NEW MADISON – Tri-Village led throughout most of Monday’s game against Division II Chaminade Julienne, but a few late game lapses left the Patriots short on the scoreboard, falling 52-48 to the Greater Catholic League opponent.
Tri-Village is in the home stretch of its regular season, and in the Patriots’ quest for a successful postseason they have added some games to their schedule to help prepare them for a run.
The Patriots looked poised to start the game, jumping out to a 7-0 lead with Lissa Siler having the hot-hand.
The Eagles used a timeout to redirect and then answered with 5 straight points.
Siler continued her hot shooting with a long triple and a layup for 12 points in the first quarter. Trisa Porter added a fielder to put the PATS up 14-5.
Chaminade again answered with 5 more points to stay close, trailing 14-10 at the end of the period.
Tri-Village got a little separation after a steal and layup from Emma Printz and two scores inside from Maddie Downing for its biggest lead of the game, 20-12 at 5:16 in the second quarter.
The Eagles went on another 5-point run to close the gap to 20-17 then Porter drained a triple to put the PATS up 23-17.
Chaminade just wouldn’t go away. The Eagles’ constant full-court pressure and half-court man defense was slowing the Patriots down and creating opportunities for the Eagles, who finally grabbed the lead for the first time 24-23 with 54 seconds left in the second quarter.
Downing made two free throws at the end the first half to regain the Patriots’ lead, 25-24.
The third quarter saw six lead changes and four ties as both teams battled back and forth.
Tri-Village got 8 points in the frame from Downing and a triple from Siler to end the period to go up 40-37 heading into the last frame.
Chaminade scored the first 5 points in the final frame to go up 42-40, but in that run Tri-Village squandered opportunities, missing a couple of layups that would have extended its lead.
The Eagles spread the floor and eventually went up 47-43 with 1:47, and then Porter’s triple closed the gap to 47-46.
Then on back-to-back one-and-one situations the Patriots failed to box out, giving the ball back to Chaminade at a critical time in the game, and the Eagles finally cashed in to go up 50-46.
Tri-Village got it to 50-48 with a Downing fielder with 2.2 seconds left, but the Eagles closed the door with two more free throws to win it 52-48.
“We let that one get away from us. I told our kids this was a good example of how important every possession is to our team in winning a game like this,” Tri-Village girls basketball coach Brad Gray said.
“We missed two box outs on free throws. That was a killer, and we missed two wide open layups and then an uncontested layup early in the fourth quarter. Those five possessions alone cost us 8 points, and that is a huge difference in the game,” Gray said.
“Honestly, next to Versailles, I think this is the second best team on our schedule and why we have them on our schedule, to give ourselves a test. We proved we can battle with them … but we don’t take consolations. We don’t just want to battle. We want to win, and I hope this game shows us how important it is to make every possession count,” Gray concluded.
Tri-Village was led by Siler and Downing each with 17 points and Porter with 10. The Patriots fell to 16-4 on the year and will host Bradford Thursday night to wrap up their league games and then host Fort Recovery on Saturday for senior night.
Box score:
Score by quarters
CH … 08 … 16 … 13 … 15 – 52
TV … 14 … 12 … 15 … 08 – 48
Individual scoring
Chaminade – Courtney Redd 5, Jordyn Varise 11, Annie Weckesser 8, Dallas Jones 12, Staci Greene 11, Eve Monaghan 5; Totals 6-12-1016 – 52
Tri-Village – Emma Printz 2, Trisa Porter 10, Andi Bietry 2, Lissa Siler 17, Maddie Downing 17; Totals 5-15-3/4 – 48
