By Drew Terhall

DailyAdvocate.com

DARKE COUNTY — The county was buzzing with basketball this past holiday week. Here are the scores and stats from the girls high school basketball games from Dec. 26 – Jan. 1.

Arcanum girls basketball wins Buccaneer Holiday Tournament:

The Lady Trojans are now 8-2 on the season after winning the Buccaneer Holiday Tournament at Covington on Dec. 29 and 30.

They defeated Covington, 60-57, in overtime in the first round. Despite going 14 for 31 from the free throw line, the Lady Trojans dug deep to get this win.

Head coach Abbey Moore said the team 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.

The Lady Trojans did lead as big as double-digits after they went on a 10-0 run to start the first quarter. Moore said they were able to tire out Covington early as the Lady Buccs don’t substitute a lot of their players.

As the game went on, Covington fought back and chipped into Arcanum’s lead. In the fourth quarter, both teams went back and forth. Both teams also had troubles at the free throw line. Covington was 13 for 21 from the line.

In overtime, the Lady Trojans made the plays defensively to seal the win. Junior Brooke Anderson got a steal late to protect Arcanum’s lead.

Junior Alexis Gibbons had 23 points in the game and Anderson had 22. Moore said their leadership shined in the this game.

“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.”

Sophomore Caroline Long had 10 points to reach double-digits as well.

Arcanum then defeated Houston, 61-40, in the championship game. Long led with 18 points on 9 for 13 shooting. Senior Ashlyn Miller had 13 points as well. Arcanum broke open the game after a 23-point second quarter.

Arcanum will next host Tri-Village on Jan. 4 at 7:30 p.m. They will then go to Mississinawa Valley on Jan. 6 for a 1 p.m. tip off.

A full game recap against Covington can be found on our website, dailyadvocate.com

Bradford girls basketball at Buccaneer Holiday Tournament:

The Lady Railroaders lost both games in the holiday tournament at Covington. They started the tournament with a 65-29 loss to Houston. Once the Lady Wildcats got out in transition and sped up the game, they took full control.

Head coach Josh Siedling said they knew it was coming, but they couldn’t help but play into Houston’s hands.

“We knew kind of how they ran their 2-2-1 and their 2-3 that they wanted to grind us out on both ends of the floor. We knew as long as we could keep control of the ball, we could maybe reverse that effect. But, we kind of gave into it and wore down towards the end,” Siedling said.

As the game went on, Bradford showed spurts of beating the press and running some of their offense. While they had troubles with turnovers, they still showed some good ball movement at times.

Siedling said he has seen this team improve on learning from their mistakes in game from last season. They are starting to adjust on the fly and not let the bad stretches of play consume them.

“We’ll go in spurts of breaking presses one or two times. Then, as soon as we get a turnover on one end it’s kind of an avalanche effect,” Siedling said. “We’re getting better on not letting those runs happen as long. Last year, we let those take the whole game. But, we’re doing a lot better job of feeling it out and realizing you make one mistake, let’s come down and fix it the next time.”

Sophomore Ryleigh Dotson and freshman Lilly Canan both led with six points, all scored from three-point makes. Sophomore Claire Hill had five points.

Bradford then lost to Covington in the consolation game, 70-43. Freshman Vivian Harleman led the team with 16 points with four made three pointers. Senior Brooklyn Crickmore had 12 points. The team was 10 for 12 from the free throw line.

Bradford is now 1-8 on the season. They will head to Tri-County North on Jan. 4 for a 7:30 p.m. tip off. They will then host Franklin Monroe on Jan. 6 at noon.

A full game recap against Houston can be found on our website, dailyadvocate.com

Mississinawa Valley splits two weekend games:

The Lady Blackhawks played back to back games on Dec. 29 and 30. They started with a road loss to Parkway, 47-33.

The team shot 1 for 16 from three-point range and shot 26.3% from the field. Junior Taylee Woodbury led with nine points and eight rebounds.

Mississinawa Valley bounced back in a big way with a 60-45 home win over Botkins. Head coach Michael Paige said getting the win over Botkins was much needed after their recent struggles.

“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.”

After Botkins scored 13 points in the first quarter, Mississinawa Valley held them to single-digit scoring quarters for the second and third quarter. The team was blocking shots from everywhere and were getting turnovers.

From there, the team started to get into a rhythm offensively. After an eight point second quarter, they scored 36 points in the second half.

