Big third quarter from Lady Tigers pushes them past the Lady Trojans

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By Drew Terhall

DailyAdvocate.com

VERSAILLES — The Versailles High School girls basketball team used a big second and third quarter push to get a 65-48 win over Arcanum High School.

Versailles head coach Tracy White said after the first quarter, the team stepped up their communication and let their defense run the offense.

“We executed in the half-court as well as pushing in transition in the full court. I don’t know how many transition layups we had, but I feel like it was a lot and we capitalized on a lot of that,” White said.

Arcanum had a 14-11 lead after the first quarter. The Lady Trojans were getting turnovers and scoring points off their transition offense.

White said her team let Arcanum control the game during the first quarter. Versailles couldn’t string together good offensive possessions.

Then it was Versailles who would start to get turnovers and convert those into points. White said starting in the second quarter, her team gained composure and started to fight back.

The size of the Versailles post players started to give Arcanum problems. Junior Allison Schwartz and sophomore Taylor Wagner started to corral in more rebounds and became more of a threat in the post.

Wagner had 12 points in the first half and Schwartz had six points. Both helped the Lady Tigers take a 33-26 lead into halftime.

The big differences in this game were the turnovers and using that momentum from their turnovers into their half-court offense.

Both teams had gained a lead from their defensive effort. The Lady Tigers came out on top because they were able to be more consistent in their half-court offense.

The Lady Trojans didn’t give up easily in the third quarter. Versailles started out hot and got out to a double-digit lead in the third quarter. Arcanum fought hard and got that lead down to a seven-point deficit. Turnovers and transition offense helped Arcanum chip into Versailles’ lead.

White said they knew Arcanum was a scrappy team and they would need to play hard in all four quarters to get this win. The Lady Trojans looked like they could get back into this ball game and grab a lead during the third quarter.

Arcanum was able to limit Wagner to two second half points. White said her team needs to figure out how to get Wagner the ball more when teams start to adjust to her. But with Wagner and Schwartz on the court at the same time, they are able to sustain their post presence.

“The nice thing is when they’re both able to play, they’re both playing relaxed and they’re playing with each other. When they (opposing team) make adjustments to Wagner, then Schwartz steps up big,” White said.

With all the attention to the post players, the Versailles back court was able to gain the momentum back in the third quarter. They were able to snag turnovers and get back their lead.

After the third quarter, Versailles had a 53-36 lead and didn’t let Arcanum try to crawl back into the game.

Arcanum was led by sophomore Brooke Anderson with 12 points. Versailles held their leading scorer, sophomore Alexis Gibbons, to nine points. Gibbons averages 13.2 points a game so far this season.

The Lady Trojans are now 5-10 on the season with a 4-4 conference record. They will host Eaton High School on Jan. 17 and then host Franklin Monroe High School on Jan. 19 for a conference matchup.

Versailles was led by Wagner and Schwartz who each had 14 points. Freshman Katey Litten had 12 points and sophomore Jenna Dirksen had 11 points.

The Lady Tigers are now 7-8 on the season with a 3-2 conference record. They will host Preble Shawnee High School on Jan. 17 and then go on the road to Delphos St. John’s on Jan. 19 for a conference game.

Last season in the postseason, Preble Shawnee knocked Versailles out of the tournament in the first round. This will be a chance for Versailles to show how much they have improved since then.

“We’ve got one practice and we go play against a really good Preble Shawnee team who took us out of it (tournament) last year. We have to come with a chip on our shoulder ready to prove a point not only for the postseason this year, but for last year as well,” White said.

Contact Daily Advocate sports editor Drew Terhall at [email protected]

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