By Drew Terhall

Dailyadvocate.com

ARCANUM — After a close first half in a rivalry game, the Arcanum Lady Trojans basketball team turned up the intensity in the second half to earn a 49-22 win at Franklin Monroe.

Arcanum head coach Abbey Moore said she felt they gave up too many points defensively and didn’t play up to their level. That changed in the second half.

“In these games, you always know you’re going to get everybody’s best. It took us a little bit to get going defensively. It took a little conversation in the second half to turn our tempo up a little bit. Came out of the locker room and decided that we could play defense better,” Moore said.

The Lady Trojans had to go on a 5-0 run to close out the first quarter to tie the game, 9-9. Franklin Monroe came out and played clean basketball in the first quarter.

The Lady Jets were able to get past the Lady Trojans press and run their offense. They took care of the ball and made their shots early.

Franklin Monroe head coach Tim Barga said the start was good, but they couldn’t string together four quarters of great basketball. He said games like these will continue to happen if they can’t put together all four quarters.

“Our first six minutes was good. Then they hit a three and it went downhill from there. We got spurts of times that we can play. But, we got to put four quarters together,” Barga said. “I got good kids on the team, nice and polite kids. I think I got some good athletes on the team. It’s just they have to want to do it.”

Arcanum gained the lead in the second quarter and went into halftime up 21-14. Franklin Monroe kept fighting during the second quarter, but only managed to keep the game within reach.

The free throw shooting for Arcanum hurt them in the first half, but helped them in the second half. They were 3 for 10 from the line in the first half and 9 for 12 in the second half.

Moore said she was proud of the team’s response in the second half. The Lady Trojans defense came out and started to force some turnovers and turned them into easy points. They didn’t much by them in their half-court set.

The Lady Jets continued to try and get themselves back in the game, but the team started to miss some open shots. Barga said missed shots have hurt them all season. They are working on getting those easy, close up shots to fall in at a higher clip.

With momentum on their side, Arcanum held Franklin Monroe to two points in the fourth quarter as they closed the game out.

Junior Alexis Gibbons led the team with 18 points and junior Brooke Anderson had 13 points. For Franklin Monroe, senior Olivia Sease and junior Kyra Barnes each had six points.

Arcanum is now 13-6 on the season with an 8-2 WOAC record. With tournament draw for the girls basketball tournament on Feb. 4, Arcanum will look to finish the season out strong to bring some momentum into the postseason. They are currently placed ninth in Division III in the Southwest North district.

“Got to finish strong. Tournament draw is this Sunday, looking forward to that and getting ready for the tournament,” Moore said.

Franklin Monroe is 7-12 on the season with a 4-6 WOAC record. They are currently 17th in Division IV in the Southwest North district.

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