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Teha
Richards unloads a shot from outside during second half action of
the Lady
Patriots sectional opener against Jefferson. Tri-Village had
no problem with the
winless Broncos, winning 90-31. Richards netted 12
in the Patriots cause.
CNO photos by Dale Barger, tvpatriots.com
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Broncos provide
no kick as Tri-Village rolls
Linkous led the way with 36 points
By George Starks
BROOKVILLE- The Tri-Village Lady Patriots was able to put things in
cruise control early Saturday.
After a rocky first quarter, that was less than impressive in the eyes
of Patriots coach Brad Grey, the girls from Tri-Village rolled to a
90-31 first round sectional win over Jefferson Saturday.
“We knew coming in that Jefferson was a team that had its struggles
this year,” said the Patriots coach. “Our intent coming in was to
challenge ourselves. We knew we were playing ourselves in this game so
we had to come up with some challenges we had to meet. Some of them we
did, some we didn’t. In games like this, you have to find ways to stay
motivated and we did not come out at the beginning of the game like a
motivated basketball team.”
Despite winning by a huge margin, 59 points, and putting three in
double figures scoring wise, one with a double-double, that being
senior Kayla Linkous with 36 points and 15 rebounds and all 10 players
getting into the scoring column, Grey was not a happy camper going into
the locker room at the break, leading 45-8, with 16 minutes left to
play.
“We came out and we weren’t focused,” said Grey. “We had too many
turnovers (eight) in the first quarter. I called the timeout and that
didn’t help. They didn’t respond, so I sat them all for the remainder
of the quarter. When they came in for the second quarter, there was a
change.”
It was a completely different look from the Patriots to start the
second eight minutes and it didn’t take the Pats long to get things
turned around.
Holding a 16-6 lead after one, the Patriots turned up the defensive
intensity in the second, holding the Broncos to a mere two points while
putting up 29 points of their own.
In the process, the Pats had just two turnovers in the frame and that’s
what Grey wanted to see more than anything.
“I don’t like sitting my starters like that because I do have a veteran
team but when they came in for that second quarter, there was a little
more fire,” Gray said. “There may be only one senior on the roster but
this is a veteran team we have out there. These kids have been through
a lot of big time basketball games the last few years and for me to
have to call a timeout, number one and to sit them, number two, to get
them to respond, I think is unacceptable. I think they thought it was
unacceptable too and they responded in the second and third quarter.”
By the end of the first half, it was all over but the shouting. At the
end of the third stanza, the only thing left to be determined was the
final score as the Patriots were up 78-20.
While it looked like Grey was running up the score on a very inferior
team, he wasn’t.
The Patriots coach was doing everything in his power to stop the
Broncos bleeding, clearing the bench often late in the game even though
it was obvious the Broncos were getting frustrated with the way things
were going.
Playing all 10 of his kids, Grey could not have done anything more but
try to keep his kids focused.
“The coach in me says it shouldn’t be hard to keep my team focused with
a big lead at the half,” Grey said. “I’m not looking at the scoreboard
but trying to get them to play little two minute series of games. As a
kid playing in games like this, it was easy for me to get a little bit
off task and not be as focused as you should be. I don’t want to use
that as a crutch or an excuse. Our kids have to come ready to play
every night.”
On defense, the Patriots employed a 2-3 full court zone trap that
caused 29 turnovers in the first half.
“Once we started to play a little defense, they (Jefferson) had a hard
time with it,” Grey admitted. “Before we started playing that defense,
we were allowing them to bring the ball up the floor in the first
quarter. When we sat down in the second quarter and started guarding
people on defense, then the press was working. We have a lot of team
quickness and when our kids are guarding people and playing defense the
way they are capable, a lot of teams have problems.”
Now, the Patriots will look to another team, Bethel, on Thursday, a
team with only two wins this season.
“I have a tape on them from recently and I will look at it to see if
they have changed anything from when we played them earlier this
season,” Grey said. “They are a diamond press team that drops back into
a 1-2-2 zone and I really don’t expect that to have changed but it
could have, who knows.”
Tri-Village will tip-off against the Bees at 6 p.m. Thursday. Bethel
was 2-16 at the time of the draw.
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Tri-Village’s
Heather Ferris gets two of her four points as
Dylian Moon attempts to block the shot from behind.
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