Tipp City – 2/15/2006

The Lady Patriots entered the Tipp City sectional as the number 4 seeded team looking to advance to the next round of the tournament. Yellow Springs didn’t appear to be intimidated by the seeding and set the tone early that they were also prepared to move on to the next round.

Yellow Springs jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead before Kaley Stahl converted a lay-up off a steal at 4:30 to get the PATS on the board. The play of Stahl kept T-V in the game scoring 8 of the teams 10 points as they trailed 16-10 after one quarter of play.

Tri-Village senior Karli Dill would net a trey early in the second period and then the Patriots started to get some success inside with Tina Allison getting two straight scores. When Karli Dill drove the middle of the lane for two at the 3:15 mark the PATS had cut the lead to one 21-20.

Yellow Springs made another run scoring 7 straight until Stahl would get a stickback with 25 seconds to play in the half. A free throw by Yellow Springs would end the scoring for the first half with T-V trailing 29-22.

“Our girls were playing hard in the first half it wasn’t because a lack of effort we just weren’t getting shots to fall that we normally knock down,” said Coach Jim Maples. “Yellow Springs was aggressive defensively and strong with the ball taking it to the hole, but… I thought our effort was there.”

The third quarter mirrored the first half when the Lady Patriots would make a run then Yellow Springs would make their run and took a 43-34 lead heading into the final stanza.

With Y-S concentrating on shutting down the inside game of Allison and Stahl and the outside shooting of Dill, Tri-Village was looking for someone else to give them a lift.

Senior Krystal Barton gave the team the lift they needed with two straight scores to start the 4th period. Then Dill nailed a trey followed by Brittney Bailey with two inside to tie the game 43-43 at 4:57.

Barton and Dill both converted 1-2 free throws and the PATS led for the first time 45-43.

Springs was held scoreless for three and half minutes and finally got two off a loose ball followed by a lay-up to regain the lead 47-45 with 2:02 to play.

Tina Allison worked a steal off the press and cashed in for two tying the game 47-47.

T-V fouled Y-S sending them to the line for a one and bonus at 1:25 and they went up 48-47. Tri-Village unable to snare the rebound off the second attempt fouled again. This time Springs missed on the first attempt and again they rebounded the basketball with T-V fouling once more. They converted the first but missed the second going up 49-47.

With 52 seconds to play T-V had plenty of time to get a basket to tie the game. The Patriots were unable to do that and was forced to foul one more time. Meanwhile Yellow Springs was struggling at the line and again failed to convert giving the Lady Patriots one more chance to tie the game.

Yellow Spring playing aggressively fouled Brittney Bailey with 10 seconds to play sending her to the line with a chance to tie but she missed on the front end of the one-and-one. Tina Allison was able to come down with the ball off the miss but wasn’t able to hang on and it was batted out of bounds.

Tri-Village had one more chance to either tie or win with 3.2 seconds to play Coach Maples set up a play designed to get Dill on open three or to punch the ball down low to Allison. The ball came into Dill who pump faked drove the middle of the lane but lost control of the ball and the season had come to an end.

The Lady Patriots battled back and came so close but the outcome was sort of a microcosm of the season with so many what if scenarios. They bow out of the tournament 49-47 and end the season with an 11-11 record and 6-5 in conference play.

The game also marked the end of the Jim Maples era as Varsity Girls Basketball coach at Tri-Village. Jim is stepping down after this season and special tribute story will appear in a special feature article later on recapping his fine career.

Scoring By Quarters:

Tri-Village 10 12 12 13 – 47
Yellow Springs 16 13 14 6 – 49

Tri-Village
Stahl 10
Dill 15
Bailey 4
Allison 13
Barton 5
Totals 47

Yellow Springs
Comstock 1
Burrick 9
Kellar 2
Robinson 11
Walker 5
Scarver 21
Totals 49