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Tri-Village
senior Raya Mikesell dribbles away from the bucket in an
attempt to clear the ball Saturday as
Tri-Village once again defended
its Bill Burkett title with a 69-53 victory over Arcanum. Mikesell
poured in
41 points in the two games played, 28 against Arcanum. CNO
Photos By Dylan Knoop
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Lady Patriots defend Burkett title
T-V wins title
for fifth straight year
By George Starks
NEW MADISON- What started out as what could be defined as a dogfight,
ended up as a track meet.
For the fifth consecutive year, the Tri-Village Lady Patriots kept the
Bill Burkett title at home with a 69-53 victory over Arcanum Saturday.
Coming close a year ago, the Lady Trojans wanted to knock off the
Patriots, having won the tournament in 2006 with Ashley Falknor leading
the charge.
It was a happy Brad Gray that that put it all in perspective.
“Yes, we’re happy as we talked about how many championships we could
win,” said Gray. “This is the first time we get an opportunity to win
one this year. So we always want to win this one but they (Arcanum)
beat us last year (in the conference game) the second time we played
and to be honest, the next time we play them will be a heck of a lot
more important than this one was tonight. While we were happy we are
definitely not satisfied. The conference win will be a lot more
important that this one tonight. ”
With the first quarter ending at 19-19 when Arcanum sophomore, Kaitlyn
Zell, drained a trey with 7.6 seconds remaining in the opening frame.
Just as it was billed, the two teams went at it hot and heavy in the
second quarter.
Going up on the Trojans by as much as a 25-19 count, the Patriots could
never shake their opposition as the Trojans would keep it close the
whole time and would trail 36-31 at the break.
With the third quarter unfolding, it was obvious the two teams were
looking to get out and run the ball.
While both teams will push the ball down the floor, at the end of three
frames, the Patriots were hanging on t a slim 47-43 advantage.
With what this team had returning from a year ago and what they did
last year, I think from what I’ve been reading, the press thinks
Arcanum is the team to beat,” said Gray. “To me, they were the ones
coming in as the favorites and we had nothing to lose and I think the
kids went out and played that way. They had bragging rights on us. They
came in here and beat us in the conference game and they had their
whole team back (minus Abby O’Donnell). I’ve read the newspapers and
I’ve read what people are writing and I think everyone expected Arcanum
to win this tonight. I have all the respect in the world for them.”
With both teams running the ball up and down the floor at a rapid pace,
it was the Patriots that were able to get distance between them and the
Trojans.
Tri-Village came out with all guns blazing.
The Patriots took the four point bulge at the end of the third and
opened up a 12 point, 57-45 lead at the 5:41 mark.
The Trojans were able to get a made foul shot from Abby Ross and back
that up with two more fouls shots from Ross with 4:34 left in the game,
closing to a 57-48 count.
The Patriots maintained that advantage the rest of the way as Arcanum
would never get any closer than six points the rest of the way, 59-53,
with 3”04 remaining.
Tri-Village would close the game out on a 10-0 run, winning by the 16
point margin of victory.
Despite the 16 point win, there were things Gray seen that needed some
work.
“I would have liked to have seen us be a little more consistent on the
half-court defense so that they weren’t getting the opportunities to
run in transition so much,” said Gray. “I didn’t think we did a very
good job getting back but our game is getting out going. We like that.
I think we gave up too many points in the first half. I thought our
second half defense was pretty darn good though.”
With sophomore Allie Downing in foul trouble, it was the Patriot bench
that rose to the occasion for Gray.
“I thought our bench gave us tremendous minutes tonight,” said Gray.
“Early on, we were in a little bit of trouble with Allie having three
and Echo picking up two in the first quarter and Dowler having two off
the bench. We had a couple of kids under the weather tonight but we
battled through. We persevered.”
In the two nights of play, seniors Echo Brown and Raya Mikesell led the
charge.
Mikesell netted 28 Saturday against the Trojans and 13 Friday claiming
MVP honors for the second straight year in the annual tournament.
Brown, tallied 19 points Saturday and 12 Friday in support of her
teammate.
“I thought senior leadership tonight really showed,” admitted Gray.
“Arcanum is very young. Coach Fearon and I has gotten very close and
that’s one of the things she said to me was that her youth showed and I
agreed with her. That is a really good team and they’re going to get a
lot better as the year goes along and even better next year. When
they’re not playing us, I’m rooting for them. It’s very hard to coach
against someone you’ve become friends with and she is one of the
toughest people I have to coach against. I think Coach Fearon would
agree, the next time we meet it will be for a lot bigger things than
tonight was.”
It was a very disappointed Racheal Fearon after the game and it started
with the defense.
“I think we had some defensive letdowns,” said Fearon. “We’re young but
we will be fine. The name of our game is to push the ball and I’m sure
there were a lot of tired legs out there but this isn’t the game that
counts. When we meet again you better believe we’ll be going for the
conference championship.”
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For
the second year in a row, Raya Mikesell was named the MVP of the
annual Burkett Tournament.
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