By Drew Terhall

Dailyadvocate.com

UNION CITY — The Lady Trojans didn’t go quietly away. After leading 35-12 in the first quarter, the Mississinawa Valley girls basketball team held off Arcanum to win 92-76 at home.

The Lady Blackhawks were close to tying their previous record for points scored in a game. They scored 94 points in 1996-97 against Newton.

Mississinawa Valley head coach Michael Paige said despite having a big lead, he was getting his team ready for a battle in the second half.

“It didn’t seem like either team wanted to quit. I told them at halftime, ‘We have 53 at half, we’re not going to score 106.’ We need to play under control. We came out, the shots were still falling and they were still scoring as well,” Paige said.

In the first few minutes of the game, Mississinawa Valley raced out to a 17-3 lead. They were getting turnovers and scored easy buckets in transition.

Arcanum was having some trouble with the press early on. Even when they crossed half court, they couldn’t get the offense going.

But in the second quarter, the Lady Trojans came out with some urgency and whittled away at the deficit. They started to play under control and got to within 16 points.

Arcanum head coach Abbey Moore said she was proud of the way her team responded after that first quarter. The team didn’t sulk or throw in the towel, they just went right to work.

“I’m extremely proud of my girls for their character. We always talk about that excellence factor of playing with class, playing with dignity. When you’re in situations of adversity, that’s going to be when your true character shows,” Moore said. “When our backs was against the wall, not one of these girls gave up. Not one of these girls trembled.”

Six made three pointers from Mississinawa Valley helped give them a 54-33 heading into halftime.

Throughout the second half, Arcanum kept trying to gain ground and get themselves back into the game.

Paige said he told his team the Lady Trojans would come back and they did make his team play until the very end.

“They kept fighting. Arcanum is a good team and Abbey is a good coach. They’re not going to give up,” Paige said.

The Lady Blackhawks led 76-53 heading into the fourth quarter. Seniors Brenna Price and MacKenzea Townsend were not letting much get past them in the paint. Arcanum would have to rely on some outside shots to get back into the game.

They did just that as the Lady Trojans didn’t go away. Paige said even though he knew Arcanum would fight back, he had to put the press on them again late after letting up.

With 2:42 left in the fourth quarter, Arcanum was down 85-72. The Lady Trojans gained some ground and were close to making it a game late.

Moore said it was big for the team to find ways to not only score, but get some big stops to spark some small runs after Mississinawa Valley would make a three pointer here and there.

“To be able to combat that and put some points on the board and get those defensive stops, we were able to make a run,” Moore said.

But, the Lady Blackhawks kept calm and made a few buckets inside the paint to seal the win. Paige said while it was a great win, the team is still a few improvements away from playing their best game.

“The scary part for us, and this is what I keep telling people, is we didn’t play our best game. As good as we played, we gave up 76 points. Obviously there’s a lot more things that we can do to improve,” Paige said.

Mississinawa Valley made 11 three pointers in the game. Junior Taylee Woodbury led the team with 22 points and had four made threes. Price had 19 points and Townsend had 18 points. Senior Ingrid Ojeda had 10 points.

Senior Rylee Leeper led the Lady Trojans with 18 points. Junior Brooke Anderson and sophomore Caroline Long both had 16 points while junior Alexis Gibbons was held to 11 points.

Mississinawa Valley is now 9-4 with a 6-1 WOAC record. They will be at Twin Valley South on Jan. 11 for a 7:15 p.m. tip off and then they will host Mechanicsburg on Jan. 13 at 11 a.m. Paige said the goal is to prepare for the tournament and they have the schedule that will challenge them in preparation for the postseason.

Arcanum is now 8-4 on the season with a 4-2 WOAC record. They have lost back to back games against the top two teams in the conference. They will host National Trail on Jan. 11 at 7:15 p.m. and then host Versailles on Jan. 13 at 2:15 p.m.

Moore said the focus for the upcoming games will be on the defensive end.

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