ARCANUM – The Arcanum Lady Trojans defeated the visiting Bethel Lady Bees 62-45 in Cross County Conference play.
“It was kind of a game of runs,” said Arcanum coach, Abbey Moore. “We were able to withstand them and get the win.”
The Lady Trojans took advantage of three Hailey Unger first quarter 3-pointers and two free throws to take a 17-11 lead after one period of play.
Arcanum got its first double digit lead of the day, 24-14 with 3:17 on the second quarter clock on its way to a 16-9 second period and lead 33-20 with the team heading to the halftime break. Madelyn Fearon paced the Lady Trojans with 5 second quarter points, Taylor Gray and Kylee Freeman each with 4 points, Unger with a bucket and Ellie Fout a free throw to round out scoring.
“Looking at matchups before the game, scouting and seeing those things we were hoping that Taylor (Gray) would come up big tonight and she did,” stated Moore. “She was strong tonight. We saw her diving on the floor for loose balls and when your big girls does that good things are going to happen.”
The Lady Bees battled back in the third to outscore the home team 16-10. Fearon accounted for 6 Arcanum points in the period, Emilie Fout drilled a 3-pointer and Freeman was good for a free throw sending the teams to the final period of play with the Lady Trojans holding a 7 point 43-36 advantage.
“We didn’t come out the third quarter like how we talked in the locker room,” said Moore. “Bethel came out and went on a run. Fortunately I feel like the difference was the hustle plays. I felt like we had the hustle plays that got us the momentum back.”
Arcanum got back on track in the fourth with an 8-0 run to open fourth quarter play and lead 51-36 with 6:10 on the clock. The Lady Trojans would stretch its lead to 19 points at 55-36 before cruising to a 62-45 victory.
Unger tossed in 7 fourth quarter points while Gray was adding 5 points, Ellie Fout and Fearon 2 points and Freeman a point.
“Hailey (Unger) is so athletic – it’s such a tough matchup for anybody,” Coach Moore said. “Anybody recently that has tried to take her or Madelyn (Fearon) or whoever out of the game and single them out, we have had other girls step up and make big shots.”
“That has been the key and those girls are getting confidence and it makes them work hard but at the same time when that happens Hailey and Madelyn need to pick it up on the defensive end because that is how they are going to get easy buckets in transition,” Coach Moore added. “I felt like we had that at the beginning of the game.”
Unger led Arcanum and all scorers with a game high 20 points.
BOXSCORE:
ARCANUM 62, BETHEL 45
ARCANUM – H. Unger 20, M. Fearon 15, T. Gray 13, K. Freeman 6, Ellie Fout 3, Emilie Fout 3, M. McCans 2 – TOTALS 13 24-37 4 62
BETHEL – O. Reittinger 11, K. Gray 11, K. Moore 8, K. Celhoun 7, N. Moorma 6, L. Heffner 2 – TOTALS 8 17-24 4 45
3-POINTERS
Arcanum 4 (H. Unger 3, Emilie Fout 1)
Bethel 4 (O. Reittinger 2, K. Gray 1, K. Celhoun 1)
SCORE by QUARTERS:
17-16-10-19 62 Arcanum
11-09-16-09 45 Bethel
