By Drew Terhall

DailyAdvocate.com

COVINGTON — It was a close one in the first round of the Buccaneer Holiday Tournament at Covington. After missed chances at the free throw line, the Arcanum girls basketball team still came away with a 60-57 win over Covington in overtime on Dec. 29.

Head coach Abbey Moore said the nightmares from those missed free throws can easily be forgotten with the thoughts of the positives the team had. They just made the plays when they needed them the most.

“How we pulled that out with a stat like that coming from the free throw, I think that shows this group’s grit and ability to make the plays when we have to,” Moore said.

After leading 10-9 after the first quarter, Arcanum opened the second quarter on a 10-0 run to get a double-digit lead. But, the three-point shooting from Covington and their defense closed that gap.

The Lady Trojans had a 26-20 lead at halftime and kept close to that lead after the third quarter. Even when the Lady Bucs got some momentum going, the Lady Trojans made the big shot to stay ahead.

Moore said they were able to tire out Covington early in the game as they made them run up and down the floor. The Lady Bucs don’t sub in a lot of players, which caused the players on the court to tire out from chasing the Lady Trojans.

But eventually in the last two minutes of the fourth quarter, the teams started to trade leads. For Covington, senior Carlie Besecker and junior Maggie Anderson both made big shots to give their team the lead. Moore said once Covington started to attack the paint, they were harder to stop.

Arcanum had their chances at the free throw line to put Covington away. But, the Lady Trojans were 4 for 11 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter. Four different players for Arcanum couldn’t get one more to fall in.

With .3 seconds left in the game, junior Alexis Gibbons went 1 for 2 from the line to send the game into overtime.

Both teams missed some crucial free throws down the stretch in the fourth quarter and in overtime. After Arcanum scored the first four points of the overtime period, Covington sophomore Avery Koffer made a three-point shot.

Then Covington sophomore Delaney Murphy couldn’t get a free throw to fall to tie or take the lead.

With 35.1 seconds left in the game, Arcanum sophomore Caroline Long fouled out. Her rebounding skills were missed in the game. After Covington missed a free throw, they got the rebound and scored.

Later in the game, Covington went 0 for 2 from the free throw line with 8.4 seconds left but got the rebound. However on the in-bounds pass after a Lady Bucs timeout, junior Brooke Anderson got the steal and did enough from the free throw line to get the win.

Gibbons led the team with 23 points and Anderson had 22 points. Moore said their leadership and experience shined on the court. Each played their role perfectly to help get this win.

“Brooke is always one that she’s going to give up her body to make that play and dive on the floor. That gets you going,” Moore said. “Lexi is the one that can put points on the board. She was able to get that done.”

Long finished with 10 points as the only other Lady Trojan to reach double figures.

Arcanum will take on Houston in the championship game on Dec. 30 at 6 p.m. Moore said while she wants her team to focus on the game ahead and try to improve on this game, they do know they have a big game upcoming next as they host Tri-Village on Jan. 4.

“We want to come out tomorrow and get better on the free throw line and take care of things defensively. We don’t want to look forward, but we have Jan. 4 circled for a very long time in our locker room. We want to come out tomorrow and be our best,” Moore said.

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