New Madison – Tri-Village High School 1/12/06

The Lady Trojans from Arcanum came into New Madison undefeated in the conference tied with Covington for first place. Those same two teams are scheduled to clash on Saturday at Arcanum in what could decide the conference crown.

T-V and Arcanum opened the season playing each other in the Bill Burkett Tournament with Arcanum winning 51-38 loss. In that game the Trojans applied full court pressure that the Patriots were unable to handle. T-V already down one ball-handler with an injury to Addie Overfield knew the task tonight would be tough to overcome the same pressure.

In the first period Arcanum scored the first 8 points of the game with Brenda Denlinger, Ashley Falknor and Jackie Eib contributing. Tri-Village’s Tina Allison scored inside and was fouled converting the free throw at 2:13 to get the PATS on the board. Kaley Stahl scored off a steal at 1:59 and the score was 8-5. But Falknor canned a three and Eib a deuce to close out the first period with Arcanum leading 13-5.

The second period would see Tri-Village struggle with Arcanum’s pressure. In fact the lady Patriots only got the ball in a half court set 6 times. The lack of offensive opportunities for T-V and the extra opportunities for Arcanum spelled disaster for the home team. Arcanum would score 20 points while holding the PATS to 5 to take a 35-10 half time lead.

Tri-Village committed 25 turnovers in the first half and faced a monumental challenge to get back into the game in the second half.

Hopes of Arcanum calling off the dogs and thinking about the game on Saturday with the Buccs didn’t happen as the Trojans came out hard to start the third period. Brandey O’Dell got things started with a lay-up for two. Although the Patriots continued to struggle offensively they managed to increase their defensive intensity to match that of Arcanum to keep the quarter close with the Trojans getting the advantage 8-7 to take a 43-17 lead.

With Arcanum pretty much in control of the contest they cruised in the final stanza winning their ninth game of the season with a 9-3 overall record and 5-0 in the conference.

Tri-Village dropped to 7-4 overall and 3-2 in the conference. Tina Allison led T-V with 9 points while Jackie Eib led all scorers with 18 points.

Tri-Village travels to Ansonia on Saturday to take on the Ansonia Tigers. This also is a rematch of the Bill Burkett Tournament as these two teams met in the consolation game with T-V winning 51-33.

Scoring by Quarters
Tri-Village ..........5......5..….7….12 – 29
Arcanum ……..15....20.….8.…16 – 59

Tri-Village
K. Fisherback - 1
K. Stahl - 6
K. Dill - 5
B. Bailey - 4
T. Allison - 9
A. Frazier - 0
K. Barton - 4
Totals - 29

Arcanum
B. O’Dell - 10
B. Strayer - 0
A. Cates - 2
K. Norris - 4
J. Eib - 18
A. Falknor - 15
K. Rench - 2
B. Denlinger - 8
Totals - 59