NEW MADISON – The winds outside of the Battleground were listed at 42 miles per hour Thursday, but the Tri-Village Lady Patriots were playing at 100 mph in buzzing past the Bethel Bees, 75-31.
The win improved the Patriots to 10-0 and 5-0 in the Cross County Conference. The Bethel Bees fell to 1-5 and 1-4 in the conference.
The first quarter saw the Patriots players plastering the paint, hitting from the inside and outside to secure an 18-0 lead. The bleeding was finally stopped with a Bee bucket at the 44 second mark. Tri-Village answered with a bucket while Bethel added a freebie for a 20-3 advantage after one fantastic quarter for the Patriots.
Leading the attack was senior Allie Downing with 8 points, fellow senior Danika Mann managed 5 points along with freshman Trisa Porter with 5 and sophomore Emma Printz rounding out the scoring with 2.
Second quarter action saw the Bees get busy and briefly cut the lead to 22-9. However, the Patriots fled past the Bees and went on a 20-4 run to silence the Miami County squad and go up 42-13 for a comfortable 29-point cushion going into the locker room.
Downing posted 12 points, Porter 4 and Mann, junior Autaum Moore and freshman Lissa Siler each popped in a bucket.
Third quarter action saw the Patriots pad their lead by another 10 to lead by 39 points at 63-24 going into the final quarter. Printz led the Patriots with 8 points, Porter and Downing popped in 5 points apiece while Mann and Moore had 2 each.
With subs playing much of the fourth quarter the period ended up a 12-7 frame in points for a 75-31 final tally. Siler led Tri-Village with 8 points followed by another freshman in Andi Bietry with 2 and sophomore Peyton Bietry with a bucket.
“We attacked the rim tonight, rebounded well and played pretty well at times on the defensive end,” Tri-Village girls basketball coach Brad Gray said. “The third quarter was the key for us offensively as we were able to drain the 3s as they continued to stay in their zone.”
Final scoring for the Patriots backed up Coach Gray’s assessment as the Patriots popped in 10 3-pointers for 30 points while Bethel’s whole team managed 31 points for the whole contest with no threes.
Leading Tri-Village Belmont Abbey College commit Downing with 25 points, Porter 14, Siler and Emma Printz with 10 apiece Mann 9, Moore 3 and Peyton and Andi Bietry finished all the scoring with 2 apiece.
Bethl was led by Alaina Hawthorn with 11 points, Delaney Hardert 4, Becky Schwieterman 4, Sarah Swisher 4, Kayla Grable 2, Emily Crase 2, Morgan Crase 2 each and Lowry 2.
