Brookville, Ohio – February 17, 2008

By Doug Fraziers

The Covington Lady Buccaneers won only one game in their first eleven starts this season. They came into the Sectional Tournament with a 6-14 record, showing that they had started to put it together. To further make that point, they knocked off both Arcanum and Bethel en route to the final game of their bracket to face the Tri-Village Lady Patriots.

Early on this looked similar to the way the first battle of these two teams played out in the fifth game of the season. The teams are very methodical in their offenses and the defenses make them work for every score.

In spite of a height disadvantage Covington is successful in the first half on the boards as Tri-Village struggled to box out, especially when they were in their zone defense.

The teams traded scores in the first quarter as Katie Dickey, Kayla Fissel, and Renee Otte find the bottom of the net for Covington. Tina Allison and Jordyn Fisherback do the scoring for TV, but the Buccs hold the advantage 8-5 when the buzzer sounds.

Coach Gray changes it up for the Pat’s in the second quarter inserting Chelsea Royer at the point to rest Jordyn Fisherback. On their first possession she finds Kaila Burns for a three-ball to tie the score. After a Covington turnover, Hillary Frech passes to Allison who is open for a ten-foot jumper to put TV back in the lead. Tina picks up her second foul with 5:35 to play in the half and would watch from the bench forcing Tri-Village to switch into a zone defense.

Fisherback would add two more ticks to the Patriot side. Renee Otte as she has done all season would put the Buccs on her shoulders as she has done all season scoring eight more for Covington. When she pulled up from twelve feet with 0:02 remaining she gave the Buccs a two point advantage at the half 16-14.

It appeared the Lady Patriots regrouped in the locker room as they scored the first nine points of the third period to go up 23-16. Almost every player on the floor had a hand in the scoring as the Pat’s scored in transition and in the half court.

Renee Otte fights back for the Buccaneers hitting a three off of a stack screen, and added a free throw to bring Covington within three.

Amelia Frazier drives the lane in transition and draws the foul, her two free throws close the third quarter scoring with the Pat’s holding a 25-20 advantage.

Covington stays with their methodical offense looking for the shot they want, but they will not collect a bucket until Fissel drains a twenty-two footer almost halfway through the quarter.

Meanwhile Tri-Village extends their lead as Frazier finds Burns for three and Erin Bundy for a long two. The Lady Pat’s stayed focused even though Tina Allison went to the bench with almost seven minutes to play with her fourth foul. Otte hits another three to bring the Buccs within four at 30-26.

Tri-Village takes a timeout with 3:20 on the clock and Allison reenters the game. They then went into a four-corner offense to burn time and look for the high percentage shot. Frazier begins a cat and mouse game with the Covington defense as she penetrates and falls back repeatedly. Each time the Buccs defense collapses and springs right back denying TV the shot they are looking for.

Covington fouls with 2:05 and takes a timeout to set up strategy. The Patriots got a nice look inside on the inbounds, but the shot didn’t drop. Covington gets the board and sets their offense only to turn it over with 1:40 remaining.

The Lady Pat’s stayed in their four-corner offense… but the Buccs forced a turnover with 0:52 showing on the wall. Just when it looked like Covington might have an opportunity, Kaila Burns came up with a huge steal. Coach Gray asks for a timeout with 0:42 left on the clock.

The Buccs fouled Jordyn Fisherback on the inbounds and she converted both tosses on a one-and-one. Covington misses a three at the other end and fouled Frazier. Amelia misses the front of the one-and one; Otte gets the rebound and races toward her goal. Frazier catches her and slaps the ball to Bundy who gives it back to Frazier and the Buccs are forced to foul again. This time she hits them both and the Lady Patriots captured a Sectional Crown with a 34-26 final.

Tri-Village is back at full strength as Jordyn Fisherback returned for her first game in over two weeks to lead all TV with twelve points. The Lady Patriots are giving up an average of less than thirty-four points a game this season.

When asked to summarize the game, an obviously pleased Coach Gray responded. “We expected this to be a low scoring battle, these are two teams that play great defense and are very methodical and patient in their offense. You can expect that it will come down to who hits their shots at the end.” When asked about the Sectional being a goal the team had set for itself at the beginning of the season he had this to say,” Two years ago when we set up our program we said it is not about wins and losses but about championships. This was a goal, but we’re not satisfied yet. This team has now gone as far as any Girl’s Team at Tri-Village, but we want the District Championship next week.”

The Lady Patriots will play the Fort Loramie Lady Redskins at 12:45 at the Vandalia Student Activity Center. This will be the second of a three game set, come out and root the girls on to a District Title.

Score by Quarters: Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
Tri-Village (18-5) 05 09 11 06 34
Covington (8-15) 08 08 04 09 26

Individual Scoring
Tri-Village
Tina Allison – 5
Erin Bundy – 4
Kaila Burns – 9
Jordyn Fisherback – 12
Amelia Frazier – 4
Totals – 34

Covington
Katie Dickey – 2
Kayla Fissell – 06
Renee Otte – 18
Totals – 26