Black nets 19 in a solo effort
By George Starks |
Tri-Village senior, Bella Black, summed things after the Patriots 60-59 conference victory over Mississinawa Valley Thursday.
“We have a target on our backs and every team wants to be the team to knock us off.”
Coming in with a 3-0 mark, it was all the Lady Patriots could do to outlast the visiting Blackhawks that came in with a 1-2 record.
It all boiled down to one final play.
With .01 seconds left in the game, the Hawks was looking to pull off the impossible
With the ball being inbound at half court, the ball was triggered in but the shot was not put up in time, ending the game.
“We knew they were going to come in spirited and that’s what they did,” said Patriot coach Brad Grey. “This was probably a game they had marked on their calendar since last season. They came in here ready to play and they did that. They pushed us until the very end.”
Like two groups of fighter jet, both teams came out going Mach Two with their hair on fire.
Tri-Village jumped out to the early 8-0 lead, looking to blow MV out of the gym but the Hawks had other plans.
Mississinawa Valley scored nine unanswered points and at the 3:37 mark of the opening frame, the Blackhawks had the lead.
By the end of the quarter, the Hawks were up 18-13.
Like two prize fighters, going toe to toe, the two teams duked it out until the end of the half.
When the horn sounded, things were all knotted up at 31-31 after senior Kirsten Wilcox drained a three with 26.4 left in the half.
Grey kept his kids
in the locker room until the last minute before bringing them out to start the third frame.
“We made several adjustments and it took some time,” said Grey.
While the Patriots opened things up early in the frame finding Kynnedi Hagar open in the paint several times early in the frame but the Hawks refused to go away and with three quarters of play in the books, the Patriots were clinging to a slim 46-44 lead with eight minutes left to go.
The biggest difference came at the foul line as the Patriots went 18 of 22 from the stripe.
It was the foul shooting by Black that turned the trick.
The Patriot senior knocked down 10 free-throws in 10 attempts.
“We pride ourselves in our foul shooting, ” said Grey. “Many games are won and lost at the foul line and tonight our foul shooting was the difference “
Of the 10 free-throws by Black, the two biggest came after the Hawks had taken the lead on a duece by Mackenzea Townsend with 26.2 seconds left in the game.
Trailing 59-58, the Patriots were able to get Black back to the line with 15.1 left in the game.
Showing the senior leadership, Black calmly sank both shots to gain what would be the final score, 60-59.
The Patriots junior varsity rolled to a 33-16 victory.
CNO Pics donated by Vicki Wilcox
Featured photo: Tri-Village senior Bella Black looks to score against Mississinawa Valley senior Ingrid Ojeda during first half action Thursday. Black scored 19 points to lead all scorers in the Patriots 60-59 WOAC victory over the Blackhawks.
