JANUARY 9, 2010 – WEST ALEXANDRIA

After a very long break the Tri-Village Patriots were back in action taking on the Panthers from Twin Valley South. A win for Tri-Village was critical to keep an outside chance of competing for a title.

The Patriots opened the game with a Hillarie Frech jumper from the corner… but both teams struggled in the first quarter to generate any offense. South was doubling and sometimes tripling up the post entry and freshman Shaye Thomas took advantage by penetrating the lane. Thomas was the only source of offense the Patriots had in the first period scoring seven points and TV led 9-4.

In the second quarter the Patriots switched into a 2-3-zone defense while building a 17-8 lead by the 3:28 mark. The Panthers however cut into the lead on outside shooting of Addelee Gates and inside scoring of Tayler Creech to narrow the lead to 18-13 by the half.

In the third frame the Patriots showed good patience on offense and started to find a way to get the ball inside to Kayla Linkous who scored eight points as Tri-Village built a nine point lead 30-21.

In the final stanza South switched from their zone to a man defense. Initially it stifled TV offensively. On the flip side Gates was heating up for South scoring seven unaswered points and the Panthers trailed 32-30 at 6:05.

TV answered on an isolation play from Thomas to Linkous on the block for a basket… but Creech from South answered and followed it with one free throw and the lead was just one-point 34-33.

The PATS went back to KJ on a nice over the top feed by Teha Richards from the foul line for a bucket. On the next trip down the floor instead of feeding Linkous from the top Richards drained a 15’ jumper to give TV breathing room 38-33 with 2:24 to play.

With TV taking air out of the ball Twin Valley was forced to foul. Kaila Burns hit two throws to go up 40-34. Once again Gates stepped forward draining a long trey with two Patriots in her face to make it 40-37 with 25 seconds to play.

After a Thomas free throw Creech drew a foul with 5 seconds to play. She connected on both and South was within a basket trailing 41-39.
South then fouled Linkous on the inbound play and she iced the game hitting both free throws with 3 seconds to play and Tri-Village escaped town with a 43-39 win.

The Patriots played a smart game both offensively and defensively… but a determined South team primarily Adelee Gates and Tayler Creech willed their team in the final stanza. Gates led all scorers with 21 points (10 in the final frame) and Creech had 14 points (7 in the final frame) but Tri-Village executed and made the plays down the stretch to earn a solid win.

The Patriots’ Kayla Linkous registered a double double scoring 18 points and unofficially pulled down 15 rebounds. Shaye Thomas added 9 points and a number of assist in the win.

Tri-Village now goes to 5-4 on the season and 3-2 in the conference while Twin Valley South drops to 5-4 overall and 2-3 in the conference.
Tri-Village is back in action on Tuesday traveling to Preble Shawnee in a non-conference game.

Scoring by Quarters:
Tri-Village ......09......09......12...13 – 43
TV South ........04......09..…08...18 – 39

Individual Scoring
Tri-Village
Linkous 0-5-8/12 – 18
Thomas 0-2-5/10 – 9
Hill 0-1-0/00 – 2
Richards 0-1-0/0 – 2
Burns 1-0-2/2 – 4
Frech 0-2-2/2 – 6
Bre Abney 0-0-1/2 – 1
Totals 1-11-18/27 - 43

TV South
Gates 4-2-5/6 – 21
Ackerman 0-1-0/0 – 2
Philpot 0-1-0/0 – 2
Creech 0-5-4/6 – 14
Totals 4-9-9/12 – 39

Three-Point Scoring:
TV – 1 (Burns 1)
TVS – 4 (Gates 4)