By Drew Terhall

DailyAdvocate.com

ARCANUM — The Lady Trojans basketball team bounced back in a big way as they blitzed Preble Shawnee, 65-44, at home on Dec. 14.

Head coach Abbey Moore said the team has taken steps forward after going through some hard practices recently. Moore wants to see the team continue to take those strides forward as the season goes on.

“We’ve been going hard in practice and I’m extremely proud of them to take what we’ve been doing in practice and put it into a game setting. We feel good about this, but we talked in the locker room about we can’t be satisfied,” Moore said.

Once Arcanum got a lead in the first quarter, they didn’t let go. They started to separate themselves from the Lady Arrows once the defense started to get turnovers.

The guards for Arcanum were able to get steals at half court and convert those into layups. Players like senior Ashlyn Miller, junior Brooke Anderson and freshman Claire Hein were able to pick the pockets of the Lady Arrows throughout the game.

Even in their half court defense, Arcanum was able to create turnovers and convert those into points.

The Lady Trojans held a 36-22 lead at halftime. They started off a bit slow to start the third quarter. The Lady Trojans were a bit more careless with the ball and Preble Shawnee was starting to chip away at the lead.

Moore called a timeout to get the team back on track. The team responded and started to get back the winning formula, creating turnovers and scoring off those chances.

Moore said it is a positive sign to see the team respond and adjust well after a timeout like that. It gives the team confidence they can switch things up if needed to win a game.

“Every once in awhile you need a timeout, you need to refocus. They responded. That’s great to see when we can do that, I can make that adjustment and they respond to it,” Moore said.

Arcanum outscored Preble Shawnee 19-8 in the fourth quarter to seal the win. The Lady Trojans made eight three-point shots in the game with three of them coming in the fourth quarter.

Sophomore Caroline Long led the team with 22 points. Moore said in a game where everyone had a great game, Long shined. Like the rest of the team, her defensive play down low jumped started her offensive game.

“It started on the defensive end with her leading to some easy buckets on the offensive end. We were able to put her in a position defensively today that gave her some great opportunities to anticipate and read that next pass. She took advantage of it,” Moore said.

Junior Alexis Gibbons had 20 points in the game. The next closest scorer was Miller with seven points.

For Preble Shawnee, senior Isabella Agee led with 18 points. Senior Addison Sergent-Eckert had eight points.

Arcanum is 4-2 on the season with a 3-0 conference record. They will head to Bethel next on Dec. 18 with the JV tipping off at 6 p.m. with the varsity to follow.

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