By Drew Terhall

Dailyadvocate.com

DARKE COUNTY — Here are the scores and stats from the high school girls basketball games from Feb. 2 – 4.

Feb. 3: Versailles 54 (13-7, 6-2) vs Tri-Village 44 (16-3, 10-0)

The Lady Tigers get a close non-conference win over the Lady Patriots at home. Versailles head coach Tracy White said the team practiced going up against the zone defense Tri-Village would play and she saw that work in practice translate to the court.

“Our girls really locked in and those things that we fixed yesterday, we saw on the court today which is perfect. We’ve asked them to really focus on translating what we work on in practice to the court. I felt like we did that today,” White said.

Versailles won this game with a strong fourth quarter. Tri-Village couldn’t gets past the Versailles defense late in the game. Missed shots and turnovers hurt the Lady Patriots.

Tri-Village head coach Brad Gray said this game could help them be more prepared for the upcoming tournament. They played a great team tough and can learn from their mistakes. But for now, it’s frustrating to lose a game like this.

“Hopefully we’re talking in a couple weeks, talking about the value that these games have. And hopefully made us better and prepared us for maybe what we will see in a couple weeks,” Gray said. “But when you’re going through it, it’s frustrating. You got to find a way to protect the basketball and get shots and win games like this.”

The Lady Tigers led 27-24 at halftime after a back and forth first half. The lead kept changing through the third quarter as Tri-Village entered the fourth quarter up 38-36.

Both teams had their struggles offensively early. The Lady Patriots and the Lady Tigers both were disrupting passing lanes and not letting the guards penetrate the paint for the whole game.

Gray said he felt his team could compete at the level Versailles was and it showed. Tri-Village opened the third quarter on a 6-0 run to take a lead.

But in the fourth, Versailles took the lead and pulled away. Versailles senior Jenna Dirksen made multiple big threes to give Versailles the lead or give them some cushion on the scoreboard.

White said the team followed Dirksen’s mentality of focusing on the next play after a miss. The team was able to shrug off mistakes or misses in the first half and played their way to a great second half.

“When she’s (Dirksen) not making it, we talk about being blind and having a short term memory. You got to let it go and hit the next one. She’s really got that mentality and that mindset,” White said. “I saw a few of our girls as well from the first half to the second half develop that mindset.”

Senior Allison Schwartz gave Versailles the lead for the final time on a lay in to go up 45-44 with 4:45 left in the game. White said all of the seniors during their time in the program have been a positive influence with their work ethic and striving to be the best they can be.

Tri-Village did all they could offensively. Gray said sophomore Kynnedi Hager played the best game of the year and was able to make the right choices with the ball when she was doubled. The shots weren’t falling.

The shot-making has been off for Tri-Village in big games like these. Gray said he has seen his team make these shots before, they just can’t get them to fall in big games.

Versailles sophomore Katey Litten led the Lady Tigers with 19 points. White said her guards played a good game being able to take care of the ball and put the team in scoring positions against the zone. Dirksen finished with 15 points and Schwartz finished with 10 points.

For Tri-Village, Hager finished with 18 points and sophomore Tai Mize finished with nine points. Gray said they have to figure some things out so they don’t limp into the tournament. He is focused on what they can do this season to win.

“That’s a young team. I’m tired of saying that, we’re young. We got to win now. No one wants to talk about what we’re going to do a year from now or two years from now. It matters right now to the kids that we have on this team. We have to figure how to fix it right so we can win right now,” Gray said.

Versailles will finish the regular season with two home games. They will host New Knoxville on Feb. 8 at 7 p.m. and then host West-Liberty Salem on Feb. 10 at 1:15 p.m.

Tri-Village will be at Vandalia Butler on Feb. 7 for a 7:15 p.m. tip off. They will then host Twin Valley South on Feb. 8 at 7:15 p.m. A win gives the Lady Patriots their third straight outright WOAC title. They will then end the season with a home game against Bellbrook on Feb. 10 at 2:15 p.m.

Around the county:

Ansonia 22 (8-12, 4-6) at Parkway 47 (13-5, 4-3)

The Lady Tigers fell on the road to the Lady Panthers on Feb. 3. Ansonia ends the regular season with two home games. They will host Franklin Monroe on Feb. 8 at 6 p.m. and then will host Sidney Lehman on Feb. 10 at 1 p.m.

Bradford 62 (4-15, 3-7) vs Emmanuel Christian 28 (1-9, 0-6)

The Lady Railroaders led 35-14 at halftime and cruised to the win. Junior Megan Wood led the team with 18 points. Sophomore Ryleigh Dotson and freshman Lilly Canan both had 13 points. Senior Brooklyn Crickmore had nine points. After a home game against Bethel, the Lady Railroaders will end the regular season with a road game at Dixie on Feb. 8 at 7:15 p.m.

Greenville 43 (5-16, 2-15) at Fairborn 47 (1-18, 1-15)

The Lady Wave lost on the road in a close one. They were up 26-21 at halftime, but were outscored 20-6 in the fourth quarter. Greenville will end the regular season with a home game against Piqua on Feb. 10 at 11:45 a.m.

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