12/11/2008
New Madison, Ohio

The Tri-Village Lady Patriots for the second game in a row came out flat and uninspired. After mounting a late second half surge against Houston in their last game by playing aggressive defense you would have hoped a lesson would have been learned. However, it’s back to the classroom for Coach Brad Gray. The Lady Patriots didn’t learn their lesson and the Bethel Bees took advantage and schooled the young team rolling on to a 54-45 conference win.

In fact if it weren’t for many missed free throws down the stretch by the Bees the score could have been much worse. Bethel shot just 8-for-22 for the game, despite that they still were able to pull out the win by being the more aggressive team both on offense and defense.

Full-court pressure by Bethel led to many easy baskets and offensively they had their way with dribble penetration and dishing to the open player for uncontested shots.

In the opening stanza Tri-Village took an early 4-0 lead with two straight inside scores by Kayla Linkous. The Patriots would hold that lead for much of the quarter despite struggling to get into a half court set due to the pressure of the Lady Bees. With the quarter dwindling down Brittany Lewis put back an offensive board to put Bethel ahead for the first time in the game 9-8.

In the second period the game became a little more hectic and fast paced with Bethel going up 18-14 at the 4-minute mark. Kaila Burns knocked down a three-pointer, and two free throws one by Adrianna Finkbine the other by Kaila Linkous and Tri-Village was able to regain the lead 19-18.

Bethel fueled by their press and turnovers went on another run that put them up 26-19. A Burns second three-pointer with under a minute stopped the bleeding… but a fielder by Emily Ellerbrock at the buzzer had the Bees leading the home team 28-22 at the half.

In the third period the Patriots were much more successful in finding KJ in the paint as she would score 12 of the teams 14 points in the frame while holding the Bees to 13 points to keep pace trailing 41-36.

In the final stanza the Patriots were able to draw within two points 43-41 but they couldn’t quite get over the hump. They would go scoreless for the next 3 1/2 minutes and Bethel would expand their lead to 49-41.

Reminiscent to the Houston game the Patriots found themselves fouling early sending the Lady Bees to the free throw line. Bethel struggled at the line and gave TV opportunities to get back into the game… but a turnover prone, cold shooting team was unable to capitalize and Bethel was able to close the book with a 54-45 conference win.

In the Junior Varsity contest Tri-Village came up victorious with Taylor Collins going for 20 points and Alexa Foreman contributing 12 in the win.

The Lady Patriots are back in action December 15 hosting another non-conference game the Lady Arrows from Preble Shawnee.

Scoring By Quarters:
Tri-Village…08…14…14…09 – 45
Bethel...……09…19…13…13 – 54


Individual Scoring:
Tri-Village: (3-3 overall, 0-2 CCC)
Hillarie Frech – 0 – 3 – 0/0 – 6
Adriana Finkbine – 0 – 1 – 1/2 – 3
Kaila Burns – 2 – 0 – 0/0 – 6
Kylie Thomas – 0 – 1 – 0/0 – 2
Kaila Linkous – 0 – 10 – 10/14 – 30
Totals: 2 – 14 – 11/16 – 45

Bethel: (2-3 overall)
Cornett – 0 – 3 – 0/0 – 6
K. Kopp – 0 – 3 – 3/10 – 7
E. Ellerbrock – 1 – 6 – 3/4 – 18
K. Bankson – 0 – 3 – 0/2 – 6
B. Bennett – 0 – 1 – 0/0 – 2
B. Lewis – 1 – 4 – 2/6 - 13
Totals – 2 – 20 – 8/22 – 54