January 8, 2009
Lewisburg, Ohio

The Tri-Village Lady Patriots traveled to Lewisburg to take on a 5-1 Tri-County North team in conference play. The Panthers only conference blemish thus far was at the hands of Arcanum Trojans. The reserve game action would serve notice that the contest was going to be a battle as the junior varsity Patriots pulled out a see saw victory by the score of 30-27.

In the varsity affair the Panthers started out in a diamond and two focused on shutting down Kaila Linkous. In the last couple of games teams have placed their focus on Linkous who is the leading scorer in the conference at over 20 points a game.

The rest of the Lady Patriots were up to the challenge and utilized the outside game to keep pace and eventually pulled ahead to finish out the first quarter with a 15-13 lead. In the opening quarter Chelsey Royer knocked down two three-pointers, one to start the game and the other to end the period to give the PATS the lead. Hillary Frech and Kaila Burns also dropped in treys of their own to help the cause. The Patriots however were unable to hold down Rachel Heindl who would score 10 of the Panthers 13 points to keep them in the game.

In the second period both offenses went stagnant as the two teams posted 5 points each with the Patriots still holding a two-point advantage at the half 20-18.

In the third stanza Hillary Frech knocked down three fielders for 6 points to lead the way for the Patriots. KJ was finally able to get on the board with a free throw after the Panthers pitched a shutout on her in the first half. The Patriots appeared to be pulling away leading 30-21 after a Frech lay-in with 1:30 to play… but Heindl willed her team by closing out with two scores to make it 30-25.

In the final frame the Patriots were able to pull North out of the box and one they were playing and into a man-to-man giving them the match-up they wanted. They found KJ inside for her only field goal on the night. In fact it would be the last field goal the Patriots would make in the game. They Patriots would convert 11 of 14 free throws with Linkous netting 7 of them the last four to seal a 43-39 win.

North didn’t go away easy as they were able to tie the game at 39-39 on a steal and basket by Sarah Whittaker with 15 seconds left to play. After two KJ free throws with 8 seconds to play North’s Heindl took the ball the length of the court and drew the foul on the way to the basket with her layup bouncing out. The layup would have tied the game and potentially put them ahead. Heindl who had done everything up to this point (24 points on the night) in the game was unable to convert her free throws and Tri-Village was able to escape town with the win after KJ dropped in two more free throws to end it at 43-39.

“We are really glad to come in here and get a win,” said Coach Brad Gray. “They were 5-1 in conference play and we knew it was going to be a tough game. Teams in our conference are going to challenge us and make us beat them from the outside. Once again our girls stepped up and made shots and I’m ok with that… because we have good shooters on this team,” concluded Gray.

Tri_Village was led in scoring by Chelsey Royer at 11 points with Kaila Linkous chipping in 10. Tri-Village runs their record to 7-4 overall and 3-3 in conference play.


Scoring By Quarters:
Tri-Village………...15…05…10…13 – 43
Tri-County North….13…05…07…14 – 39


Individual Scoring:
Tri-Village: (7-4, 3-3 CCC)
Hillarie Frech 1-3-0/0 – 9
Adriana Finkbine 0-2-3/4 – 7
Chelsey Royer 3-0-2/2 – 11
Kaila Burns 2-0-0/2 – 6
Kylie Thomas 0-0-0/2 – 0
Kaila Linkous 0-1-8/11 - 10
Totals – 6 – 6 – 13/21 – 43

Tri-County North: (6-3, 5-2 CCC)
Sara Bierly 1-1-1/2 – 6
Rachel Heindl 2-7-4/7 – 24
Kindra Mullins 0-1-0/0 – 2
Mallory Ullery 0-2-0/0 – 4
Sarah Whittaker 0-1-1/2 – 3
Totals – 3 – 12 – 6/11 – 39