Tipp City – February 18, 2005
Tri-Village was playing for the Sectional Championship against conference foe Covington. Just as in their regular season match-up with the Buccs, defense would prove to be the difference. The Patriots struggled on offense dropping the sectional championship for the second year in a row by a score of 55-37.

The Lady Patriots got out to a fast start as Heather Deaton would score the first 6 points to give them a 6-2 lead. But Covington would go on an 11-0 run gaining a13-6 advantage over the next 5 minutes. Deaton would finally break the drought off a feed by Brennan Moore but the Buccs led 13-8 after one quarter of play.

Deaton would continue her solid play with an old fashioned 3 and had pulled to within two 13-11, but… she would find herself in foul trouble and have to sit the rest of the quarter. Covington’s defense would limit the Patriots from getting any good looks from the outside and took advantage rolling on to a 26-14 halftime lead.

In the third quarter the Lady Patriots traded baskets for much of the quarter but the Buccs jumped ahead in the end to take a 38-21 lead.

The Patriots never got untracked in the final stanza so Coach Maples subbed for his 4 seniors; Heather Deaton, Olivia Frazier, Brennan Moore and Mary Skidmore with 2:30 seconds to play. The 4 seniors realizing it would be their last game showed their emotion as they embraced for one last time.

The respective Tri-Village crowd acknowledged the 4 seniors and their accomplishments over the last 4 years. “I think these girls along with those before them have set a tone and tradition here at Tri-Village. I loved our crowd today and I thought we had a lot of people here, they just support us so well,” said Coach Maples.

The Buccs went on to post a 55-37 victory to advance to the districts. Heather Deaton ended her career with a game high 18 points sharing honors with Michelle Meyer from Covington.

“Heather really played with purpose today. I’m proud of her effort and proud of Brennan, Mary and Olivia for getting her the ball. She was able to make some things happen tonight.”

Moore would play another good floor game and Skidmore would find herself in the middle of the action as well. Frazier went out on a high note too, contributing 12 points.

“I thought our defense would be better tonight. I thought we needed to hold them to 40 points, but they are good team. They didn’t win 20 games for nothing,” added Coach Maples.

“We ended up 17-6 this year and 9-2 in the conference. I’m incredibly proud of our senior class, as they have been a part of 45 wins over the last 3 years. There are a lot of schools that would love to have the success they (we) have had. The four seniors are wonderful kids from good families and I have nothing but positive things to say about them. They are a group that will be missed greatly.”

Scoring
Tri-Village…..8…14…21…37
Covington….13…26…38…55

Tri-Village
Dill – 6
Deaton – 18
Moore – 1
Skidmore – 0
Frazier – 12
Allison – 0
Bailey – 0
Stahl – 0
Overfield – 0
Totals – 37

Covington
M. Meyer – 18
Johnson – 5
Christian – 9
Sargent – 4
Kuharik – 2
A. Meyer – 11
Bayman – 0
Tebbe – 6
Plank – 0
Barhorst –
Totals – 55