Paige said it seemed like the team was starting to get out of their offensive slump in the second half, something that’s happening at the right time.

“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.

Paige also played sophomore Cora and Makenna Hoggatt in the second half to expand their bench. Paige said it’s a goal of there’s to play more players in preparation for the tournament.

Both have played well in the minutes they have been given. Paige played some different lineup combinations in the second half.

Woodbury led the team with 17 points and senior Brenna Price had 16 points. Senior MacKenzea Townsend had 10 points. As a team, Mississinawa Valley had nine blocked shots.

Mississinawa Valley is now 7-4 on the season. The Lady Blackhawks will head to Newton on Jan. 4 for a 7:00 p.m. tip off. They will then host Arcanum on Jan. 6 at 1 p.m.

A full game recap of the Botkins game can be found on our website, dailyadvocate.com

Tri-Village wins close game against Sidney:

The Lady Patriots were coming off a 73-33 win at Valley View on Dec. 27 as they headed into a tough matchup against Sidney. Sophomore Kynnedi Hager had 25 points to lead Tri-Village. Senior Bella Black had 19 points, sophomore Sydnee DeLong had 11 points and sophomore Tai Mize had 10 points.

It was more of a slug fest against Sidney. Both teams played tough defense as they went back and forth in a game of runs.

Tri-Village started to get going offensively after feeding Hager in the second half. Head coach Brad Gray said the team calmed down after the first half and kept it simple.

“First half, certainly wasn’t pretty from an offensive stand point. I thought defensively we were really good in the first half and continued that for the most part in the second half,” Gray said. “But offensively, it was a struggle in the first half. I thought in the second half, our kids did a great job simplifying the game.”

The Lady Patriots led 15-13 at halftime. DeLong and freshman Kenna Wilcox took turns slowing down Sidney’s leading scorer, junior Jordan Scully. They held her to 14 points in the game.

Gray said Scully is a great player and one of the best they will face in the regular season.

“She’s as good as we’re going to play against this year in terms of regular season. I thought she’s a kid that’s going to be a tough matchup,” Gray said. “But Sydnee has been good defensively all year. Then at the end, when she was cramping up we moved Kenna Wilcox, our freshman, on to Scully. Kenna did a great job for that last minute and a half.”

In the second half, Hager had 17 points to lead the Lady Patriots past the Lady Yellowjackets. Gray said they knew they had a mismatch with Hager and the team took advantage of that in the second half.

Gray also said the team was physically and mentally tough in this game. Gray felt like they gave away the game in their loss to Chaminade Julienne earlier this season. This time, the Lady Patriots kept strong and found a way to win.

Hager finished with 23 points. Black was the only other Lady Patriot in double figures with 11 points. Tri-Village only made one three-point shot in the game.

The Lady Patriots will head to Arcanum on Jan. 4 for a 7:30 p.m. tip off. They will then go to Ansonia on Jan. 6 for a 2:15 p.m. tip off.

A full game recap against Sidney can be found on our website, dailyadvocate.com.

Around the county:

Ansonia lost a close one to Celina, 39-35. They were without senior Brenna Schmit in the game. Freshman London Reichert led the team with 12 points and senior Bailey Schmit had 11 points. They will host back to back games with Twin Valley South on Jan. 4 at 7 p.m. and then Tri-Village on Jan. 6 at 2:15 p.m. Ansonia is 5-5 on the season.

Greenville won back to back games starting with a win at Bethel, 38-19. Junior Megan Lind had 14 points and freshman Megan Loudy had 10 points. The Lady Wave had 19 steals in the game. Junior Brooke Schmidt brought in 16 rebounds and Lind had 10 rebounds. They then defeated Fairborn, 55-24, at home. Lind had 16 points and Schmidt had 12 points. They shot 50% from the field. They will have two road games next at West Carrollton on Jan. 4 at 7:30 p.m. and at Piqua on Jan. 6 at 10:30 a.m. Greenville is 4-5 on the season.

Versailles started the week with a 45-37 win at Botkins. Senior Jenna Dirksen led with nine points and junior Taylor Wagner had eight points. They then lost a close one at Waynesville, 47-44. Senior Allison Schwartz had 11 points and sophomore Katey Litten had 10 points. Versailles will host back to back games with Fort Recovery on Jan. 4 at 7 p.m. and then will host Jackson Center on Jan. 6 at noon. The Lady Tigers are 4-4 on the season.

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