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Mississinawa
Valley senior Mallory Livingston goes to the bucket for
the Hawks.
MV topped Ansonia 51-35 on its senior night. CNO File Photo
by George Starks
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Lady Hawks win close
one over Ansonia
By Ashley Studebaker
CNO Sports Correspondent
UNION CITY- The Mississinawa Valley Lady Blackhawks seemed to go up and
down with their momentum throughout the entire game. First quarter,
they had it. Right before halftime, they lost it, but they knew that
they had to come back out with the same momentum as the first quarter
if they wanted to take the game. They did exactly that to end up with a
CCC victory, winning 51-35 over Ansonia.
With all of the seniors playing, they got a little out of hand going
into the second quater.
“I think we went back to not scoring. I don’t think we had the greatest
shooting percentage. This has been something all year where we have two
or three quarters where we shoot well and there’s one that we don’t,”
said MV coach Rodney Saintignon
Saintignon gave a little insight on what was said in the locker room
during halftime to get the girls’ momentum back.
“We knew we had to go out and start strong. That’s where we wanted to
go back to our press and our 1-3-1 defense and try to pull ahead with
the lead. Just took longer than I would’ve liked it to.”
Ansonia gave Mississinawa a really good fight throughout this entire
game and Mississinawa did not take any credit away from the young and
inexperienced Lady Tigers.
“You have to give Ansonia all kinds of credit,” Saintignon said .
“Those girls play hard. They are quick, and great defense. They’re a
great team and they’re going to be good in the future.”
In her last game in the Blackhawk gym, Senior Mallory Livingston went
out due to an injury to her eye in the fourth quarter.
“She’s going to be okay. She’s having a little trouble opening her eye
right now” said Saintignon
Saintignon gave some reason of why they weren’t playing their hardest
press and defense out there in the first half.
“Yellow Springs’ coach was here tonight for the first half and we
didn’t want to show a whole lot. We pressed a little bit, but I didn’t
want to show too much of it. Then he left after the first half so we
went back to doing some things that we do normally.” Saintignon said
This made sense after seeing Mississinawa Valley end up pulling through
with the win after halftime. The Lady Blackhawks have Yellow Springs
for their first tournament next Saturday at Brookville at 11:00 a.m. We
should expect to see a great press and some hard defense from them.
Ansonia coaches had some great things to say about their girls. They
put up a good fight and wanted to make sure to give them credit.
“I thought we did a better job of staying spaced, spread out, and the
girls started attacking more,” coach Craig Riethman said “We got
them into foul trouble so that gave them pressure to stop fouling more.
We started playing more aggressive and it opened many things up for us.”
With two of their starters, Allison Phillippi and Catey Fischer, coming
out due to injury and fouls this hurt them a little bit.
“When that happened, I don’t think our intensity level dropped at all.
I just think Mississinawa picked up their pressure a little more. With
two of our gaurds out, it was hard to find some openings. The effort
didn’t drop,” Riethman said.
Coach Jason Hemmelgarn weighed in:
“They got a few extra turnovers from us from their press and got a few
easy buckets. Overall, we were happy with how the girls played.”
“We felt like they kept attacking and that’s what we needed them to
do,” Reithman added “We mixed up our defenses a little bit, but it
seemed like every time we did something defensively in the first
quarter, they had an answer for it. Whether it be underneath or on top.”
The Lady Tigers have been competitors all season. They’ve taken some
hard losses, but they never gave up on each other and learned how to
play together and improve.
“We had a meeting with the seniors at the beginning of the season and
wanted to know what goals they wanted to set for the rest of the year
and treat it like a new season. Everything we have seen from the girls,
attitude-wise has been great and working together as a team. The five
freshmen have improved a lot. Not only fundamentally, but with game
knowledge too, and hopefully this experience helps them in the future,”
says coach Hemmelgarn.
In a season that started out on the wrong foot after four games,
Reithman was happy with the kids’ attitudes.
“They’ve all stayed positive. They have a lot more basketball senses
and we’re moving along.”
Coach Hemmelgarn added to this, “One of our goals was to get them to
enjoy the game, too. Seems like they enjoy playing and that’s one of
the big things to carry on after high school.
With each coach speaking so highly of their girls about their competing
and confidence, it looks like they are ready to make a CCC tournament
run. Ansonia will be playing next Saturday at Brookville at 12:30 p.m.
against South Eastern right after the Lady Blackhawks.
Leading scorers for Mississinawa Valley were Shelby Rehmert and Hope
Neargarder with nine points each and Maddie Murphie with eight.
Olivia McEldowney led all scorers with 14 for the Tigers.
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