12/15/2008
New Madison, Ohio
By David Barger

Tonight the Lady Patriots “took a step in the right direction,” this according to head coach Brad Gray who was excited about the improvements on defense. The Patriots held the Lady Arrows to 27 points while continuing their offensive output. Winning this game means a lot to the team who has a big week ahead of them with two league games on Thursday and Saturday.

Kayla Linkous and Kaila Burns got things rolling for the team, with a mixture of scoring from the inside and outside. Burns opened the game up with a three, followed by Linkous with a score from the inside. Preble Shawnee would answer the scoring with two jump shots that would bring the score to 5-5. This would be the closest the score would be for the entire night. Scoring between Linkous and Burns would continue throughout the rest of the quarter. The Lady Pats would hold the lead of 18-8.

Opening the second quarter Chelsea Royer fires in a trey, followed by continued scoring by Burns and Linkous. Burns led the half throwing in 5 three pointers at 15 points followed by Linkous with 12 and Royer adding 5. The threes by Burns would cap off her night as she would not score the rest of the game. 6 threes were hit by the lady Patriots between Burns and Royer. This inside to outside play offensively by the Patriots made them difficult to stop. Gray also commented on this fire power, “If we shoot like the first half we are a tough team offensively.” They would go to the locker room holding a 32-10 lead.

A more aggressive Arrow defense put the Patriots at the line. After poor free throw shooting by the Patriots, an excited Shawnee squad would make an attempt at a comeback. They would close the gap to 11 points and with another opportunity on offense it would seem as though they were to make a comeback. However a costly turnover followed by a foul that put Linkous at the free throw line with 2:39 remaining in the quarter changed the pace and put Tri-Village back into control. The Patriots would add one more bucket to the score from junior Bre Abney to end the quarter 41-19.

With a large gap and little time for the Arrows to gain any momentum in their hands, both teams would allow their younger players time to gain some experience. The Lady Pats would hold serve to win the game 52-27. A win like this would add a big boost of confidence for the girls as they enter into conference play later this week.

Coach Brad Gray added that, “we took a step in the right direction.” He also stressed the importance of the win to their confidence with, “a couple of big ones this week with Covington and Miami East.” The Patriots will take on Covington Thursday night.

Score By Quarters:
Tri-Village………18…14…09…11 – 52
Preble Shawnee…08…02…09…08 – 27

Tri-Village (4-3 overall, 1-2 ccc)
10 Mikesell 0-0-1/2 – 1
12 Frech 0-1-0/0 – 2
20 Royer 1-1-0/1 – 5
24 Burns 5-0-0/2 – 15
30 Bre Abney 0-1-0/2 – 5
34 Thomas 0-1-2/8 – 4
44 Brittani Abney 0-1-2/2 – 4
45 Linkous 0 –7-5/6 – 19
Totals 6-12-10/21 – 52

P. Shawnee (0-5 overall)
14 Withrow 0-3-1/3 – 7
21 Hunt 0-1-2/4 – 4
22 Schroeder 0-0-3/5 – 3
23 Clippinger 0-4-0/1 – 8
24 Simpson 0-0-0/1 – 0
32 Groh 0-1-1/2 – 4
42 Belvo 0-0-0/2 – 0
44 Johnson 0-1-0/0 – 2
Totals 6-12-7/18 – 27