ARCANUM – The Arcanum Trojans come out pressing and never stopped as they carved up the Lady Warriors from Springfield Northwestern, 58-16 last Friday night to close out the semifinals of the second annual Roy Hutchison Memorial tournament.
The Trojans are now 1-0 on the season while Northwestern went down to 0-1 looking for the nearest route back to route 40. Arcanum showcased a new look and a new coach in Michael Dean. The Warriors were caught looking at a ball-hawking defense with traps galore and a press that seemed to have their players in total disarray. The only ray of sunshine they had was that some of the Trojans’ shots came in and came out or the deficit would have been more.
The first quarter saw Kayla O’Daniel doing damage underneath with three buckets and two freebies for 8 points to lead the Trojan assault to the hoop. Camille Pohl, Madeline Fearon and Taylor Gray all contributed a bucket each for a total of 14 points. For Northwestern’s squad from Clarke County they had three players with a deuce apiece in Bre White, Stephanie White and Kendall Berne for their total of half a dozen.
Second quarter showings showed the fast-paced Trojans exploding for 17 points while shutting down Northwestern with stellar defense for a total of three. The Trojans were led by standout Hailey Unger who scored all ways possible with a three, two regulars and two freebies for a total of 9 in a well-rounded quarter. The Warriors were led by Berne with a mere bucket for her two out of the three scored for the Warriors.
The third quarter saw more of the same for the Trojans, who were looking to improve on their 12-11 record from last year. The Trojans popped in another 11 while their eye-popping defense held the Warriors to just two for a comfortable 31-point lead at 42-11. The Lady Trojans had 6-foot-1 post player Taylor Gray posting up six points to lead the orange and black attack .Northwestern’s only points came from Abby Griese, who managed a deuce to complete the scoring for their 8 minutes of action.
Fourth quarter firings saw the Lady Trojans hitting double digits again with 16 points for the last 8 minutes while holding up the Warriors to five for their second best quarter of the night. Balanced scoring was the key in this last frame as Hailey Unger and Elliana Sloan slipped in 5 apiece with Gracie Garno going in for 4 to lead the fast-breaking Trojans. Only Jenna Cleland and Miranda Gillman could dent the scoreboard with three points and two for the Springfield squad.
”We were happy with the defense tonight, but we need to polish things up on the offensive end as 58 points is nice, but we should have had more,” commented Dean afterwards.
Arcanum scoring: Garno 6, O’Daniel 13, Pohl 2, Fearon 6, Gray 10, Eva Siculan 5, Unger 14 and Macey Hartman 2 for their winning 58 points. There were only two threes, but 12 free throws for the Trojans.
Northwestern scoring: Bre White 2, Stephanie White 2, Berne 4, Cleland 3, Griese 3, Gillman 2 for their 16 markers. They had no threes and only two freebies.
Franklin-Monroe knocks off Brookville in opener
The Lady Jets of Franklin-Monroe jumped out to a huge lead and never looked back in knocking off Brookville 57-24 in the first semifinal match Friday night in the Roy Hutchinson Memorial Tournament at Arcanum.
Corina Conley led the Jets with 19 points followed by Belle Cable with 14. Stella Shellabarger added 9, while Kennedy Morris had 7, Chloe McGlinch had 4, Chloe Peters with 2 and Skylar Bauman with 2.
The win put Franklin-Monroe into Saturday’s championship game where they would face their neighboring rival Arcanum.
