New Madison, Ohio 11/27/09

The Tri-Village Lady Patriots were looking to defend their 2008 Bill Burkett Tournament Championship. However, the Lady Jets weren’t about to hand it over to them they were going to have to earn it and in the end the Lady Jets denied the Patriots by stuffing two straight in-bounds attempts by the PATS with just 4 seconds to play. Franklin Monroe then finished off the game with a free throw by Sierra Bruner with one second to play for a thrilling 60-58 win and now takes on Arcanum tomorrow night in the finals.

Tri-Village and Franklin Monroe opened the first quarter of play with an offensive display. Both teams got scoring from five different players from their respective teams. Brandy Fourman paced the Jets with 5 points in the frame while freshman Shaye Thomas matched it to lead the Patriots including a trey at the buzzer to tie the score 14-14.

In the second quarter the offensive output by both teams would be even greater… in part to an up tempo style by both teams and a lack of good defense. Franklin Monroe erupted for 23 second quarter points while Tri-Village tried to keep pace scoring 18 but trailed at the half 37-32.

Sierra Bruner opened the second half with two straight fielders to give Franklin Monroe a 41-32 lead their largest on the night thus far. Kaila Burns answered with a three-pointer to get the Patriots rolling and slowly they started to whittle away at the Jet lead. In the last two minutes of the third period Hillarie Frech hit a jumper followed by a steal and a basket by Shaye Thomas. Thomas struck again with a short jumper followed up by an old fashioned three-pointer from Kayla Linkous to end the period down by just two points 48-46.

In the final stanza it was more of the same with the Jets doing just enough to keep control of the game. Trailing 57-50 The Patriots again fought back. It started with Hillarie Frech short jumper sandwiched in between to free throws by KJ and an inside fielder that pulled TV to within a point 57-56 with 1:28 to play. But on FM's next possession the PATS had a defensive breakdown that left a wide-open Monica Heckman under the basket for an easy deuce to go up 59-56 with 26 seconds. It was Frech who would strike again from the short corner with 7 seconds to make the score 59-58 and an outside chance to pull out win. But in the end it was the defensive stand by the Jets that would hold off the hard charging Patriots and escape with the 60-58 win.

Tri-Village will be back in action Saturday at 6pm playing in the consolation game against the Ansonia Tigers who lost 42-35 to Arcanum in the first game. Arcanum will take on FM for the Burkett Title at 8pm.

The Patriots were led in scoring by Kayla Linkous with 18 despite being double and tripled team all night. Freshman Shaye Thomas netted 13 in an impressive debut while running the point with Hillarie Frech reaching double figures with 10 points on the night.

Franklin Monroe also put 3 players in double figures and was led by Sierra Bruner with 18, Brandy Fourman netted 14 and Monica Heckman contributed 12 for the winning team.


Score by quarters:
Franklin Monroe….14…23…11…12 - 60
Tri-Village………..14…18…14…12 - 58

Franklin Monroe
Tiffany Kossler 2-0-0/0 - 6
Sierra Bruner 1-5-5/6 - 18
Taylor Howell 2-0-0/0 - 6
Brandy Fourman 0-5-4/7 - 14
Ashley Pal 0-2-0/0 - 4
Monica Heckman 0-6-0/0 - 12
Totals 5-18-9/13 - 60

Tri-Village
Hillarie Frech 0-5-0/0 - 10
Kaila Burns 3-0-0/0 - 9
Tea Richards 0-2-0/0 - 2
Shaye Thomas 1-2-6/9 - 13
Kylie Thomas 0-0-1/2 - 1
Jordan Hill 0-0-1/4 - 1
Brittany Abney 0-2-0/0 - 4
Kayla Linkous 0-5-8/10 - 18
Totals 4-15-16/25 – 58

Three Pointers:
Franklin Monroe 5 (Kossler 2, Howell 2, Bruner 1)
Tri-Village 4 (Burns 3, Thomas 1)