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Arcanum
sophomore Alexis Abner (20) was the biggest spark for the
Trojans Thursday against
Tri-Village. Abner scored 15 to lead the way
for Arcanum, but added more points in steals and assists
as Arcanum
overwhelmed the Lady Patriots, 57-43. Photos courtesy of Danny Stockton
(stocktonstudios.com)
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Lady Trojans
pull off the unthinkable
Arcanum blows out
T-V in crucial CCC game
By George Starks
NEW MADISION - It’s not often that a team can waltz into ‘The
Battleground’ at Tri-Village and leave with a victory.
On a rare (unthinkable) occasion, can a team not only get a win there,
but post a convincing blow-out of the Lady Patriots.
Thursday, Rachel Fearon and her Arcanum Lady Trojans pulled off what
most teams can only dream of.
The unthinkable!
Never forgetting a 59-52 loss to the Patriots in the championship game
of the Burkett in November, getting even was the top priority Thursday
as Arcanum steamrolled Tri-Village, 57-43, in a crucial CCC game.
With both teams coming in with identical records of 11-4 and 7-1 in the
Cross County Conference, second place was on the line as the lone loss
for both squads came at the hands of powerhouse, Miami East.
“My girls have been pumped for this game ever since the Burkett
Tournament,” said Fearon. “I really had to stay on them making sure we
weren’t looking ahead, and taking it game by game, and we’ve done a
really good job of that. This week, it’s been all about Tri-Village.
They were ready to go and they came out tonight and played like they
were ready to go.”
It didn’t take long for the Trojans to let everyone know they meant
business and it all started right from the opening tip.
Arcanum took off to a small 5-0 lead with just 1:40 having elapsed off
the first quarter clock.
By the end of the first eight minutes, Arcanum had its steamroller
moving, up 19-9, as the Patriots were reeling.
“I knew we were in trouble all week long,” said Patriots coach Brad
Gray. “My kids were not taking this game seriously and it didn’t take
long to realize we were in trouble with this bunch.”
In a rare start, freshman Stevie Johnting got the nod over sophomore
Rebecca Deao and made her presence known.
By the end of the first quarter, Johnting had scored six points, had
two assists and pulled down a rebound.
By games end, Johnting was like Ft. Knox.
Pure gold! Scoring 13 points with seven assists and two big rebounds,
Johnting quickly became a thorn in the Patriots side.
“She played great,” exclaimed Fearon. “She was knocking them down in
the first half to get us going. She did the same thing for us in the
Burkett Tournament. This might just be her gym to play in.”
While senior Abby O’Donnell was doing her thing with 14 points and 10
rebounds, the Trojans attack would not have been possible without
sophomore Alexis Abner.
On offense, Abner netted a team high 15 while creating havoc on defense.
“They (TV) came out and was face guarding her,” said Fearon. “She
wasn’t going to give up. She was determined to get her hands on the
ball and she only scored two, I think, in the first half. That didn’t
let us down though. We had other scoring guards step up for us.”
It was a night when the Trojans came ready to play 32 minutes of
basketball, on both ends of the floor.
“We really worked hard on our defense,” said Fearon. “We watched a lot
of film on just how we were going to play them and in practice
yesterday, it was a lot of defense. I told the girls before the start
of the game that the best defensive team was going to win the game
tonight. This is a huge game in our program. This is my third year here
and we haven’t beat Tri-Village until now. To get this win is a huge
stepping stone in our program. We’re bringing the Trojan pride back to
Arcanum. Now we have to beat Miami East.”
In losing, Gray had nothing but praise for Fearon and the Trojans.
“You have to give credit to Arcanum,” said Gray. “They are no slouch.
They outplayed us in every facet of the game. You can go down the line
and talk about whatever you want to talk about, but everything that
goes into playing the game of basketball, they did better, including
the coaching. I’m not putting it all on my kids, but we got
out-coached, out-played, out-hustled. They won every 50/50 ball. They
clearly out-rebounded us the whole game. I think we shot three three’s
tonight, which is completely uncharacteristic of us, but that’s because
we didn’t have an inside presence tonight. Our post players struggled
all night. We struggled to get position and struggled to keep position
when we got it.”
Down by 10 after one, and 30-21 at the break, the Pats continued to
falter, trailing 38-28 with eight minutes left to play.
Gray pointed out his team’s problems as starting with the first two
possessions.
“We didn’t follow the game plan in the first two possessions, and
that led to a 5-0 lead for them right away and we were scrambling from
that point on,” Gray stated. “Our kids struggled. When we were down
5-0, it was a struggle and never got it back from that point. Arcanum
dominated us. This game for Arcanum meant everything to them. This was
a signature game for them and their program. I would like to think that
because of where we’ve been, everyone wants to be us. We got our
signature win five years ago when we beat Miami East. This win tonight
is going to eventually lead them to a conference championship. They are
clearly the best team coming back for at least the next two years.”
Arcanum will host Ansonia Tuesday in a CCC game while the Patriots will
host Bradford today in a 1 p.m. start.
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Stevie
Johnting (22) made the best of a rare start Thursday. The
freshman netted
13 points with three assists and two rebounds in the
winning effort for the Trojans.
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Senior
Abby O'Donnell connected for 14 points and collected 10 rebounds
as the
Trojans took sole possession of second place in the Cross County
Conference.
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Tri-Village’s
Raya Mikesell is frustrated by Arcanum's defense as sophomore Abby Ross
defends.
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