By Drew Terhall

DailyAdvocate.com

DAYTON — The Arcanum High School girls basketball team had the lead heading into halftime, but couldn’t hold off the fourth seed in Milton Union High School. The 12th seed lost 46-31 to the Lady Bulldogs on Feb. 9 at Northridge High School in the first round of the Division III Southwest District Sectional.

Turnovers were the main problem for the Lady Trojans. Head coach Abbey Moore said turnovers have been the tale of their season and it killed them in the second half of this game.

“It’s unfortunate that you got to go out that way. We’re better than that, but you got to move on,” Moore said.

Arcanum was up 19-14 at halftime after junior Ashlyn Miller made a three-pointer as time expired. Both defenses were getting turnovers, but the Lady Trojans were able to run out in transition to put points on the board.

Both teams also had a lot of missed shots in the first half. They had their opportunities, but couldn’t convert on them.

The third quarter started off with both teams starting to score more often. With 4:20 left in the quarter, Milton Union grabbed a lead and never gave it up.

The turnovers then started to pile up for the Lady Trojans. The press by the Lady Bulldogs started to give them trouble.

It was then Milton Union who was scoring in transition and also started to play better half-court offense. After the Lady Bulldogs got a buzzer beater three-pointer of their own, Arcanum was down 34-25 after the third quarter.

Arcanum kept fighting throughout the fourth quarter, but couldn’t find the momentum they needed to chip into the Lady Bulldogs lead. Moore said she wanted her team to attack more to open up the passing lanes. But the length and intensity of the Milton Union defense was too much for them in the second half.

Seniors Kaitlyn Toy and Kylee Freeman both ended their careers at Arcanum by giving it all they had. Moore is grateful for what the both of them have done for the program.

“Hats off to Kylee Freeman and Kaitlyn Toy. Unfortunately, they’re not going to get another chance. I’m appreciative of all that they gave to this program. I’m going to miss them,” Moore said.

The rest of the team is set to come back with at least a year of varsity under their belts. Moore said this experience for the younger players will hopefully pay dividends for next season and beyond.

Sophomore Brooke Anderson led the team with 10 points. Miller finished the game with eight and sophomore Alexis Gibbons had seven points. Arcanum finishes their 2022-23 campaign with an 8-15 record with a 7-4 conference record.

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