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Tri-Village junior Danika Mann hits for two of her 16 points Tuesday
against Mississinawa
Valley in Cross County Conference action. The Lady
Patriots started slow but finished with a
70-39 victory over the
Blackhawks. CNO Photos by Dylan Knoop
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Lady Patriots
roll MV in CCC opener
By George Starks
NEW MADISON- Fresh off a 65-59 win Saturday at Northeastern Wayne in
Indiana (65-59), Mississinawa Valley looked to make it two in a row.
Tri-Village, 2-0 overall and fresh off a hard fought win over Arcanum
in the Burkett, 42-36, had other plans for its Cross County Conference
opener.
Give the nod to the Lady Patriots in a huge way.
Tri-Village went to 3-0 (1-0 CCC) Tuesday posting a massive 70-39
victory over the visiting Blackhawks.
With the Hawks holding a 7-6 lead and 3:05 left in the first quarter,
the Patriots turned up the heat on defense.
Tri-Village employed a 1-3-1 zone press that created total havoc for
Mississinawa Valley, creating turnover after turnover, starting a
scoring frenzy.
By the end of the opening frame, a 7-6 deficit had been turned into a
16-7 advantage.
At that point, it was all about the Pats defense.
“Defensively I thought we pretty good all night, but we stepped it up
there when they got that early lead,” said Tri-Village coach Brad Gray.
In the sport of basketball, there is one thing coaches will tell you
and that’s “defense will often create offense.”
In the case of the Patriots, nothing couldn’t have been any more true.
Tri-Village went on a massive 14-0 run with :53 remaining in the half
before the Hawks could put anything on the board.
At that point, it was Kylie Willis hitting one of two from the line,
breaking a scoring drought of 11:58.
Then with :29 showing, junior Madison Stachler knocked down a foul shot
for the only two points of the frame as the Patriots took a 32-9 lead
at the break.
On offense, it was Allie Downing with 22, Danika Mann (16) and Shelbey
Dowler with 11 that buried the Hawks.
“We were out of sorts offensively early on, and part of that was due to
them zoning us, and we just were getting inside touches,” said Gray.
“Once we emphasized that in one of our timeouts we did a much better
job getting the ball inside.”
On the night, the Hawks threw the ball away unofficially, 32 times,
spelling doom for John Hershey’s squad.
“Turnovers got the best of us in the first half,” admitted Mississinawa
Valley head coach John Hershey. “We started out nice and relaxed and
got into a rhythm. Give Tri-Village credit, they are a nice ball team
and took us out of what we wanted to do. They are a very balanced team.”
The Hawks were led on the floor by Mikayla Stump with a dozen. After
that, the scoring attack was very little as Kelsie Hunt tallied seven.
The Patriots will be idol until next Tuesday as they will travel to
Covington for another CCC contest. The Hawks (1-1) will open their home
schedule Saturday against Troy Christian.
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MV
junior Madison Stachler drives against Allie Downing during first half
action.
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