DECEMBER 17, 2009 – Covington, Ohio

The Tri-Village Lady Patriots traveled to Covington looking to take another step forward on the season. The Patriots however would be without their sharp shooting threat from beyond the arch as Kaila Burns was ailing from an injury.

In the opening period it really didn’t seem to affect the Lady Patriots as they rolled out to an 8-3 lead behind Kaila Linkous with 4 points and Shaye Thomas and Jordyn Hill with 2 points.

Teha Richards knocked down a jumper to help the Patriots go up 10-3 to start the second quarter. Tri-Village was able to maintain their 7-point advantage behind an old fashion three-point play by Linkous 14-7 with 2:12 to play. However, Covington would shut our the PATS the rest of the way while scoring 4 points to get within two points 14-12 at the half.

In the second half Covington ratcheted up their play on the defensive end double and triple teaming Linkous on the inside. To make matters worse Tri-Village wasn’t able to take advantage of the open outside shots as they just wouldn’t fall and the Patriots trailed 22-27 after three quarters of play.

In the final stanza the Patriots stayed within reach… but just wasn’t able to make enough plays against a stubborn Covington defense.

And "DEFENSE" is what allowed Covington to defeat Tri-Village 37-31.

"Absolutely," agreed Covington coach Chris Besecker in regards to the Lady Buccs' defense being the difference in the game. "You look at the first quarter and we're down 10-3, but it's a two-point game at the half because we defended well. We forced them into the shots we wanted them to take."

Those shots Tri-Village took were primarily from the outside as Covington wasn't about to let sophomore standout Kayla Linkous beat them inside the paint.

"She (Linkous) lit us up for 34 points last year," Besecker explained. "We were focused on not letting that happen again and we held her to nine points."

Still Tri-Village had some chances as the Lady Buccs made only 4-of-14 attempts from the charity stripe, which kept Tri-Village in the game… but the Buccs held on for a big 37-31 conference win.

Scoring by Quarters:
Tri-Village ..........8......6......8.....9 – 31
Covington ..........3......9..…15...10 – 37

Scoring
Tri-Village
Linkous 0-3-0/4 – 6
Thomas 0-4-0/2 – 8
Hill 0-3-0/02 – 6
Richards 0-4-0/0 – 8
Totals 0-14-3/9 - 31

Covington
Kihm 0-4-6/7 – 12
Hoblit 0-3-2/3 – 8
Spurgeon 2-0-1/3 – 7
Angle 0-3-0/4 – 6
Simon 0-0-4/9 – 4
Totals 2-9-13/27 – 37

Three-Point Scoring: Covington: Carrie Spurgeon (2)