Moore – CCCBASKETBALL.COM
A coach was once quoted on his team’s victory that Good Luck is when Opportunity and Preparedness meets. In basketball, opportunity comes in a split second when an open look presents itself to shoot the basketball. Preparedness comes in the countless shots that are put in during the summer and in practice. So where does the luck come in? Sometimes the shots fall in, sometimes they don’t!
In the first quarter shots were falling for the Patriots as Heather Deaton had TV’s first 6 points. The sixth point was the result of the TV defense forcing a turnover and a Brennan Moore pass finding her in front of a retreating Covington defense. This forced Covington to call a timeout. Michelle Meyer had all of Covington’s 5 points at this point. Covington was off to a slow start and the fast break bucket was all that Coach Besecker needed to call the TO. However, TV picked up were they left off as Karli Dill nails a 3 to put the Pats up 9 – 5. Covington’s Alex Christian adds 2 of her 5 points on the night to make it 9 – 7. Tina Allison and Dill would add a bucket each to the end of the quarter and TV is ahead 13 – 7 at the end of one.
In the first minute of the second quarter Heather Deaton gets a stickback to make it 15 – 7. On the next possession, Karli Dill finds herself on the block and makes an uncharacteristic bucket with her back to the basket to put TV up 10 at the seven minute mark. One minute and seven second later the complexion of the game would find a turning point. It is at this point where opportunity, countless days of shooting and pure basketball talent take over a ballgame. Michelle Meyer would finally find enough of a break in the TV defense to launch a 3 that hits nothing but net. The Covington D forces a turnover that falls into Michelle’s hand in the lane and she makes a bucket as she is fouled. She converts on the free throw and just like that the Buccs are within 4 at 17 – 13. It is at this point that the TV will have one missed opportunity after another and the lid would come closed on the bucket. The Covington defense seems to sense the change in the game and would pour on the pressure. Meyer would find another 2 off another TV turnover. TV calls a timeout to regroup at the 4:24 mark and they find their lead down to 2 points. Thirty seconds after the timeout, guess who ties the game? TV would finally find a bucket to fall when Olivia Frazier connects to put TV up 19 – 17 at the 3:07 mark. Things would settle down for the Pats as they find the handle on the ball and use good patience against the Buccaneer defense. The Meyer Express would find one more bucket in the quarter to tie the game at 19 with 1:26 to go. Heather would find one more bucket for the Pats and they would maintain a 21 – 19 lead at the break. Meyer would score all 12 points in the second quarter and would have 17 of the Buccs 19 points for the half.
In the second quarter Michelle Meyer would find a little help from her friends and teammate Alex Christian gets the momentum in the Buccs favor in the first minute with a bucket and a free throw on an old fashioned 3 pointer to put the Buccs up for good, 22 – 21. More missed opportunities for the Patriots and the shots won’t fall even though they get some good looks against the intense Covington defense. Covington continues to find points, but the TV D isn’t giving up much. At the 2:11 mark, Tina Allison appears to have TV’s first bucket of the quarter, but is called on an offensive foul. TV is only down 26 – 21 at this point, but Michelle Meyer would add a dagger of a 3 at the 1:07 mark. Karli Dill would get the Pats their only 2 of the quarter with 48 seconds left and the Pats would only find themselves down 6 at the end of the 3rd quarter.
To make sure TV didn’t get any ideas of a comeback, Michelle Meyer hits the first 2 points of the quarter to make it 31 – 23. Then cousin Andrea Meyer would score off another TV miscue and with a minute and 5 seconds off the clock, the Buccs are up 10 points. The Pats would get as close as 35 – 28 with a Dill 3 at the 4:55 mark, but other opportunities will not fall tonight against a solid Covington defense. Covington converts at the free throw line down the stretch and end up with 41 – 28 victory. Meyer ends up with a game high 28 points. Dill would lead TV with 14 points.
After the game Coach Maples noted “Our girls came out and played good defense and getting into transition scoring some easy baskets early on. I was a little nervous about starting out in the zone but they were cold shooting until Meyer got the hot hand. Covington made adjustments taking away some of the things we were successful at and then we started to stand around on offense. Overall we played good defense and if you told me we could hold Covington to 40 points I would have thought we would come out on top. Give Covington credit. I told the girls that we did some good things against a good team but don’t be satisfied because that won’t win games.”
Coach Besecker noted that Tri-Village came out fired up and cranked it up on defense. “They also did a nice job getting transition baskets as we weren’t getting back on defense. We didn’t play well in the first half and survived poor shooting due to a strong performance by Meyer. In the second half we really stepped it up on defense and took away the easy lobs they were getting over the top in the post by playing behind.”
TV – 13 – 21 – 23 – 28
Cov – 07 – 19 – 29 – 41
TV
Dill – 12
Deaton – 12
Frazier - 2
Allison – 2
Covington
M. Meyer – 28
A. Meyer – 5
Christian - 5
Johnson - 2
Sargent - 1
