Brookville, Ohio – February 9, 2008

The Tri-Village Lady Patriots entered post-season play as the number 2 seed at the Brookville sectional. Their first round match-up was a familiar foe having played twice in the regular season with a 56-36 and 33-21 win in both contests. But the National Trail Lady Trailblazers didn’t let that scare them, in fact they chose to play the Patriots in the first round match-up and what a match-up it would be.

The Patriots started the contest without the services of their leading scorer and post player Jordyn Fisherback who is sidelined with a hamstring injury so there was concern on who would pick up the offensive slack. Early on it was apparent the Patriots had no answer as the Trail zone bottled up Tina Allison on the inside by doubling her up while they created enough pressure on the outside to deny Kaila Burns the outside shot.

Tina Allison finally got the Patriots on the board first at the 5:40 mark and followed it up with a basked inside at 4:07 to give the Patriots a 4-0 lead. Stacy Davis of Trail nailed a 12’ shot to get NT in the scoring column. Amelia Frazier would finish out the quarter for Tri-Village with a runner and two free throws to go up 8-2.

In the second quarter the Trailblazers exploded for 15 points with five different players chipping in while the Patriots continued to struggle to find any offense. Allison paved the way again with 5 points and Kaila Burns added a free throw… but it wasn’t enough to hold off Trail who took the lead at the half 17-14.

In the third frame Davis got the Blazers off to a great start with a trey… but moments later Kaila Burns would match it to give the Patriots their first points in the game from the outside.

Despite the two early bombs on the outside from both teams the game was turning into a defensive battle. Neither team could find the bottom of the net… but the Patriots took a blow as senior Erin Bundy picked up her second, third and fourth foul in a matter of a minute and at 5:31 went to the bench.

After both teams went scoreless for three minutes Burns connected on two free throws to draw the PATS within one, 20-19. Trail matched it with two throws of their own by Amanda Grimes. Davis followed it up with a deuce off a steal and NT now led 24-19.

Tri-Village finished with a flurry as Allison banked one in, then Burns as she started the period ended it with a three-ball and Tri-Village had tied the game 24-24.

In the final stanza Allison gave the PATS the lead for the first time since the 3-minute mark of the second period. It wouldn’t last as Trail connected on one free throw and Davis struck again from beyond the arch to go up 29-25 with 4:27 to play.

Now with Trail leading by four points the Patriots would have one more obstacle to overcome as Tina Allison left the game in visible pain with a shoulder injury and was unable to return to the game.

The Patriots played on as Amelia Frazier pulled TV within two sinking two more free throws at 3:04 trailing 29-27. Hillary Frech followed that with 1-of-2 throws at 2:01… and then Burns tied it with 1-of-2 free throws at 1:09 in the contest 29-29.

With the game tied an aggressive TV defense fouled Davis who went to the line and came away with a free throw and the lead 30-29.

Tri-Village with 38 seconds left worked the ball around and while trying to execute their offense the ball caromed off Amelia Frazier’s foot with 6.8 seconds left in the contest in what appeared to be a game ending play.

On the ensuing in-bounds play Tri-Village smothered the Lady Blazers and in desperation they forced the ball into a cutter on the baseline that bounced off her fingers turning the ball over to the Patriots with just 6.3 second to play.

TV called a timeout to set-up a play and executed it to perfection as Amelia Frazier broke free as a secondary cutter and received a perfect pass and banked in the eventual game winning shot with just 3 seconds to play.

The Lady Blazers had one last chance but the ball bounced off without getting a shot and Tri-Village would outlast National Trail for an improbable come from behind win 31-30.

After the game Coach Brad Gray was relieved to get the win but wasn’t pleased with his teams overall effort. “They (National Trail) deserved to win this game.” “They got all the loose balls, the big rebounds and just out hustled us today.” “I guess the only thing I can say is we just finished the game better than them.”

Coach Gray was asked about the game winning play and was pleased with the execution. “It was a designed play with Kaila Burns popping out off a screen as the first option and Amelia Frazier making a backside cut and she came away free and made the play,” said Gray.

Not one time did Coach Gray ever bring up the fact of not having the services of one of his poster players Jordyn Fisherback for the game or the injury to Tina Allison in the 4th quarter.

“I just hope this is a wake up call to our team that we need to be prepared to play, lose now and go home, we aren’t ready to go home yet,” concluded Gray.

Tina Allison led the Patriots with 12 points with Kaila Burns reaching double figures with 10 points and Amelia Frazier scoring 8 including the game winner. Hillary Frech chipped in with one free throw.

Tri-Village improves on the season to 16-5 and now will meet Yellow Springs on Thursday at 6pm in Brookville.


Scoring By Quarters:

Tri-Village 08 06 10 07 – 31
National Trail 02 15 07 06 – 30

Individual Scoring
Tri-Village
Tina Allison 12
Kaila Burns 10
Amelia Frazier 08
Hillary Frech 01
Totals 31

National Trail
Amanda Grimes 02
Stacey Davis 11
Alyssa Joyce 03
Kayla Lee 02
Sarah Little 04
Lori Deaton 02
Kate Yeazel 06
Totals 30

Three Pointers:
Tri-Village (2) Burns – 2
National Trail (3) Davis – 2, Lee – 1

Free Throws:
Tri-Village – 9-for-15
National Trail – 5-for-10