By Drew Terhall

DailyAdvocate.com

FORT RECOVERY — The Lady Trojans open up their 2023-24 season with a 51-44 win at Fort Recovery on Nov. 25.

The team had their lead at halftime vanish after the third quarter. Head coach Abbey Moore said she was proud of her team for their effort and getting the job done. They changed their game plan a little bit to come away with the win.

”We got aggressive taking the ball to the hole and got to the free throw line. I would like to make a few more of those second chance opportunities. But, that was kind of the difference in the ball game at the end, taking care of the basketball and we switched thing up on them a couple times defensively to throw them off,” Moore said.

The three-point shot was a weapon for the Arcanum offense in the first half. The team knocked down eight shots from beyond the arc in the first half.

Moore said they saw Fort Recovery play some zone and told her team they needed to knock down shots when they could to get them out of it.

Once they saw the first one go in, the team knocked off their rust and got to work.

“Once we started knocking down a few shots, coming up with a few defensive stops that started to give us a little bit of momentum and a little bit of confidence,” Moore said.

Arcanum led 30-23 at halftime. Junior Alexis Gibbons had a ten-point second quarter that helped Arcanum grow their lead.

Gibbons made two three-pointers and made two free throws in the second quarter. Moore said she saw Gibbons’ leadership shine in the second quarter and was encouraging to see that early in the season. Moore hopes to see that continue as the season goes on.

“She (Gibbons) stepped up, she’s capable of it. That girl has potential and it showed at times tonight in her leadership on the floor. Just seeing little things as a coach, seeing her take charge when things go wrong. Just getting everybody back together and saw that out of her tonight,” Moore said.

Then the Lady Indians came roaring back in the third quarter. They won the quarter, 15-5.

All game long, both teams were scrappy on the defensive side. Fort Recovery started to get more turnovers and Arcanum started to miss some more shots.

Moore said the third quarter was their adversity quarter. It was a teaching moment for the team.

“I think we got a little complacent and okay with where we were. Then the mistakes started to happen,” Moore said. “We got to know the situation, but we got to think that score is even ball game and come out with a little bit more energy and fire in that third quarter.”

Fort Recovery had success attacking the middle of the Arcanum defense as they had the size advantage. Moore said the team will look to improve in that area along with rebounding better with having the size disadvantage.

In the fourth quarter, the Lady Trojans started to attack the rim. They only had two made three-pointers in the second half and were going after the Lady Indians’ defense.

With 4:47 left in the fourth quarter, sophomore Caroline Long made a layup to go up 43-42. From there, the Lady Trojans took advantage of the new free throw rule.

Starting this season, the OHSAA got rid of one-and-one free throws and teams are automatically rewarded two free throws in the bonus.

Moore said they were on the beneficial side of the new rule and told her team that this rule could be a bigger change than they imagined. It’s more important to cut down on the unnecessary fouls to give team’s chances to get back into games or to extend their lead for free.

The Lady Trojans were swarming on defense and put a lot of pressure on the Fort Recovery offense. They held them to two points in the final 4:47 of the game to come away with the win.

Senior Ashlyn Miller and Gibbons both led with 15 points in the game. Miller had two threes in the first half that got the team going early.

The team went 9 for 16 from the free throw line in the game.

Arcanum will take on Newton on the road on Nov. 30 for their first conference game of the season. The JV team will start the game at 6 p.m. with the varsity to follow.

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