Pitsburg, Ohio - January 5, 2008

By George Starks
Sports Writer
gstarks@dailyadvocate.com

Over the years as the head coach at Franklin Monroe, Ned Gray has seen more than his share of ugly games. One of those games came Saturday at The Hangar. Trailing 17-11 at the break and 21-17 after three, Franklin Monroe was forced to make a comeback to down Tri-Village, 33-31 in Cross County Conference action.

“I told the girls after the game that this was a ‘W’ and it’s not the prettiest ‘W’ I’ve ever seen, but it’s still a win” said Gray.

In a game that featured just 64 total points and a combined 46 turnovers, it wasn’t typical Ned Gray basketball. Gray used the full court press on a very limited basis but instead relied on an extended 1-3-1 zone as his defensive strategy, working it to near perfection.

“We started playing the 1-3-1 about a week before the first game and the girls have started to become more comfortable with it,” Gray pointed out. “It’s an effective zone if it’s played right. The girls know how to work it and they are comfortable playing their positions. They are confident in what they are doing in that zone and we can extend it if we want to and
it’s getting us where we need to be.”

On offense, neither team could get things going. With things knotted at six points each after the opening eight minutes, The Patriots were able to put a run together in the second quarter, opening up a six point advantage at the half.

Down the stretch, it was Mara Howell that made the difference. The Jet senior scored eight of the teams 16 fourth quarter points, including two treys to end the game with a game high 19 points.

“I’m sure glad Mara was hitting from the outside,” said Gray. “My other two shooters couldn’t buy a basket today so Mara’s shooting helped us quite a bit. My two sophomores have been scoring in double figures lately and they will have games like this.”

While the Jets struggled on offense, it was no picnic for them at the line. Franklin Monroe hit just four foul shots on 13 attempts for the game.

“If we hit our foul shots, this game isn’t nearly this close,” Gray exclaimed. “Guess what we will be doing Monday in practice.”

For Patriot coach Brad Gray, it was the type of game he expected.

“If you look back, we’ve had low scoring games with Franklin Monroe,” Gray pointed out. “I though if we could hold them under 40 points, we had a chance to win. We did that but we came up a little short. Our defense was good and we had our chances. We don’t have anyone to blame but ourselves.”

In Gray’s eyes, it all boiled down to one word. Rebounding.

“We didn’t rebound the ball at the end of the game and that’s what cost us,” said Gray. “Anybody can say anything about any other aspect of the game but the bottom line is, if we make those rebounds at the end of the game and don’t give them second, third and fourth chance opportunities, we win the ballgame.”

The loss dropped the Patriots to 9-5 on the year and 6-3 in the conference. Tri-Village will host Mississinawa Valley on Thursday.

In the junior varsity game, Franklin Monroe took 51-43 victory over the Patriots. Chelssea Royer led all scorers with 16 points for
Tri-Village.

Score By Quarters:
TV 06 11 05 10- 31
FM 06 05 06 16- 33

Individual Scoring:
Tri-Village (31)
Burns 2-0-6, Allison 2-3-7, Bundy 4-0-8, Frazier
1-0-2, Fisherback 3-2-8, Totals 12-5-31