New Knoxville up next for Lady Patriots by George Starks Darke County Ohio

Tri-Village guard Shaye Thomas looks to score in a game.
Thomas and the rest of the Patriots will be eyeing the big prize Thursday against New Knoxville.

New Knoxville up next for Lady Patriots

CCC vs. MAC
By George Starks

NEW MADISON - Cutting down the nets after winning the district title over Miami Valley Saturday would be a sweet treat for most teams. For the Tri-Village Lady Patriots, cutting the nets down was a sweet trip back to the ’Sweet 16.”

That means a trip back to Tipp City and a battle with a battle tested MAC team, New Knoxville.

The Lady Rangers have lost just three games this season and coming from a conference like the MAC, that is no easy feat and Patriots coach Brad Grey knows it.

“I think we can win this game. This is going to come down to the team who can execute their stuff the best and the team that comes in the most prepared to play,” said Grey in a phone conversation.

Through the first four games, the Patriots have won all by large margins. Starting Thursday, that gap gets smaller.

“This is going to be a fight,” admitted Grey. “This is not going to be a large margin of victory either way or at least I don‘t expect it to be. Our kids have to come out and be prepared to play for 32 minutes.”

The Rangers will come in with a 21-3 mark overall and was 7-2 in the MAC. The Rangers also come in with a little size on their side.

“They have good size and we struggled with the size Miami East had,” Grey said. “They aren’t as big as East is but they do start a six-footer and one that is 5-11. They also start a great point guard and she is one of the better ones in the area.”

On the flip side, the Patriots bring a full package. Size, coupled with speed, as well as five or more players that can fill it up and the Patriots pose a problem to any team.

“We bring five starters that can all play very well and are all capable of scoring,” Grey pointed out. “With us, you can’t focus on just one player. I know they will pay a lot of attention to K.J. (Linkous) but if they focus all their attention on stopping her, then the rest of my kids are going to step up. I think you have a really good chance of seeing a big game out of Krystal Falknor because I think they will use whoever is assigned to guard her to double down on K.J. Teah (Richards), and Shaye (Thomas) has been playing well lately. We just have to get Lexi (Bruner) going a little bit.”

Put those five together and a solid group coming off the bench starting with Echo Brown who can put points on the board as well as Elizabeth Collins, Heather Ferris, Raya Mikesell and Sarah Burns, all who are solid minutes from the bench for Grey and the Pats could pull it out.

“With only three losses, one coming to Anna (#1 in Ohio) these girls can play and there is no shame in that loss there,” Grey said. “I know Ft. Recovery got them as well so their losses are to quality team. They are going to come in here battle tested.”

The third loss the Rangers suffered was to Marion Local, 38-28, played in December.

The two teams will square off Thursday for the right to play for the regional title and a chance to go to Columbus.

Tip time for the game is set for 6:15 p.m.