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Mississinawa
Valley senior Chelsie Saintignon battles for a rebound
against Yellow Springs
sophomore Brianna Ayers Saturday. The Lady Hawks
got a tight fought win over the Bulldogs,
39-31, to go to the second
round of sectional play. The Hawks will battle with Catholic Central
Tuesday. The Irish were 5-13 at the time of the draw. Game time is set
for 6 p.m. at Brookville.
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Lady Hawks
survive Bulldogs bite
By George Starks
BROOKVILLE- Going into sectionals, more often than not, can often
resemble reality television.
Survivor!
Mississinawa Valley coach Rodney Saintignon was pleased when his Lady
Blackhawks posted a 39-31 victory over Yellow Springs Saturday in the
Hawks first round sectional game. It was a mere matter of survival.
Coming out in a man defense, the Hawks seemed to be okay, stopping the
Bulldogs on offense. After that, it was a crapshoot for the Hawks in a
game that started at 11 a.m. Saturday morning. With just 2:02 having
elapsed off the clock, Saintignon called for time and it was obvious,
he was hot.
“I thought our defense was not playing up to its potential,” Saintignon
said “We had four turnovers. We weren’t being aggressive on either end
and when we were aggressive, we started fouling. Getting the girls
ready to play early on a Saturday morning is tough. I never did like
Saturday morning games. We started sloppy and we can’t do that. I told
the girls after the game that it was a win. It’s not a pretty win but
it’s a win. We want to start off good but today we didn’t. We were
flat.”
Trailing 9-8 after one to the Tim Barga coached Bulldogs, the Hawks got
things cranked up in the second, outscoring the Dogs 11-4 in the frame,
to lead 19-13 at the break.
When the final buzzer had sounded, MV saw just six players in the
scorebook, one being bench player Elizabeth Livingston.
“Elizabeth has been a real strong player for us this year,” said
Saintignon. “When she’s on the floor and she steps it up offensively,
she’ll take a shot. Elizabeth is a great player and she definitely
helped us out today. She did her role and her job and did a great job
of it.”
With 21 turnovers on the books and a game that was not the best the
Hawks have played this season, MV will lock horns with the Catholic
Central Irish Tuesday in a 6 p.m. start.
“We will have to play much better than we did today,” Saintignon
stated. “Thank God it’s an evening game and we play a little bit better
in evening games. We don’t have school Monday so we will be having an
early morning practice. So we need to wake up a learn to play in the
mornings.”
If the Hawks get by the Irish in their second round game, the third
round will be a noon start the following Saturday against the winner of
the Southeastern-Newton game Tuesday night.
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