Junior Taylee Woodbury led the team with 17 points and chipped in a few steals.
Photos by Drew Terhall | The Daily Advocate
Sophomore Makenna Hoggatt, and her sister Cora, both started to get some more minutes.
Junior Syenna Purdin helped the offense get out of a slump with a much needed three-point shot.
By Drew Terhall
DailyAdvocate.com
UNION CITY — The Mississinawa Valley girls basketball team shrugged off a 47-33 loss to Parkway yesterday and got a 60-45 win over Botkins at home on Dec. 30.
Head coach Michael Paige said getting this win over struggling in their last game was much needed.
“We needed to play better from our game yesterday, it was terrible for us. We couldn’t hit any shots yesterday, I think we were 1 for 21 from three. Defensively, I didn’t think we did bad yesterday. Parkway is a good team, holding them to the 40s is a good performance,” Paige said. “I think we played much better today. Some shots fell and our defense picked up. It definitely helped, we needed that win.”
The Lady Blackhawks were up 24-19 at halftime. After leading 16-13 in the first quarter, both teams slowed down offensively.
Botkins controlled the pace to start the game. But once Mississinawa Valley started to get their defense settled down and score a few buckets, they evened it out.
The team held Botkins to six points in the second quarter and nine points in the third quarter. The defense was causing havoc against the Botkins offense.
Seniors Brenna Price and MacKenzea Townsend were blocking shots from all over the court while juniors Taylee Woodbury and Syenna Purdin were getting steals.
The Mississinawa Valley offense started to get back on track after Woodbury and Purdin combined for three made threes in the third quarter.
The offense took off as Mississinawa Valley scored 21 points in the final quarter. Paige said it started to look like they were getting out of an offensive slump in the second half, something that needs to happen with their upcoming schedule.
“We were in a slump. It seemed like in the second half, we finally start to get out of it. Thank god we did, because we got Newton and Arcanum next week,” Paige said.
Also in the second half, sophomores Cora and Makenna Hoggatt started to get some playing time. Mississnawa Valley only played seven players in the first half. Paige added in the Hoggatt twins into the rotation and tried out some different lineup combinations.
Paige said the goal is to get more players some playing time in preparation for the postseason tournament. So far, both players have been making the most out of their opportunities.
“Cora Hoggatt is playing really well right now. Makenna can shoot the mess out of the ball. They’re going to play more, we’re going to deepen the bench a little bit and see what we can get out of it,” Paige said.
Late in the game, Botkins tried to speed up the game by pressing Mississinawa Valley. The Lady Trojans needed to cause a few turnovers to get back into the game.
But, Price was able out run the press and score a few easy layups to hold of Botkins for the win.
Woodbury led the team with 17 points and Price was close behind with 16. Townsend was third on the team in scoring with eight points. The team went 12 for 19 from the free throw line. The team held Botkins to three made three-point shots in the game.
Mississinawa Valley is now 7-4 on the season with a 4-1 WOAC record. As mentioned before, they will go to Newton on Jan. 4 next. They will then host Arcanum on Jan. 6 at 1 p.m.
Contact Daily Advocate sports editor Drew Terhall at [email protected]
