The Lady Patriots started a new era today under 1st year Coach Brad Gray in the opening game of the Bill Burkett Lady Patriot Tournament. It was a successful debut for Coach Gray and the PATS as they came out victorious in a defensive battle.

The Ansonia Lady Tigers would jump out to a 6-0 lead until Tina Allison was able to score a goal inside to the get the host team on board at 4:38 into the 1st period. She would follow that with two free throws to make it 6-4.

The Tigers led by Leslie Pitsenbarger and Staci Schmidt each with 4 points in the opening stanza ended the quarter with a lead of 9-6.

Freshman Jordyn Fisherback would score her first career varsity points at the 4:42 mark to draw the Patriots closer and when she sank a three at the 1:30 mark the Patriots grabbed the lead for the first time 13-10.

Tina Allison would close out the scoring in the half with a goal and free throw to lead 16-10.

The third quarter saw the Patriots extend their lead as they continued to win the defensive battle. The lady tigers were having difficulty shooting over the top of the bigger TV defenders and also had little success penetrating the lane.

Kaley Stahl would ignite Tri-Village with consecutive old-fashioned three point plays on a goal and free throws. Her 6 points and Allison’s deuce put them up 24-14.

In the final stanza the Lady Tigers would turn up the full court heat. With junior guard Addie Overfield sitting on the bench due to her knee popping the Patriots became a lot less experienced as freshman Kaila Burns would see action.

Kaila would score her first career points on a trey at the 5:30 mark and the PATS led 29-18.

The Tiger pressure was enough to creep back into the game 29-23 at 1:39 to play. But Tina Allison took a long pass in for a lay up getting behind the press to go up 31-23.

Amelia Frazier would closed out the game scoring her first points of the game on a one and bonus and the PATS tooks 33-23.

Afterwards a relieved Coach Gray said, “it wasn’t pretty but it’s a win. When Addie left the game with her knee popping we became a lot younger team on the floor. We had two freshmen on the floor and they did well. Both Jordyn and Kaila are only going to get better as the season goes along.”

“Kaley Stahl played a heck of game both from a scoring standpoint, rebounding and providing senior leadership. “Tina Allison controlled the boards and played solid inside. We expect both Kaley and Tina to give us this kind of effort and output each game.”

For the game Kaley Stahl led the Patriots with 12 points and 8 rebounds. Tina Allison added 11 points and led with 12 rebounds, 5 steals and 4 assists.

The Patriots will take on Arcanum tomorrow night for the championship in the Bill Burkett Lady Patriot Tournament.

Box Score

Tri-Village
Stahl - 12
Burns - 3
Allison - 11
Frazier - 2
Fisherback - 5
Totals - 33

Ansonia
Schmidt - 6
McEldowney - 2
Marshall - 4
Pitsenbarger - 6
Swabb - 5
Totals - 23