12/22/11 – New Madison, Ohio

It was billed as one of the premiere games to see in the Miami Valley with the #3 ranked Division III Miami East Vikings taking on the #1 ranked Tri-Village Patriots in Division IV.

Last year the Patriots went to Miami East and upset the Vikings with an overtime victory that eventually led to a Cross County Conference title and that didn’t sit well with Miami East.

“After the loss last year we circled this date on the calendar”, said Miami East head coach Preston Elifritz.

A year is a long time to keep something bottled up and it exploded in the first quarter as Miami East raced out to a 10-2 lead before the Patriots called timeout with 3:25 on the clock.

The PATS came out and switched from a zone to a man defense then went on to win the rest of the quarter 6-5 … but came up on the short end of the scoreboard 15-7.

Sophomore Angie Mack came up big with 8 points including 2 treys while junior Abbey Cash added 5 points with a triple and fielder for Miami East.

Tri-Village got 4 points each from Kayla Linkous and Teha Richards.

The Patriots picked up the intensity on defense employing full court pressure and with increased pressure a more physical game developed. The added contact resulted in a low scoring second quarter with both teams scoring 8 points.

Miami East would take a 23-16 lead at the half.

“They got off to a good start, said Tri-Village coach Brad Gray, and I take full responsibility for allowing that to happen.” “It was a bonehead decision on my part, we usually apply pressure but we sat back in a triangle and two defense and in hindsight was a mistake. Once we switched to man and applied pressure we were able to keep pace with them.”

The Patriots continued to apply man pressure in the second half that started to wear on the larger Miami East squad. In fact the Patriots won the 3rd frame 14-7 and knotted the game at 30.

It started with Shaye Thomas hitting a trey followed up with a steal for a fielder and an old-fashioned 3 point play to tie the score 24-24. But the two teams traded baskets the remainder of the third with Miami East banging away on the inside against Tri-Village.

In the final stanza T-V finally took the lead 31-30 on a Linkous free throw to go up 31-30. Moments later Lexie Bruner connected for a three from the corner and T-V went up 34-31 and it looked like the momentum was shifting in favor of the Patriots.

East, however didn’t fold and continued to pound away inside as twins Ashley and Trina Current went to work. The duo combined for 20 points most of them in the second half.

The biggest dagger didn’t come from the paint it came from outside. Angie Mack, who hadn’t scored since the opening period hit her third triple with 2:35 to play to give Miami East a 40-35 lead and control of the game.

“That was a big moment in the game,” said Elifritz. “Angie struggled a little defensively but came up with a big shot and gave us the separation we needed at the right time.”

From there the Patriots struggled to catch the Viking making one last run as Krystal Falknor hit a desperation trey with 27 seconds left to play drawing the PATS to 44-41.

Miami East then made a long pass to Abbey Cash for a lay-up and free throw as she was fouled on the shot. The play sealed the win for the Vikings 46-41 over the Patriots to give them frontrunner status in the Cross County Conference.

“It feels really good to come over here and get a win on their floor, said Elifritz. Last year Tri-Village did it to us and that’s how a rivalry begins. We respect Tri-Village and the program they have developed. They have good kids who are good basketball players.”

Asked about the difference between last year and this year, coach Elifritz responded. “We knew they would make a run at us, last year we went up 13 and they came back and won. Of course we (coaches) were nervous when T-V gained the lead in the 4th period. But during the time-out I challenged the girls and asked them if they were mature enough to handle this, last year we weren’t, this year we were and that was the difference,” concluded Elifritz.

A dejected Coach Gray couldn’t help but second-guess a few decisions, focusing much of the blame his way instead of on the team. What if I would have called a timeout when Lexie Bruner made the three to put us up 34-31. Why didn’t we start out man-to-man, they are decisions that will haunt a coach.

In the end Tri-Village was still searching for answers…but shooting 12-58 from the field and just 12-20 from the free throw tells the much of the story.

“We were stagnant on offense and I can’t explain it”, said Gray.

He might not be able to explain it but a lot of the answers has to do with the fact that Miami East stood 6’1, 6’1, 6’0 and 6’0 and off the bench another 6’0 that in itself will cause most teams to shoot poorly.

“It hurts, said Gray, but they outplayed us tonight, they are physical and it wore us down. These are the type of games you want to play and it will make us better, we will be better because of it, concluded Gray.

The loss drops the Patriots to 7-1 overall and they will be back in action on Wednesday December 28th at home with National Trail.


Score By Quarters:
Tri-Village…..08…08…14…12 – 41
Miami East…15…08…07…16 – 46

Individual Scoring:
Tri-Village (7-1, 3-1)
L. Bruner 1-0-0/0 – 3
K. Falknor 1-0-4/5 – 7
K. Linkous 0-6-4/8 – 16
T. Richards 0-3-2/2 – 8
S. Thomas 1-1-2/3 – 7
Totals 3-10-12/18 – 41

Miami East (6-1, 4-0)
L. Brookhart 0-0-1/3 – 1
A. Cash 1-2-0/4 – 7
A. Current 0-3-6/6 – 11
T. Current 0-4-1/2 – 9
L. Dunivan 0-1-2/4 – 4
M. Linn 0-0-2/2 – 2
A. Mack – 3-1-0/2 – 11
Totals 4-11-12/23 – 46