By Drew Terhall

Dailyadvocate.com

VERSAILLES — In the OHSAA Division IV Girls Basketball Southwest sectional, the two seed Tri-Village Lady Patriots took care of business and defeated 18th seed National Trail, 64-23.

Head coach Brad Gray said the defense created a lot of offense, something he thought would happen more this season. He said they haven’t under preformed, they just haven’t been able to generate a lot of offense for them.

“I thought our defense created a lot more offense for us than what it has been. I think we’re a good defensive basketball team, but sometimes our defense hasn’t gotten us as much offense as I thought it would earlier in the year,” Gray said. “It was nice today to see our defense create offense.”

Sophomore Kynnedi Hager started the scoring in the game with six straight points. The offense as a whole took some time to get into the flow of the game.

As the first half went on, the offense was up and down. They had their runs, but then had some small droughts.

The defense was consistent all game long. They forced turnovers and didn’t allow many easy shots. Some of those turnovers allowed the Lady Patriots to get out in transition or not allow the Lady Blazers to set up their half court defense. Gray said they have the speed and athletes to have their defense generate points for them.

From there, Tri-Village took advantage and scored. They were up 31-9 at halftime.

The team started to get into a rhythm offensively and made many trips to the line. Hager alone was 8 for 8 from the free throw line in the third quarter.

Gray said in the first matchup against National Trail, they didn’t get Hager involved as much. The offense functions better when Hager, or anyone, can get touches in the post.

“That was a real focus for them all week in practice. Just trying to get as many post touches as we could, not necessarily for Kynnedi but for anybody. When we get post touches, we’re way more efficient,” Gray said.

The team continued to play well and got to a running clock in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, the reserve players got a chance to go in and close out the game.

Hager led the team with 25 points. and was 11 for 12 from the free throw line. Sophomores Adalynn Hines and Sydnee DeLong both had 10 points.

The team could be back to full health for a potential rematch against Mississinawa Valley down the road. Both teams need to take care of business to face off once again in the sectional final.

Gray said senior Bella Black is back practicing and they are easing her back in after being out for the last month with an injury. But first, the Lady Patriots have to get past the 20th seed in Fairlawn.

“I’ve got my work cut out for me tomorrow. Dissect film and figure out what we’re getting ourselves into,” Gray said. “By their record, it doesn’t look like they’ve had that great of a year. But also, you throw records out the window (during this time).”

Tri-Village will play Fairlawn on Feb. 20 at 6 p.m. back at Versailles High School.

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