February 7, 2009
New Madison, Ohio

It was a game for the record books as Kayla Linkous poured in 39 points while pulling down (unofficially) 20 rebounds in a dominating performance against the Lady Dixie Greyhounds. It was the 4th time this year she has scored over 30 points with the latest tally surpassing Cindi Neanen as the third most points scored in a game at Tri-Village. Her 20 rebounds if officially registered would rank her 6th all time.

One might come to the conclusion that it was a one-woman performance… but they would be wrong. The Patriots were efficient in working their offense and unselfishly fed the ball inside to Linkous who overpowered the Greyhounds with a variety of moves, a left hand here, up and under move there or just a strong finish straight to the basket. More importantly than stats the team was able to hold off a feisty Dixie team to take a 61-49 non-conference win.

In the opening stanza the Lady Patriots raced out to a 20-8 lead and looked like they were going to make it a quick game. The Greyhounds who have struggled some this year showed some fire and rallied in the second period to keep pace with Tri-Village actually winning the quarter but trailed at the half 29-18.

In the third period Dixie got the hot-hand for a 21 point outburst. Some good outside shooting by Kaila Burns from behind the arch and the inside game of KJ helped Tri-Village to 17 points for the period… but Dixie was able to narrow the lead to 46-39.

The Lady Greyhounds opened the final frame with 6 unanswered points to get within one trailing 46-45. Adrianna Finkbine helped quell the Dixie run with a 6’ baseline jumper that helped TV go on a 9-point run capped by a Hillarie Frech deuce to put the PATS up 55-45 with 2:43 to play.

The run appeared to take the fight out of the Greyhounds, as Tri-Village was able to then close out the contest with 3 final baskets by KJ to record her 39-point performance and a 61-49 win for the Patriots.

“It was a good day for Kayla, said Coach Brad Gray. She owned the paint today but a lot of credit goes to our team who looked for her and was able to get her the ball so she can do what she does.”

“We still have a lot work to do, added Gray. Our girls seem to get a lead and then appear to be satisfied where they are and for some reason we don’t have that killer instinct to put teams away. That type of effort will get us beat by good teams and we have some tough games coming up with Arcanum and Mississinawa Valley and then the sectional tournament game against Franklin Monroe.”

It’s important that we work to maintain our defensive intensity for an entire game, we can’t afford to turn it off and then try to turn it on again,” concluded Gray.

Scoring By Quarters:
Tri-Village…20…09…17…15 – 61
Dixie…….…08…10…21…10 – 49

Individual Scoring:
Tri-Village: (11-6 overall, 6-4 CCC)
Hillarie Frech – 0 – 1 – 0/0 – 2
Adriana Finkbine – 0 – 1 – 0/0 – 2
Kaila Burns – 4– 0 – 0/0 – 12
Chelsey Royer – 0 – 0 – 0/0 – 0
Brianna Abney – 0 – 1 – 2/2 – 4
Taylor Collins – 0 – 1 – 0/0 – 2
Kaila Linkous – 0 – 17 – 7/8 – 39
Totals: 4 – 21 – 7/8 – 61

Dixie (5-11 overall)
Bertke – 0 – 7 – 2/5 – 16
Kneisley – 0 – 2 – 0/1 – 4
Leis – 0 – 2 – 1/4 – 5
Rader – 0 – 2 – 0/4 – 4
Rupert – 0 – 4 – 0/0 – 8
Seim – 2 – 2 – 0/0 - 10
Totals – 2 – 19 – 5/14 – 49