By Drew Terhall

Dailyadvocate.com

ARCANUM — The Lady Trojans got back into the win column with a 59-19 win over WOAC foe Bradford on Jan. 18. Arcanum head coach Abbey Moore said it was good to see the team get the win after a working hard through and after a rough stretch of games.

“It’s kind of a relief to be able to come out and get the results that we want. We’re working hard every day. It’s nice to be able to come out and get on the right side of the ball game,” Moore said.

Arcanum started the game by pushing the pace. They raced out to a big lead to start by not letting Bradford slow down the game.

The Lady Trojans were forcing turnovers and scored in transition throughout the first half. They got out to a 46-8 lead at halftime.

Bradford struggled to start the game after getting back to back wins over Preble Shawnee and National Trail and then losing a close one to Lehman on Jan. 15.

Head coach Josh Siedling said the team has been playing well after they got wins when they were down eight to Preble Shawnee and seven to National Trail at halftime. He talked to his team about learning from the first half and improving on their mistakes in the second half.

“We just talked about in the locker room, collectively we got to be on board with no matter what the game is we’re never out of it. Even with whatever the score was at half of this one, we still have to come out. It’s a new half, we got to start fixing things. We really beat our self most of the night,” Siedling said.

The Lady Railroaders struggled with making shots and had some bad passes that led them to being down at halftime. Siedling said they struggled with the things he knows they are capable of.

Arcanum came out and didn’t let the lead get to their heads. They still ran their offense and made smart decisions. There were no slowing down defensively and no lazy turnovers.

Moore said she wanted the team to come out focused and learn how to keep up the intensity in a situation like this.

“It’s difficult. You get that running clock, but we got to learn. That’s kind of the first time we’ve been in that position all year. You got to learn from it. You got to learn how to handle yourself in those situations,” Moore said.

Throughout the game, Arcanum switched around lineups and got some of the younger and reserve players in the game. At some point, everyone checked into the game and got some minutes.

Moore said it was great to give the younger girls experience and even get sophomore Faith Wooten some playing time after coming back from a minor injury.

“They came in, they were focused. They knew what they needed to do on the floor. Faith came in and got some minutes tonight. This is her first game back from having an ankle injury. It was good to get her some playing time to get back into the groove. Had some young ones on the floor at the end of the game and they did a great job,” Moore said.

Bradford started to string together better possessions on offense. They took better care of the ball and was able to move it around to get off a good shot or got it inside.

The Lady Railroaders were without their center, senior Brooklyn Crickmore. Without their senior leader, the whole team did their best to replace her inside presence scoring and on the glass.

Freshman Vivian Harleman had 10 points to lead Bradford. Siedling said Harleman does some really good things on both ends of the floor and will only get better.

“She’s a shooter. She does a lot of other things as well. She’s also really good defensively, she knows how to back cut, she’s got a really good feel for the game,” Siedling said. “As long as she can keep her confidence up, the sky’s the limit for her.”

Freshman Lilly Canan had five points. Sophomore Ryleigh Dotson and junior Daphne Lavey each had two points.

Siedling said they are still a young team and are going through growing pains, but he is still excited about the trajectory of the team and where they can be as they continue to improve.

“As long as we just take it one game at a time, prep for the next one and really stay true to our work I think we’ll be fine,” Siedling said.

For Arcanum, sophomore Caroline Long had 12 points to lead the team. She scored 10 in the first half. Senior Ashlyn Miller had 10 points and freshman Claire Hein had nine points.

Moore said the team will have to refocus for their stretch of games they have ahead of them. With a 10-5 record and a 6-2 WOAC record, the Lady Trojans will host Carroll on Jan. 20 and then will play at Middletown Madison on Jan. 22 at 7:15 p.m.

Bradford is now 3-12 on the season with a 3-5 WOAC record. They will host Troy Christian next on Jan. 23 at 7:15 p.m.

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