New Madison, OH - January 31, 2008

By Doug Frazier

At the beginning of the 2007-08 season, many people believed that Tri-Village and Ansonia would be in the upper echelon of the Cross County Conference. They were picked as the top seed s in the Bill Burkett Tournament to open the season. Both teams lost in the opening round and met in the Consolation Game. Ansonia relinquished a seventeen-point lead in that game and the Lady Pat’s gained the victory. Ansonia has been playing more like the team people were expecting to see as of late. They would certainly be looking to avenge the loss in tonight’s contest.

Kaila Burns opens the scoring with a nineteen-foot jumper at 6:35 of the first quarter. Ansonia brings full court pressure at every opportunity, but the Lady Patriots handle it effectively. Jordyn Fisherback gets her own board and drops in two, on the next possession she finds Burns open for three. Erin Bundy follows on the next trip down the court to Burns inside and Tri-Village jumps out to a 9-0 lead. Danielle Platfoot draws the foul for the Tigers, but can only convert one of two.

Tri-Village brings the ball to the half-court and Bundy finds Jordyn Fisherback inside for two. On the next Patriot possession, Fisherback makes a nice touch from the fee throw line in to Tina Allison for two more and it is 13-01. Coach Westfall takes a timeout for Ansonia with 3:22 remaining in the period. The Fisherback Wrecking Company finishes the period by scoring the eight more for Tri-Village in the period. Ansonia does manage a single field goal by Sara Mayo and the horn sounds with a 23-03 message sent by the Pat’s.

Ansonia steals the ball as the second quarter opens, but Amelia Frazier draws the charge and the ball goes back to the Lady Patriots. Frazier finds Hillari Frech open from nineteen foot to push the lead to twenty-two. Ansonia answers by scoring the next five points to bring it back to seventeen at 25-08. Fisherback puts back her own miss for two. Gina Billenstein finds the bottom from five foot and TV takes a timeout at 2:47. Jordyn finds Kaila on a kick out and she drains it to push it back to twenty at 30-10. Ashley McEldowney hits a ten footer, but Fisherback answers with an eight footer on a TV inbounds at the other end. Danielle Platfoot makes a run for Ansonia to close the half with a long three-ball and an old fashioned three off of a lay up and one. The teams break with the Lady Pat’s in control 32-18.

Lesley Pitsenbarger opens the third period scoring hitting from twenty foot and ten foot to bring the Tigers within nine at 32-23. Frazier finds Burns for a long ball and it’s double digits again at twelve points. Jordyn Fisherback gets a block and Frazier finds Burns long again for three more to push it to 38-23. Courtney Swabb hits one from eighteen foot in transition and McEldowney closes the period with a nice spin move for a lay up to bring Ansonia within eleven at 38-27.

Tina Allison comes out strong in final stanza as she finishes assists from Frech and Burns to push the advantage back to fifteen. Amelia Frazier grabs a defensive board and is fouled. TV is in the bonus and she cans them both. Swabb is fouled for the Lady Tigers and drains her two to make a 44-29 game. Frazier is fouled on the inbounds and goes to the line for one-and- one. Amelia misses, but gets the rebound and feeds Fisherback for an easy two. Frazier gets the defensive board after an Ansonia miss and is fouled again as it seems Ansonia has gone to the “Hack-a-Shaq” strategy. It’s not working as Amelia hits both ends of the one-and-one to bring it to a 48-29 tally. Swabb gets the ball inside and makes a nice drop step for two. Hillari Frech steals the ball and passes to Frazier who is fouled again. Two more free throws make it 50-31. Ashlyn Hemmelgarn hits a three for the Tigers and Pitsenbarger adds a free throw. Chelsey Royer, Kaila Burns, and Tina Allison would each add one for Tri-Village and the final score is 53-37 Pat’s.

In a post game interview Coach Brad Gray said “ It was great to come out strong like this against a team that. I have a lot respect for Coach Westfall and his team. This was a good effort by the entire team. Britney Abney came in and gave us good minutes; Kaila Burns bounced back and played well tonight. Jordyn Fisherback unofficially had a double-double with eighteen points and thirteen rebounds. Tina Allison is scoring less this season, but she is probably a better game for us scoring less. We had a goal to be in the top four in the Conference (CCC) and we achieved that, I am very happy with our 14-5 record. I would put this game right up there with the Brookville game this season as our best efforts.”

Score By Quarters:
Tri-Village 23 09 06 15 – 53
Ansonia 03 15 09 10 – 37

Individual Scoring
Tri-Village (15-5)
Allison – 9
Burns – 17
Fisherback – 18
Frazier – 6
Frech – 2
Royer – 1
Totals – 53

Ansonia (8-12)
Billenstein – 2
Hemmelgarn – 5
S. Mayo – 2
McEldowney – 6
Pitsenbarger – 7
Platfoot – 7
Swabb – 8
Totals – 37

Three Pointers:
Tri-Village – 4 (Burns – 4)
Ansonia – 3 (Hemmelgarn – 1, Pitsenbarger – 1, Platfoot – 1)

Free Throws:
Tri-Village 11-of-20 55%
Ansonia 6-of-10 – 60%