12/18/2008
New Madison, Ohio

The Buccaneers were in town and Coach Brad Gray expected to see a disciplined Covington team that plays solid defense. The Buccs applied man to man pressure focused on denying penetration and open jump shots from the perimeter. They were effective in taking away the outside shots… in particular they denied sharpshooter Kaila Burns from even attempting a shot in the game.

However, they took their chances with Kaila Linkous inside and the Patriots were successful in feeding her the ball. KJ responded for a team high 34 points, which happened to be the same as the entire Covington team. The Patriots got 6 points from Chelsey Royer and 2 points from Adrianna Finkbine that would eventually tip the scales in favor of Tri-Village keying a big league game win 42-34.

Neither team was able to break away from one another, as they were deadlocked 8-8 after one period of play.

In the second period Tri-Village was able to gain a 5-point lead 13-8 and was sitting in a one and bonus early on in the period, which looked like they had control of the game. Freshman Juliana Simon dropped in a three ball to keep the Buccs close at the 5:29 mark to make it 15-13. Meanwhile, the Patriots missed on 3 front end of the one and bonus and the Buccs tied the score at 17-17 with 2:45 seconds to play. But the Patriots went back to their bread and butter with KJ scoring inside and drawing the foul for an old-fashioned three-point play to go up 20-17. Chelsey Royer would knock down 2 free throws to go up 22-18… but Juliana Simon would strike from behind the arch one more time before the half ended to keep the Buccs close 22-21.

No other Patriot player scored a field goal in the first half besides KJ who tallied 19 points with Chelsey Royer adding 3 free throws.

In the third period the Patriots were able to maintain their slim margin with Linkous scoring all 6 TV points to lead 28-25… but KJ picked up her 3rd foul with 3:47 second to play in the period and Coach Gray gave her a seat on the bench next to him. In her absence Tri-Village struggled against Covington’s defense and was unable to get any shots on goal. The Buccs took advantage and closed out the period behind senior Renee Otte who would score the next 5 points to give Covington the lead after 3 quarters of play 30-28.

“I told our girls we needed to pick up our defensive intensity and if we can hold them to less then 5 points in the final period we will win this game,” said Coach Brad Gray. TV looked much more aggressive in the final stanza on defense. They regained the lead off another KJ fielder inside to go up 33-30. Shelby Kihm knowing Linkous had 3 fouls took the ball right at her and answered right back to make it 33-32. The turning point in the period actually wasn’t from KJ… but by fellow teammate Chelsey Royer. With the Buccs solid defense not many outside shots were open but Royer shook free and dropped in a three ball and gave the home team momentum 36-32.

“That was a huge shot and a big play for our team, said Coach Gray. “Chelsey really gutted it out tonight, we weren’t even sure if she could play. She actually had to run to the locker room right before the National Anthem because she was ill. She sat much of the 2nd quarter but she came up big for her team.”

The Patriots pounded the ball inside over their next couple of possessions and Linkous put in two more goals to put the TV lead up to 40-32 with just over a minute to play.

Shelby Kihm got a stick back for the Buccs with 50 second to go to make it 40-34… but TV would finish it at the line with Adrianna Finkbine netting two throws and the Pats outscored Covington 14-4 in the final frame to take the win 42-34.

“Our girls one upped me on the challenge of holding Covington to 5 points in the final period,” said Coach Gray, (by holding them to just 4 points). “At times we don’t seem to get after it on defense… we stress defense, in fact the last couple of practices didn’t even include a basketball, as we are trying to get them to understand the importance of playing solid defense,” added Gray.

“I am happy to get the win, I respect Coach Besecker and the job he does in preparing his team, they are always a tough opponent, they play a tough schedule and they are fundamentally sound making them a difficult team to beat.

“Tonight they chose to play us man to man and let Kaila Linkous go one on one inside… we’ll take that match-up and she responded with a big game scoring 34 points. Credit our team for finding her and working it inside to her.”
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Now we have to prepare for Miami East on Saturday. This should be a good game to see where we are as a team and I hope we can compete with them. We’ll come prepared to play and leave it all out on the floor and let the chips fall where they may,” concluded Gray.

Scoring By Quarters:
Tri-Village…08…14…06…14 – 42
Covington.…08…13…09…04 – 34

Individual Scoring:
Tri-Village: (5-3 overall, 1-2 CCC)
Hillarie Frech – 0 – 0 – 0/1 – 0
Adriana Finkbine – 0 – 0 – 2/2 – 2
Kaila Burns – 0 – 0 – 0/1 – 0
Chelsey Royer – 1 – 0 – 3/4 – 6
Kaila Linkous – 0 – 14 – 6/11 – 34
Totals: 1 – 14 – 11/19 – 42

Covington
Alyssa Angle – 0 – 3 – 0/0 – 6
Renee Otte – 0 – 3 – 5/5 – 11
Katie Dickey – 0 – 1 – 0/0 – 2
Halley Roberts – 0 – 2 – 0/2 – 4
Juliana Simon – 2 – 0 – 0/0 – 6
Shelby Kihm – 0 – 2 – 0/2 - 4
Totals – 2 – 11 – 6/11 – 34