NEW MADISON – Tri-Village used a full court 1-3-1 press to catapult the Patriots to a 23-5 first quarter lead and a 42-11 halftime advantage on their way to a 60-31 Cross County Conference win over Ansonia.
In the opening frame Allie Downing and Danika Mann both had six points each, Shelbey Dowler had five, Rachel Miller four and Emma Printz two, which helped build their 18-point lead.
The Tigers were held scoreless for over four-and-a-half minutes before Jailyn Thwaits scored on a fielder. The next time they scored was at the buzzer on a trey by Bailey Stammen, ending the first quarter trailing 23-5.
“I thought our start was outstanding, and it’s something we have been struggling with a little bit, and we were focused on that,” Tri-Village girls basketball coach Brad Gray said.
The second frame wasn’t much better for the Tigers as Tri-Village was clicking on all cylinders. At one point Miller made three consecutive drives down the lane, dropping dimes to Mann for scores as the Patriots continued to roll building a 42-11 halftime lead.
“I thought Rachel Miller was real solid both on offense and defense,” Gray said. “She was able to get her hands on the ball on their first couple possessions that led to easy scores. Offensively she was able to drive and dish and then finish a couple of times as well and really played like a true point guard today.
“We feel like we have a few kids who can handle the ball well on the dribble drive, and they look good when they can drop the ball off, and we have a post player who can finish,” Gray said.
The Patriots got another six points in the third quarter from Mann and four from Downing to up their lead to 54-22.
The Tigers won the final stanza 9-6, but it wasn’t enough to cut into the deficit as the Patriots picked up their seventh win of the season by the score of 60-31.
“Our kids weren’t ready to play, and they were … it was a good old fashioned butt whipping,” Ansonia coach Jim Bolin said. “Not making any excuses, Tri-Village is a very good team, and we just didn’t come to play tonight.”
“We knew the (Brooke) Neal girl could shoot and had seven threes against Newton, and I thought our defense and ball pressure did a good job of not letting them get comfortable, and Allie Downing did a nice job of keeping the ball out of her hands tonight,” Gray said.
Although the PATS held Neal to a season-low of eight points, Stammen was able to score 13 to lead Ansonia in the game.
Tri-Village was led by Downing with 17, Mann added 16, and Miller chipped in 10, including going 6-for-6 from the stripe.
Tri-Village goes to 7-1 overall and 4-0 in the conference and will travel to Bethel on Thursday to take on the Bees.
Ansonia falls to 5-4 overall and 2-2 in the conference and they will host the Bees Monday.
In junior varsity action Tri-Village goes to 7-1 overall and 3-1 in the CCC with a 31-25 win over Ansonia. The PATS were led by Alanna Holsapple with 13 points.
Box score:
Score by quarters:
TV …. 23 …19 …12 …06 – 60
ANS… 05…06 …11 …09 – 31
Individual scores:
TRI-VILLAGE (7-1, 4-0)
Rachel Miller 10, Autaum Moore 2, Emma Printz 2, Edie Morris 2, Allie Downing 17, Brooke Godown 2, Shelbey Dowler 7, Alana Holsapple 2, Danika Mann 16
Totals 2-23-8/10 – 60
ANSONIA (4-4, 2-2)
Brooke Neal 8, Jailyn Thwaits 4, Bailey Stammen 13, Abby Helmke 2, K Overholser 4 Totals 2-10-5/10 – 31
3-pointers:
TV – 4 (Dowler 2, Downing 1, Printz 1)
ANS – 2 (Stammen, Neal)